China Moon Mission, why so secret??
Not on comment from them.

I spoke to soon.

Jade Rabbit

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If I were a betting man my money would be on the Chinese having the first working base and settlement on the moon with the USA and Russia not far behind. It seems the Chinese government has the will power to follow through on such a long term commitment and doesn't have to worry about getting re-elected every four years.

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Bob DeWoody

My motto: Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow as it may not be required. This no longer applies in light of current events.

NASA is aiming at Mars. There is no need to go to the Moon. Next thing do do is to build an automated "service station" orbiting Mars, with food, fuel and oxygen supplies. The servicing of the ISS by robot crafts built by private industries is a good starting point.
Tullio

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To my mind the moon is a much better and more immediately obtainable goal. Whatever we design to support human activity on the moon will work on Mars or if we find we can't survive long term on the moon then Mars may have to wait longer. Putting a base on the moon, making it our permanent space station orbiting earth, has many advantages for further manned space flight. The moon has all the materials to build the space vehicles needed to explore the solar system and it is a much easier launch platform. Skipping the moon by the western space agencies may be the biggest mistake ever made allowing China to dominate the arena.

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Bob DeWoody

My motto: Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow as it may not be required. This no longer applies in light of current events.

Going to the Moon is going down a potential well. You have to spend energy to land on it and spend more energy to climb out of it. Also, there is no water on the Moon while there is water ice on Mars, as discovered by Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. This was pointed out by Steve Sqyres of Cornell University during a conference at the Smithsonian Institute on the tenth anniversary of the start of Mars exploration by robots.
He is the principal investigator of the Spirit and Opportunity robotic missions.
Tullio
Edit There is an atmosphere on Mars and none on the Moon. You can use it for braking your descent.

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Going to the Moon is going down a potential well. You have to spend energy to land on it and spend more energy to climb out of it. Also, there is no water on the Moon while there is water ice on Mars, as discovered by Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. This was pointed out by Steve Sqyres of Cornell University during a conference at the Smithsonian Institute on the tenth anniversary of the start of Mars exploration by robots.
He is the principal investigator of the Spirit and Opportunity robotic missions.
Tullio
Edit There is an atmosphere on Mars and none on the Moon. You can use it for braking your descent.

As I understand it the moon does have substantial volumes of water near the poles and having only one sixth the gravity of earth does not require anywhere near the rocket power to escape it's gravity. The lunar modules used in the Apollo missions only needed one small rocket motor to climb back up into orbit and dock with the command module.

Going to Mars may be flashier but going back to the moon first makes more sense.

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Bob DeWoody

My motto: Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow as it may not be required. This no longer applies in light of current events.

Prof. Sqyres said he was shocked by the abundance of sedimentary rocks on Mars. Sedimentary rocks mean water. There was abundant water on Mars and it was lost. How? That is the reason why we have to go to Mars. Mars may be the future of Earth.
Tullio

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Many people have postulated that Venus is like earth was, and Mars is like earth will be. Others say nope, Earth is just in the "habitable zone" of the sun.

All three planets are well within the habitable zone for our sun.

Earth is very unlikely to lose the atmosphere in the way that Mars has. Our magnetic field protects us from that scenario.

Mars has a tenuous mainly CO2 atmosphere that keeps it relatively warm. Venus has a lot of CO2 in a deep atmosphere that keeps temperatures up near that of molten lead. Here on Earth, we have a 'Goldilocks' atmosphere that we are industrially polluting towards the Venus example.

(Venus also has ferocious high winds and terrible weather.)


As for our moon: That has abundant water that can be extracted from the regolith. However, the moon has mainly no magnetic field and so ionising radiation is big problem. There is also an 'atmosphere' of electrostatically charged sharp particular dust that is destructive to machinery. The no-atmosphere means ferocious temperature swings to break up any exposed surfaces to dust...


We have it too easy here on Earth!

Keep search in'
Martin

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See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

In mere 3,500,000,000 years the Earth will be like Venus: surface conditions “very nasty”. This is so at least, if the BBC Future has its ducks in a row: Timeline of the far future.

Wait and see.

According to this model, Earth would be last to disappear, that's a bit odd...

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rOZZ
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In "Cosmos" (which I translated for Mondadori) Carl Sagan says "The Martians will be us".
Tullio

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It seems that China's moon rover is having a bit of a problem.

Cheers.

In "Cosmos" (which I translated for Mondadori) Carl Sagan says "The Martians will be us".
Tullio

And, all your bases belongs to us.

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"Time is simply the mechanism that keeps everything from happening all at once."

On Mars Opportunity was to work 3 months. It has been working ten years. Hats off to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Tullio

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+2

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rOZZ
Music
Pictures

update..

A month into its planned three-month mission on the moon, China's "Jade Rabbit" lunar rover has run into a potentially serious problem.

http://news.discovery.com/space/chinas-jade-rabbit-lunar-lander-may-be-out-of-luck-140127.htm

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Spirit was stuck in sands on Mars. Curiosity is now having its wheels checked before climbing Aeolis Mons, called Mount Sharp by NASA.It is not easy to change tires on a faraway celestial body...
Tullio

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China is worried that its unmanned lunar rover known as Yutu, or Jade Rabbit, is frozen on the moon’s dark side.

On December 14, Yutu became China’s first rover to land on the moon. As the first lunar landing of any kind since 1976, it was a major triumph for the Chinese.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/kidspost/china-worries-that-its-moon-rover-is-frozen/2014/02/06/86682446-8ea1-11e3-b227-12a45d109e03_story.html

update...

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BBC reports Jade Rabbit declared Dead.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-26153520

Yep, heard about it:(

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rOZZ
Music
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La Repubblica today says it is alive!

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