BRAST OFF !!!
Posted on 03/02/2005 5:29:23 PM PST by Paul_Denton
Joining a swelling group of countries shooting for the moon, Japan is considering a plan to establish a manned lunar base by 2025, officials said yesterday.
If approved, the mission would mark a major change of direction for Japan's space program, which has for decades focused on unmanned, scientific probes.
It would also up the ante in an increasingly heated space race in Asia. Both China and India have announced moon missions, and US President George W. Bush has proclaimed that the US will return to the moon in the next decade or so and will try to send astronauts to Mars as well.
Masaki Shirakawa, an official with the Cabinet Office, confirmed that the plan was being considered by JAXA, Japan's space agency.
JAXA officials also confirmed the mission was under consideration, but said the plan is still being fleshed out and has yet to be formally accepted. A report outlining the plan is expected to be submitted to the government later this month or early next month.
JAXA has not released details of the plan.
But according to a report on Monday in the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper, JAXA hopes to develop a robot to conduct probes on the moon by 2010, then begin constructing a solar-powered manned research base on the moon and design a reusable manned space vessel like the US space shuttle by 2025.
Long Asia's leading spacefaring nation, Japan has lately been struggling to get out from under the shadow of China, which put its first astronaut into orbit in October 2003.
Beijing has since announced it is aiming to put a man on the moon. India said last year it would send a manned mission to the moon by 2015, but is reconsidering that project because of the high cost. Officials say an unmanned mission is still in the works, however.
Japan's space program has been plagued by failures in recent years.
One month after China's first manned mission, a Japanese H-2A rocket carrying two spy satellites malfunctioned after liftoff, forcing controllers to end its mission in a spectacular fireball.
Good stuff. The more in space the merrier. Bring on the competition and spark up a decent space race again!
I think the US and Japan should team up. We cannot let China win!
ping
They build the ships, and we'll supply the marines.
While they shoot for the moon, we're trying to go to Mars.
Is this the Alan Parsons Project? ;-)
BRAST OFF !!!
The Japanese do not recognize the 1969 lunar landing, due principally to the fact that it is nigh unto impossible for them to pronounce "Neil Armstrong".
FOORY COORY!
LOL
What about India/ Russia and the other nations eying manned moon programs...?I think the other intriguing factor is that as more nations move into space and the technology leaks (Poor word choice!), more second-tier nations will be able to consider moon ventures or similarly ambitious space exploration.
It may not be the most exclusive club in town for much longer..we may be about to have a very interesting decade.
ANyway, having seen Firefly, I can say that a Chinese-US alliance may have a lot to offer (Including really funky ships...).
I can't imagine who will be 'racing' them. After all, the 'space race' was based on the arms race, and the idea that the US could NOT allow the Soviets to gain a ballistic missile advantage or a unique surveillance or even attack capability that could threaten American defenses in the era of the bomb shelters and the Cuban Missile Crisis. Sputnik wasn't so threatening because the 'Ruskies' (as Slim Pickens called them) got into space. It was threatening because of what they might do with that technology. After all, it's now the 21st century. And the Soviets are still boasting, Putin is boasting, that they can send missiles AGAINST THE UNITED STATES, which cannot be stopped. And their sub-missiles and land based strategic missiles are aimed - guess where? In the 21st century. After the 'fall' of the Soviet Union. One does want to give the 'gipper' credit for the fall of the Soviet Union. But darn-it, them Soviets just made that so difficult to do.
Yeah, right. <snicker> What does nasa have that doesn't have tiles falling off of it?
There's a bazillion-dollar-overrun ersatz "space station" up there that's falling apart that the US can't even get to, a telescope they're going to let die (yeah, I know: and a brand-new IR scope that isn't ready to replace it yet - hey, somebody better count the bolts so it doesn't end-up like NOAA-N Prime), hmmm, shuttles: 2 down and 2 to go and no replacement vehicles of any kind?
Good thing that 'or so' was added.
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