China to build a space station

[Neil]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011...ation-tiangong China laid out plans for its future in space yesterday, unveiling details of an ambitious new space station to be built in orbit within a decade. The project, which one Nasa adviser describes as a "potent political symbol", is the latest phase in China's rapidly developing space programme. It is less than a decade since China put a human into orbit for the first time, and three years since its first spacewalk. The space station will weigh around 60 tonnes and consist of a core module with two laboratory units for experiments, according to the state news agency, Xinhua.

[Publius]

Well, the Space Race in the '50s-'70s required the Soviets as a rival. Maybe this will spur a little faster progress in the West.

[Tricky]

So can the UK stop paying foreign aid to these countries now that they can afford such ambitious projects?

[krakenslayer]

So can the UK stop paying foreign aid to these countries now that they can afford such ambitious projects? Pretty much the only foreign aid that the UK gives to China actually comes from the UN Development Fund, in other words the UK pays into a kitty with a bunch of other countries, and a portion of that kitty goes to China. In fact, the UN Development Fund gives the west a vital piece of "leverage" over countries like China and North Korea; without it they would have even less incentive to "toe the line", particularly in relation to things like human rights abuses and military belligerence. It's more about diplomacy than propping them up.

[Tricky]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...aid-China.html I know its the Daily Mail, but anyway, at a time when our country is in the state its in we shouldnt be paying those sort of sums to countries who can afford space programs etc, including India & Pakistan, it just galls me where those deductions on my wage slip are going sometimes...

[krakenslayer]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...aid-China.html I know its the Daily Mail, but anyway, at a time when our country is in the state its in we shouldnt be paying those sort of sums to countries who can afford space programs etc, including India & Pakistan, it just galls me where those deductions on my wage slip are going sometimes... Yeah, I can totally understand where you're coming from, but what the Mail is selectively excluding from that article, is the fact that the £170 million is how much money China got from Britain's contribution to the UN Development Program, not money sent directly to China. I can't find the exact figure, but say if the UK pays £500 million into the UN development fund every year, the UN then divides up all the total money collected from the different countries paying in and then distributes it according to it's own methods. So of the total (much larger) share we paid into the kitty that year, £170 million if it went to China, but it was the UN that decided how the money was distributed. The UK itself doesn't, by default, have direct control over where their money goes after they pay it into the fund, it's all part and parcel of being in the UN (they could probably try petition the UN to change its mind, or something, but that's not guaranteed to work).

[Danny]

I predict technological problems that put the challenger to shame. They are trying to expand to fast without safety tests and proper experimentation. i wouldnt want to be a test pilot going up there, they're gonna die up there...

[lima25218]

I wouldnt worry too much about a chinese made space station, anything they build is guaranteed to break down in 2 weeks.

[Danny]

I wouldnt worry too much about a chinese made space station, anything they build is guaranteed to break down in 2 weeks. and when the orbit decays lets hope it burns up on reentry before it causes major damage to some unlucky bastards on the surface.

[lima25218]

and when the orbit decays lets hope it burns up on reentry before it causes major damage to some unlucky bastards on the surface. Lol, yeah and knowing the chinese, they probably have it programmed to fall on Tibet, or Washington DC.

[Publius]

Lol, yeah and knowing the chinese, they probably have it programmed to fall on ... Washington DC. But if they did that, who would pay off all the US T-bills the Chinese own?