Author Topic: Dr. Robert Zubrin ( Mr.Redplanet ) has been talking to the Chinese  (Read 7251 times)

Offline JulesVerneATV

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Robert Zubrin has been explaining his ideas about the exploration of Mars in a University in Mainland China. Zubrin helped reform idea on space exploration by showing how costs could be cut by "living off the land" by creating rocket fuel and other consumables on Mars.

Zubrin does sometimes run people the wrong way because of his ideas, sometimes Zubrin seems to care less for politics and diplomacy while others would be more corteous to those higher-up in politics. Zubrin is a unique kind of guy and some of his designs are fantastic and he is a very strong Mars-advocate and has published a direct plan to make the first human landing on Mars.

( Chinese site )
http://news.buaa.edu.cn/dispnews.php?type=5&nid=6835&s_table=news_txt
Beijing Evening News reported by Wang Qiong on March  2006

some old photos of Zubrin
http://www.marssurterre.net/mars-society/zubrin.html
http://www.exn.ca/Stories/2000/08/11/55.asp

Offline DavidB

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Yes, I have read some of his work. He has some pretty good ideas. But I guess we are not committed to going to Mars yet, so it doesn't matter how good ideas might be, there will be no acting on them for quite a long time.

Regards,


David

Offline MartianBase

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China has plans for Mars ?

Offline Hotol

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MartianBase - 23/3/2006  4:57 AM

China has plans for Mars ?

Oh yes.

Offline lmike

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MartianBase - 23/3/2006  2:57 AM

China has plans for Mars ?

No.  The current program maximum is a trio of robotic probes to the Moon and a modest space station in LEO by 2020.

Offline Hotol

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Oh. I thought they had ambitions of working with the Russians for Mars?

Offline lmike

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Hotol - 23/3/2006  3:29 AM

Oh. I thought they had ambitions of working with the Russians for Mars?

Yes, and the Russians (just Energia's Mr. Sevastyanov, actually) apparently also declared a (manned!) trip to Pluto and Jupiter .  Next stop - Alfa Centauri ;)

Offline lmike

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Mr. Perminov, the head of the Russian governmental space agency, stated at a recent press-conference that only the US has a ('somewhat fleshed out') manned Moon plan, never mind Mars, at this time. (and they do have more communication with the Chinese space program than the rest of the world)

Offline Hotol

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lmike - 23/3/2006  5:34 AM

Quote
Hotol - 23/3/2006  3:29 AM

Oh. I thought they had ambitions of working with the Russians for Mars?

Yes, and the Russians (just Energia's Mr. Sevastyanov, actually) apparently also declared a (manned!) trip to Pluto and Jupiter .  Next stop - Alfa Centauri ;)

Ah yes, Mr Sevastyanov. I like him a lot. He reminds me of my mad uncle who used to claim he was a missing member of the Beatles ;)

Offline publiusr

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Offline TheMadCap

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Zubrin definitely has some great ideas. I am sure that the Mars Semi-Direct plan has a better chance of being used due to it's larger set of redundancies. But as we all know, NASA and congress are pretty much decided in going back to the Moon first.

I suspect that he is talking to the Chinese in an attempt to get folks stateside to notice him once again. Anyone think that another Space Race with China would get the public interest back up, sort of a new Apollo, except the goal is to put a human on Mars?
I do not know what I may appear to the world; but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.

Newton

Offline hornet

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A new space race vs China would get a lot of support i think because everyone is afraid of china and America would hate to be second best its in out blood to win i guess you could say

Offline simonbp

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'Course the thing is, once the CaLV's are flying and we start land on the Moon again, at least half of the development work nessisary for a Mars-Semi-Direct plan is done...

Simon ;)

Offline TheMadCap

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simonbp - 23/3/2006  11:02 PM

'Course the thing is, once the CaLV's are flying and we start land on the Moon again, at least half of the development work nessisary for a Mars-Semi-Direct plan is done...

Simon ;)

Of course, in his book, Zubrin dismissed that idea, saying we already know how to land on the moon, and so doing it on Mars would be better. He pretty much says going to the moon is a waste of time, if your plan is to go to Mars...
I do not know what I may appear to the world; but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.

Newton

Offline MartianBase

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hornet - 23/3/2006  6:40 PM

A new space race vs China would get a lot of support i think because everyone is afraid of china and America would hate to be second best its in out blood to win i guess you could say

Those leftist Euros are getting friendlier with China + ESA are already doing joint missions with the Chinese,
http://www.imperial.ac.uk/P3711.htm
http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/object/index.cfm?fobjectid=34877
http://directory.eoportal.org/pres_DSPDoubleStarProject.html
and now they have Russia ready to launch Soyuz from Europe's Spaceport in S.America

Maybe they want to upstage NASA by getting to the Red-planet before the USA can mark the 2019 Apollo-style mission to the Moon ?

Offline hyper_snyper

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I think we're overestimating the Chinese.  They won't beat us back to the moon and they definitely won't beat us to Mars. 

Offline MartianBase

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2019 is a long time, they could do a one-way trip for their taikonauts or perhaps a robotic MSR with a little help from the Euros or Russians

Offline MartianBase

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China has strongly tried to deny a desire for the Red Planet but in 2003 the Chinese admitted that they should study long term habitation in space-stations which will be needed around the Mars prior to sending a manned lander.
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200308/28/eng20030828_123261.shtml
Chinese near term plans for a Earth LEO station are a matter of fact not speculation, Shenzhou 8+9 are likely to be the start of this.

Offline stargazer777

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I think it is great that China has interest in Mars and the Moon.  A very big part of Congress and the White House's (under various Presidents) lethargic or even hostile attitude toward NASA and manned space exploration was the [false] assumption that the US had not real competition in space, particularly since the fall of the USSR.  

Without trying to whip up another "red scare," its clear that the US would not be comfortable with the Chinese/Russians on the Moon or Mars before or even without the US.  Even having the Europeans accomplish this without the US or before the US would be an acute embarassment and I assure you political blame would be assessed.  So in this case, a little healthy competition seems to be what is required to give the necessary motivation to the powers that be in DC to provide the needed funding and leadership to keep this ball rolling.  

As for the Chinese capacity to accomplish any of these objectives at the moment -- I agree it is minimal at best.  The substantial delays they have announced before their space walk attempt tells us all that they have a very long way to go in this undertaking.  

Regarding Dr. Zubrin -- I think that in a private moment of candor he must admit to himself that testing our technology & methodology and learing from the inevitable hard lessons of exploration on the Moon (where rescue or repair is at least possible), before we lauch an expedition to Mars is the smarter and safer path to explore Mars and beyond.

Offline MartianBase

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Interview with Rick Larsen and Mark Kirk
http://english.people.com.cn/200603/27/eng20060327_253732.html
Tang Yong: It is still rather a lot of contact compared with the past. In the past there were hardly any congressman who would like to visit China. I am wondering why they changed their ideas so abruptly?
Kirk: Just because China is becoming more important to everybody.
Larson: When Chinese President Hu Jintao said in Science and Technology Conference in January that China would become one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world by 2015, that is an important thing we need to pay attention to. That means Chinese government is going to put a lot of money into research and development. When China launched its Shenzhou Six into the orbit, putting two astronauts into space and making China the third country in the world that has men on space, we need to pay attention to that. We could go down a list of that. That is why you could see increased interest about China among congressmen here....


Forget the Red-Planet Mars...instead think about a RED MOON
http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Fly_Me_To_A_Red_Moon.html
But has China decided to drop space stations as the principal goal beyond Shenzhou 7, which will carry out China's first spacewalk in 2008?
It's possible.
Chinese statements are so vague that they are open to various interpretations. One possible interpretation is that the missions planned after Shenzhou 7 represent a new direction for China's short-term plans. China could be planning to send astronauts to the moon much sooner than the international community may think.



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