MovieChat Forums > Politics > Well they beat us

Well they beat us

posted 5 years ago by elcamino (15540)
9 replies | jump to latest

https://phys.org/news/2020-07-china-mars-probe-space.html
China launched a rover to Mars on Thursday, a journey coinciding with a similar US mission as the powers take their rivalry into deep space.

[–] Bubbathegut (18242) 5 years ago

Wow, thats crazy. Only took them like 10 years while we spent over 60 years going to space. The bad part is that China will exploit the resources of Mars, if there is any.

[–] elcamino (15540) 5 years ago

Well Biden will stop any space stuff when president. So we watch China while that goes on and any mistakes they do. Then in 2024 when Nikki Haley is president we start over not doing any mistakes that China did.

[–] KingMarty (171) 5 years ago

What's a better alternative?
The US exploiting the resources?
That kind of thinking is dividing people into good and bad!
Change your attitude, and I'm not a China fan. Just a fan of all earthlings.

[–] krl97a (5619) 5 years ago

It's a lot easier when someone else has already blazed the trail. Heck, they're mostly using stolen US technology.

[–] christomacin (4730) 5 years ago

How did they beat us? We've been there four times already. And launching is one thing, landing another. We've had a few failed missions over the years ourselves, so it's not a sure thing until your craft is safely on the ground. Obviously, though, they're catching up with us in the space race. However, to actually send humans to Mars will require innovation, which is something that the U.S. excels at much more than China. Going from an unmanned probe to a manned mission is a HUGE logistical leap. It is orders of magnitude more difficult than sending humans to the moon. The first country to colonize the moon will likely be the one that ultimately gets to Mars first, as the logistical stuff we need to figure out can be best done on the moon.

[–] Gd5150 (11965) 5 years ago

The US landed Viking 1 on Mars in 1976. It took photos and soil samples.

NASA’s Mars Pathfinder rover landed on Mars in 1997.

[–] Rorikon (18391) 5 years ago

WHAT DID THEY DO WITH THE SOULS OF MARS!?!?!

[–] TabbyS (1277) 5 years ago

They sold them on eBay.

[–] christomacin (4730) 5 years ago

aside from Viking and Pathfinder, the U.S. and Europe have successfully sent several missions since then:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_landing

The Sojourner probe has far exceeded both expectations and life span. Let's see if China can successfully land and deploy the thing (and maintaining it for an extended period if they do) before declaring it a success.