How China is Surpassing the USA as a Spacefaring Nation

in #space8 years ago (edited)

A few days ago, I finished off a post I made about NASA plans for sending a submarine to Saturn's moon Titan with the assertion that the growth of China's space program might be the catalyst to launch humanity well and truly into space. I made that assertion because the rapid growth of China's space program has been truly impressive, and it is making other countries (like the USA) take notice. So here I want to outline what that growth has actually looked like, to show you guys both how impressive it has been and how exciting it is for those of us who dream of humanity in space.


I graduated from American University with a BA in International Studies in December 2015 with a regional focus on Asia and a specialty in Environmental Sustainability and Global Health. I studied abroad at National Chengchi University in Taiwan. This series on space seeks to discuss the breakthroughs that are being made by, most notably, the USA, China, Russia, the European Space Agency, and Space X in humanity's continuing quest to reach the stars.


China's space program was technically one of the first in the world, as it was originally announced in 1958. However, for the first 40 or so years of its existence, the program did not accomplish much (other than putting its first satellite, the Dongfanghong 1 into Earth orbit in 1970 and its first geostationary communication satellite into orbit in 1984.) In that time period, the USA and Russia had sent multiple satellites into space, probes into the depths of the outer solar system, and put both rovers and humans on the lunar surface. China was far behind.

Dongfanghong 1
Dongfanghong 1 - (Source)

But around the same time as China's massive economic upturn in the late 90's, the Chinese space program took off. In 2003, just a few years after first providing the program with real funding, China had put their first astronaut (or as Chinese astronauts are known, taikonaut) into Earth orbit on the Shenzou 5 space capsule. Since then, their ambitions and capabilities have exploded.

Yang Liwei, first taikonaut in space
Yang Liwei, the first taikonaut in space - (Source)


Accomplishments of China's Space Program

  1. They launched the space station Tiangong 1 in 2011, and had three shuttles make contact with the station during its three-year operational lifespan. This means that they have the capability of assembling large-scale projects in space. They were also only the third country to do this, other than the United States and Russia (and excluding the myriad nations that worked on the International Space Station (ISS) with the help of the US and Russia)

Tiangong 1
Tiangong 1 - (Source)

  1. They put their first lunar rover, known as the Yutu rover (or "Jade Rabbit"), on the surface of the moon in 2011 as part of their Chang'e 3 lunar mission. That was the first rover to touch the lunar surface in almost 40 years.

Yutu Rover from Chang'e 3 lander's perspective
Yutu Rover from Chang'e 3 lander's perspective - (Source)

  1. Earlier this month, China launched Tiangong 2, a larger and more modern version of the Tiangong 1. It will take up orbit around the Earth and lays the groundwork for China to build a space station to rival the International Space Station. Essentially, China has the ability to build a space station that can rival the ISS, even though the ISS took the collaboration of the USA, Russia, the ESA, JAXA (Japans space agency), and Canada's space agency. It has done this in less than 20 years.

  2. It has not only caught up to the USA and Russia in its capabilities, it is now eclipsing them in certain areas. Last month, China launched the first ever satellite to function on the basis of quantum entanglement. As China's state-run news agency Xinhua put it,

"in its two-year mission, QUESS is designed to establish 'hack-proof' quantum communications by transmitting uncrackable keys from space to the ground, and provide insights into the strangest phenomenon in quantum physics — quantum entanglement."

Launch of QUESS
Launch of QUESS - (Source)

Future Plans

China as a major spacefaring state is here to stay. Their abilities are great, and their ambitions are even greater. In the coming decades they plan to

  1. Launch a Mars rover by 2020. Their concept plans have been released, and now they are looking for a name for the rover. In order to engage the Chinese public, and to build Chinese nationalism around their space program, they have created an open contest for the Chinese public to enter potential names and create a logo, one of which will be chosen.
    China's Mars Rover Concept
    China's Mars Rover Concept - (Source)
  2. They have further plans to put humans on the moon by 2022 and to create a permanent lunar base (something that has never been done) by the early 2030's.

Conclusion

China's space agency's budget has been growing at an average of 10% a year for the past decade. As China continues to grow as an economic and, ultimately, world power, they will continue to launch themselves into space in a way that the United States and Russia currently seem to be unwilling (or unable) to do. At the rate that they are currently catching up to the Big Two in space-faring capability, I would not be surprised to see China's capabilities surpass those of the United States.

Moon over Chinese Flag
(Source)

However, as I wrote in my last post, there is nothing the United States is more afraid of than being "number 2." As such, I believe, and hope, that NASA's budget will once again start growing in response to the rapid advancements China are making. Perhaps we will follow through on our plans to land humans on Mars by the mid-2030's. I also see a huge opportunity here for the government and companies like Space X or Blue Origin to create unprecedented public-private partnerships for the advancement of mankind. Maybe the dreams of Elon Musk, along with those of a nation increasingly interested in Space, will finally put us back in the forefront of the race to the stars.

Sources

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The problem....rather a problem (there are many) with NASA is that it's old and senile. It's been hammered on by the Iron Law of Institutions the Iron Law of Bureacracy and possibly Rat Utopia. Not only that but from watching this year's election the US Government as a whole is in serious decline. It's growing senile.

So don't count on NASA for much.

Rather look to private enterprise such as SpaceX.
Boeing. ...
Orbital Sciences. ...
Sierra Nevada Corporation. ...
Virgin Galactic. ...
XCOR Aerospace. ...
Made in Space. ...
Ad Astra Rocket Company.

and several more...

The best thing that NASA can do is get out of the way. Just sit by the fire, have a cup of tea, pull it's shawl around it self and dream of days gone by when it mattered.

pero todavia falta ver cual de los dos paises logra llegar a marte xk por lo visto ai estados unidos ba ganando

Class article man. This one is headed to the top!

I heard something about that quantum comsat a week or so ago. Is that legit? When can I trade my Samsung in for a Xiaomi quantum handy?

Well, it's legit in that it has actually been sent up. It is mostly intended as a research satellite though, so they're not even entirely positive on how the technology would work yet. I wouldn't count on it being available for at least a couple more years.

China is the future. In most branches of fundamental sciences, this is one of the very few country in the world injecting more money every year!

China brings a lot to the table. It's a shame we can't work together.

Sorry but you are not taking into account the massive lead the US Military Space Programs have over the Chinese and Russians. All indications are that the US Military has a massive edge in space, hence the reason the Chinese and the Russians are desperately trying impose international laws and they are trying play catch up and develop Anti-Satellite missiles to knock out what the USA already has in the sky. The US has more than double the known amount of Satellites than all the other nations combined, that is a FACT. To claim that China is even close is not being honest about what the US Military already likely has in space. Including multiple GSSAP satellites that could EASILY maneuver over to the Chinese Quantum Satellite and hack into it. My latest blog on this was regarding the Pentagon's "Global Prompt Strike " program which has both China and Russia restructuring their entire Air Force because they are so concerned. If you are going to write about this topic, you need to do more research into the Military Space Programs, the Directed Energy Weaponry, Hyper-Sonic Missiles, and you have to take into account there is likely lot's of black budget technology you are not aware of....

https://steemit.com/space/@titusfrost/nuclear-warfare-is-now-obsolete-hyper-sonic-weapons-prompt-global-strike

Hey @titusfrost, when writing this article I was discussing mostly space flight capability in terms of manned missions in the inner solar system and probes to the outer solar system. I agree that it becomes an entirely different conversation when it comes to military capabilities in outer space, something that the United States absolutely has a huge lead in.

Yeah well NASA is a military space agency. Isn't it? Cool article though man, I def up-voted your work, I just think you can't leave the military stuff out. I mean that Chinese QUESS satellite is technically military as well. Peace man.

Your point is well made, fair enough. Maybe I'll do a Part Two and talk about the USA's military advantage ;)

Awesome dude looking forward to it. Just followed you in anticipation! If you care I have posted multiple videos on the subject, I have been looking into Directed Energy Platforms, Hyper-Sonic Missiles, Low Energy Nuclear Reaction aka Cold Fusion, The "Prompt Global Strike Program", Russia's new "Aerospace", Space Elevators, QUESS, X37B, GSSAP satellites, and the new B-21 LRSB program, etc. Peace!

In my opinion all this is just a continuation of the arms race between the western and eastern powers, that are run by the same banskters. Funding both sides of almost every war, since the 1700's.

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I like it
i find this vid verry cool