May 23rd, 2007Imaging the Man on the Moon
China has set two more ambitious goals for it’s space program this with with the announcement of an unmanned lunar orbiter set to fly later this year, and a probe to Mars in 2009.
The lunar orbiter, scheduled to launch in the second half of this year, will take 3-D images of the moon’s surface. This is the first part of China’s lunar landing mission which is slated to occur between 2020 and 2025, right around the same time as NASA plans to return.
An unmanned landing on the moon is expected in 2012 by a six-wheeled rover that is currently under development. This little robot is expected to have a nuclear power source (rather than a rechargable battery like the Mars rovers, Spirit and Opportunity) which means that it will have one heck of an operational time. Considering the amount of piracy that comes out of that country, I’m wondering if this machine might be little more than an Opportunity with a nuclear reactor. While this wouldn’t surprise me, I would be curious to know NASA’s take on such a revelation.
China’s mission to Mars is going to be a joint venture with Russia, and is expected to launch in October of 2009 according to the Shanghai Space Agency. This mission was first signed back in March, with China contributing the probe and Russia providing the landing vehicle (Phobos-Grunt).
Just to add complexity to the mission, Phobos-Grunt is designed to take rock samples from the Martian soil and return them to Earth. Hopefully the samples will not be contaminated upon entry into the atmosphere, as this could provide a few more clues about the Red Planet’s history. What I find odd, though, is this return to Earth. If China were to send more nuclear-powered machines to Mars, then these robots could be designed to run semi-autonomous and carry an array of specialized instruments. This could prevent any unwanted contamination of the samples and allow the scientific community at large more access to the Martian topography.
Perhaps with this undeclared race to learn more about our closest celestial bodies, NASA can be granted more funding in an effort to complete large hurtles before the Chinese. This could be the next classic battle between East and West.
What I find odd, though, is this return to Earth.
Just a thought - the degree of automation required for an autonomous mission might be beyond the current Chinese/Russian state of art. Or it could be too expensive to built it into this mission.
I considered that, but when you look at the complexity involved with sending something to another planet I had figured it would be easier to plan for a one-way trip. This would also reduce the amount of payload required as software is usually cheaper than rocket fuel.
Of course, this would be some very complicated software that would undboutedly require much more processing power than is potentially being planned (which could increase the weight of the rocket, anyways). Though given the amount of time between now and when the instrument is expected to land, I had figured China would go all out in an effort to prove something to the world.
That said, similar to the comment made on my post regarding NASA’s Orion Project, it’s likely not in China’s mandate to jump-start an industry.
What I’m thinking is that China might lack the infrastructure comparable to JPL. JPL is good because of funding but also because they’ve been in business for a long time - much institutional excellence there.
Enthusiasm counts for a lot but so does experience.