See: http://www.space.com/12411-china-space-station-tiangong-readied-launch.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+spaceheadlines+%28SPACE.com+Headline+Feed%29We should just invite them. Why not? If we don't, they will build their own station. Wouldn't it be better if they use these resources to enlarge and increase the capabilities of the existing international one?I think as time progresses and we see them fabricating modules that are for their own independent station, not the ISS, someone may ask "why aren't they going to ISS?", starting an irreversible chain reaction that wil make its way to the ears of politicians. There's still plenty of time before planning could start on the 'Chinese Segment' of ISS for all potential parties involve. If this does happen, I envision this as the next 'phase' of ISS development after the Russian Segment expansion.
They should build a module. Seriously, why not?
Rather than having them build a short lived station, why not have them add functionality to the ISS? They provide a hab module and they get to have a permanent resident. Sounds fair to me.
I hope China's knock-off Russian space hardware is safer than its knockoffs of German and Japanese high speed trains...
4) Chinese willingness to provide a sufficient level of insight into their program.
The docking hardware will allow the Chinese station to dock with the ISS, assuming the Chinese are invited to the ISS party.
In exhange for debt forgiveness....?
http://technabob.com/blog/2011/07/27/china-iss-knockoff-tiangong/QuoteThe docking hardware will allow the Chinese station to dock with the ISS, assuming the Chinese are invited to the ISS party.
However, in his comments, Yang indicated that technical hurdles remain in pursuing such collaboration. Specifically, he emphasized that China's space station standards and the ISS docking standards do not agree.The unification of standards is the first problem to solve in the effort to carry out future space station cooperation, Yang said, according to China's Xinhua news agency.