China and Russia to Launch Joint Mars Mission

The Interfacer writes "China and Russia are planning a joint mission to Mars that will bring back samples to earth and land on one of the red planet's tiny moons, state media quoted a Chinese scientist as saying Wednesday." From the article: "Russia will launch the spacecraft, while China will provide the survey equipment to carry out the unmanned exploration, Ye Peijian, a senior scientist at the Chinese Academy of Space Technology, told a meeting in Beijing, according to the official Xinhua news agency."

am I the only one....

[pablo_max]

who hopes this sparks a real space race? Although, it would be a shame it was all for the sake of going there and then doing nothing again for 40 years.

US mothballed half its space missions

[peter303]

HASA has either suspended or cancelled outright nearly half of its space probe missions due to cost constraints. These compete against the Shuttle Return To Space, the new Orion manned spacecraft, ISS construction, and the presidential Return to the Moon and Mars initiatives. So its nice other countries are picking up the slack.

Why it makes me mad.

[eldavojohn]

Well, you pose a good point. However, as this Space.com article from 2001 [space.com] states:

The Russian Space Agency already has a hard time completing crucial supply spacecraft for the International Space Station. Now it has committed to build spacecraft for China and help train Chinese astronauts, possibly leaving the space station grasping for seconds.

China and Russia can be friends [heritage.org] or the "NATO of the East" or whatever you want to call it. But, to surpass your role in the ISS and instead strike up another working plan with China is kind of ... well, not very supportive of the ISS.

This 2001 Treaty between the two is the first we've seen since 1950. It's great that we don't have to worry about atrocities or tension between the two neighbors but, with the current administration of the United States, I could definitely see the president of the US showing up on national TV and calling this action another Axis of Evil (tm) power move for Russia, China & Iran. It's a stupid thing to do but I only hope that this isn't seen as a reason to put pressure on these nations.

Why no intercontinental cooperation?

[w33t]

What's keeping the US from joining with them?

If it's feasable that the US alone could go to mars, and that Russia and China together can go to mars - then could not all three work together to achieve this goal better?

Or is it neccessary to have the "us" and "them" philosophy when it comes to these kinds of projects?

Must there always be an adversary?

Competition

[danilo.moret]

It would be good to compare the cost of chinese and russian unmanned exploration missions to NASA's cost. If their missions turn out to be less expensive and more successful than those from the US, I think that space exploration would gain a lot with it. Cheaper missions in larger quantities, improving quality over time: that sounds like something the chinese could do better than the rest of the world right now.

--
"I, for one, welcome our new unmanned red overlords"

Re:Why would they land on the moon?!?!

[J05H]

> Why would they go to all that trouble of making such a huge trip and not land on the planet???
> I know maybe it has larger risks but COME ON, it's not like you go to Mars every week.

Russian scientists have been obsessed with Phobos for decades. There is a lot of science and discovery on that tiny moon, including samples of Mars (blown into space and swept onto Phobos) and other solar system bodies. Landing on Phobos is worlds easier than Mars itself, and there is an amount of preservation available that isn't available on Mars. The Phobos lander would be able to pick up (if it can find them) pieces of Mars that are truly ancient, and they won't have weathered as on the planet.

The single biggest question that Phobos-Grunt will answer is absolutely critical to future space development: How much water does Phobos contain and where is it? Phobos is easier to get to energy-wise than Luna. If it really is 1/3 water then it can become the fuel station for all of human space activity.

Josh
www.postcardstospace.com Send a Note to the Cosmos!

real win for Russia, if it happens

[khallow]

Russia really benefits, if this goes through. This sort of thing has the potential to guarantee substantial launch volume for them. Always a nice thing to have. And given China's economy, I suspect that China sooner or later will be paying most of the bills.

I find it interesting that China apparently is forgoing the launch vehicles. I think this is a big shift in the focus of their space program. Maybe from a strategic angle, they think that they can build up their launch systems later or maybe buy/steal the necessary technology from Russia.

Re:Why it makes me mad.

[cyclone96]

But, to surpass your role in the ISS and instead strike up another working plan with China is kind of ... well, not very supportive of the ISS.

You make a good point, but I think the space.com article from 2001 was off the mark when it suggest the Russians may take away support from ISS for other programs.

I've worked extensively with the Russians on ISS and been to Moscow many, many times. Culturally, manned spaceflight is a big deal to the Russians, much more so than Americans (how many Americans even know what the ISS is?). ISS (and Mir before it) is considered a jewel of Russian technology, and is the focal point of their space program. Many of the current generation of Russians were brought up in a society where technology and the engineers that created it were regarded as heroes. The space program epitomized the capability of the Russian people and represented a great deal of pride.

With times tough in Russia, I think many Russians regard the manned space program as tangible evidence that Russia remains a great nation and world power. In the eyes of many Russians, even the mighty United States needs the Russians and their know-how to keep its manned space program afloat. I'm constantly amazed by how much they do with the resources they have, and how much they sacrifice to keep the manned program going. If Russia imploded economically, I swear they'd spend their last ruble on the space program.