The Chinese Chang'e 6 Lunar Probe has arrived back on Earth with its cargo of rocks fro the far side of the moon and have thrown out an invitation to the World's scientists to study the payload and 'share in the benefits' but there will be one nation that won't be going to the exceedingly rare Moon Rock Party, the United States.
The 2011 Wolf Amendment prevents NASA from using government funds to cooperate directly with China as the US sees the Asian nation as an emerging adversary in space.
'The source of the obstacle in US-China aerospace cooperation is the Wolf Amendment' China National Space Administration said this week and urged America to remove the obstacle.
NASA urged scientists to apply to study samples stating there was no risk of transferring tech or data to China so they may yet get their paws on the rocks but it is a maddening example of human stubbornness which is preventing us from making the massive leaps which we should be in Space Exploration.
If we could just pool our resources and do it for mankind rather than make it a competition and try to hobble each other than we may have lunar bases on the Moon or even Mars missions going to the Red Planet already because over 50 years after we first landed on the Moon, we are far behind where we should be.
Monday 1 July 2024
USA Not Going To China's Moon Rock Party
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I worked for an astronaut that commanded two shuttles and lived on MIR for 130 days. At NASA's request, he led the investigation of the last shuttle crash.
John and I talked about the topic of reaching Mars many times. He said humans are not behind on getting to Mars. He said that due to several forces (competition with USSR, assassination of JFK, NASA ego) the US over-indexed on reaching the moon and did something in 10 years that should have taken 30 to 40 years.
A side-effect of this is that many other aspects of advancing the needed technology to reach Mars feel behind and that we are seeing that now dynamic now. One obstacle is/was the need for advancements in nano engineered materials, different fuel systems, and different vehicles (example, dry fuel rockets). There simply are no shortcuts for many innovations.
Also, in the 80's, he and his crews were conducting experiments to understand the impact of long term 0 and near-0 gravity on humans which is another aspect that lacks shortcuts. Bottom line, if humans all worked together, he didn't think we could shorten the time frame for reaching Mars, and I'm buying what he was selling.
I'm gonna reach out to him for lunch and see if he has changed his mind since we last spoke (5 years ago).
just sent him an invitation via text. see if he is up to a meeting. hopefully he is. he is likely the most interesting and accomplished person i've known, and i've had meals with many incredibly accomplished people.
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