The Chinese must be developing RTG technology to power the Uranus flyby probe.
They'll probably get to Uranus before NASA...
They'll probably get to Uranus before NASA...
I'd give them better than 50/50 chance on pulling it off. The biggest hurdle might be developing a large enough rocket in time for the Jupiter-Uranus launch window, although it can't be denied they're progressing steadily. I wouldn't mind seeing both the NASA/ESA Uranus Orbiter with Probe and a Chinese flyby happening at Uranus simultaneously.
They'll probably get to Uranus before NASA...
I'd give them better than 50/50 chance on pulling it off. The biggest hurdle might be developing a large enough rocket in time for the Jupiter-Uranus launch window, although it can't be denied they're progressing steadily. I wouldn't mind seeing both the NASA/ESA Uranus Orbiter with Probe and a Chinese flyby happening at Uranus simultaneously.
If I knew NASA was actually going through with the Uranus mission in the next decade, I would prefer China to do a Neptune/Triton flyby. But since there is no guarantee with NASA so far, I'm rooting for the chinese Uranus flyby to materialize
They'll probably get to Uranus before NASA...
I'd give them better than 50/50 chance on pulling it off. The biggest hurdle might be developing a large enough rocket in time for the Jupiter-Uranus launch window, although it can't be denied they're progressing steadily. I wouldn't mind seeing both the NASA/ESA Uranus Orbiter with Probe and a Chinese flyby happening at Uranus simultaneously.
Long March 5 is large enough. Like others HLVs such as Ariane and Delta IV Heavy it is perfectly capable of launching large probes to the outer planets via gravity assists. Cassini-Huygens was launched on the less powerful Titan IV.
They'll probably get to Uranus before NASA...
Nope.
NASA got there first, in january 1986 (Voyager 2 flyby of Uranus).
Seriously people, what the frack is what all the recent "China-wil-get-there-before-NASA/USA" scaremongering? China can't get somewhere "first" when the USA/NASA actually got there first decades earlier.
They'll probably get to Uranus before NASA...
Nope.
NASA got there first, in january 1986 (Voyager 2 flyby of Uranus).
Dont act like you dont know what I meant...
They'll probably get to Uranus before NASA...
Nope.
NASA got there first, in january 1986 (Voyager 2 flyby of Uranus).
Dont act like you dont know what I meant...
You said this:
They'll probably get to Uranus before NASA...
Which can't be done by the Chinese because NASA has already been there. A long time ago. Only people pushing the "China bad" narrative come up with "They'll probably get to Uranus before NASA". It's scaremongering 101. It is portraying that it is "bad" that China gets to Uranus before NASA can arrive there a second time.
You should be looking at it from the other side: China will probably get to Uranus second, 5+ decades after the USA got there first. Which means that China is running half a century behind the USA.
And when you look at it from that perspective, the "scare" is no longer there.
Im talking about in the future, considering there are 2 missions in the open right now to visit Uranus, this one by China, the other by NASA (UOP).
As for the rest of your rant, stop putting words in my mouth and extrapolating. Its not that serious.
This planetary society article says plutonium-238 radioisotope thermoelectric generator were used on the Moon missions https://web.archive.org/web/20201112025516/https://www.planetary.org/articles/01091341-change-3-lunar-lander
The planetary society article is incorrect. The moon missions used radioisotope heater units (RHUs), which are much smaller and simpler than radioisotope thermoelectric generators. It is possible that the RHUs were from Russia.
There is a real possibility that the Chinese will be the first mission to get to Uranus with modern CCD imaging. Voyager used vidicon tubes. Uranus is a lot more interesting in the near infrared. The rings are particularly spectacular. Even a brief fly-by with infra-red capable CCDs should get a lot of new results.