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| China-Japan-Koreas |
| U.S. Halts China Space Ventures |
| 2007-02-02 |
| Hat Tip: FrontPageMagazine.com The Bush administration has suspended plans to develop space ventures with China, including joint exploration of the moon, in reaction to Beijing's Jan. 11 test of an anti-satellite weapon that left orbiting debris threatening U.S. and foreign satellites. National Aeronautics and Space Administration spokesman Jason Sharp said the weapon test undermined an agreement reached between President Bush and Chinese President Hu Jintao during an April summit. "We believe China's development and testing of such weapons is inconsistent with the constructive relationship that our presidents have outlined, including on civil space cooperation," Mr. Sharp said. He said there were "some initial discussions looking at where there were mutual interests where we could cooperate with the Chinese," but there are no plans for future discussions. The two presidents had hoped to work on joint moon exploration and space-debris avoidance. Bush administration officials said the suspension is meant to signal U.S. displeasure with the anti-satellite weapon (ASAT) test, as well as Beijing's failure to provide an explanation for its space arms program. "Clearly it makes it more difficult to go down the path of cooperation when they're testing ASAT weapons," one official said. |
| Posted by:FOTSGreg |
| #5 Iff the Chicoms are willing to risk PROPELLER-GATE(S)... ...!? |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2007-02-02 20:40 |
| #4 There's always FRANCE + RUSSIA? |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2007-02-02 20:38 |
| #3 What about a story I heard of the Bush administration backing some exploratory plan to place large fields of reflective metallic objects in orbit to reduce global warming? Sounds like lunacy to me.. An appeasement tactic to placate the global warming zealots? |
| Posted by: CB 2007-02-02 17:22 |
| #2 Depending on the trajectories of the various pieces of debris after impact, it could be upwards of centuries before all of the debris is sucked down the gravity well. And all that crap floating around is posing a clear and present danger to everyone else's launches, satellites, and space exploration shots. Until the US Air Force Space Command gets every little piece mapped out and the debris field defined, a very large launch window has been closed for everyone on Earth. |
| Posted by: Shieldwolf 2007-02-02 16:47 |
| #1 Cavemen with technology again. Somebody's got to give these guys a little advice before they screw everything up. Maybe my six year old son could help. I wouldn't be surprised if there is a cascading effect with this debris and everything gets messed up. I suppose we'd have to wait years before it falls out of orbit. |
| Posted by: gorb 2007-02-02 13:25 |