China eyes 2017 moon landing; U.S. to return to moon by 2018

[Clarkie1]

BEIJING, China (Reuters) -- China, which launched its first manned space mission just two years ago, plans to put a man on the moon around 2017 and investigate what may be the perfect source of fuel, a newspaper reported on Friday.

Two Chinese astronauts orbited Earth for five days last month in the Shenzhou VI and China was now developing new craft up to the Shenzhou X, eyeing a permanent space station and an eventual moon mission, state media said this week.

"China will make a manned moon landing at a proper time, around 2017," leading scientist Ouyang Ziyuan was quoted by the Southern Metropolis News as saying.

The project also includes setting up a moon-based astronomical telescope, measuring the thickness of the moon's soil and the amount of helium-3 on the moon -- an element some researchers say is a perfect, non-polluting fuel source.

Some scientists believe there is enough helium-3 on the moon to power the world for thousands of years.

"We will provide the most reliable report on helium-3 to mankind," Ouyang said.

The United States unveiled a $104 billion plan in September to return Americans to the moon by 2018. Its Apollo program carried the first humans to the moon in 1969.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/space/11/04/china.moon.reut/index.html

[WI_DEM]

1. Oh NO, another space race, The US will have to now spend

billions to beat China!

[Clarkie1]

2. Google "helium 3".....interesting stuff. n/t

[Oreo]

5. No biggy

We can just keep it from the budget like Bush is doing with Iraq... it'll be like it never happened!

[joefree1]

6. Oh NO, USA will have to spend on new jobs, new technologies

It's the future dammit. Either we take up the challenge started by JFK or we can just wind ourselves even tighter in our virtual cocoons while the world passes us by.

[FloridaPat]

3. We borrow from China to exist. Now China is going to the moon and

we have to beat them. So we'll just borrow more money from China.

Smells like a plan for the China banks to make a lot of money.

How much stupider can we get in this country. Of course, $104 billion is only 6 months of continuing the invasion of Iraq.

[Oreo]

4. And I'm sure it both countries will happily share all that energy

If we had kept using regular rockets we would have had a permanent base by now. The shuttle never reached the ridiculous goals set by NASA or Congress. Stop throwing money into it and move on.

This is coming from somebody who grew up watching EVERY shuttle launch.

[calmblueocean]

7. Helium 3? Try lunar solar power.

If someone told you that they knew how to provide first world levels of energy to everyone on Earth at a low cost while eliminating pollution, would you be interested? That's lunar solar power.

Solar panels are built using lunar materials, and the energy they receive is beamed via low-intensity radio wave to rectennas which feed it into the grid on Earth. We could beam energy aid to Africa just like we currently donate medicine or food. We could eliminate the cancers caused by burning coal. We could end the reign of the noisy, poisonous internal combustion engine. No more oil spills. No more nuclear waste. No more petroleum wars.

Helium-3 may be useful someday in the future, but it's a fusion energy source, and we're many decades away from mastering fusion, if we ever do. Lunar solar power uses reliable well-understood technologies, technologies in use today.

If you're intrigued, and want to know more of the scientific details, there's an in-depth introduction to it here.