China uses Mars orbiter to snap interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS China has matched the European Space Agency’s feat of taking a snapshot of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS from a Mars orbiter. Astronomers spotted 3I/ATLAS in July and the Minor Planet Center noted its “highly eccentric, hyperbolic orbit” that suggested it came from outside our solar system. Later analysis confirmed that theory, …
massed zombie scientists all going "it's a comet, it's a comet" vs Avi Loeb and his "might be ALIENS!!!" bitch fest. Anyhoo, anyone got the snaps that NASA took on the 3rd Oct? They're still missing as are the Chinese pix. At least ESA doled out a couple of snaps of a white dot but apart from that tumbleweed since the Mars pass until last night.
NASA's 'snaps' may be delayed from publication due to the continuing US Government 'shutdown' due to US Congress not agreeing a budget. NASA's 'Astronomy Picture of the Day' has not been updated since the shutdown started:
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap251002.html
All the joking aside, the point here is the the Chinese are well on their way to match (and soon surpass) the achievements of NASA and ESA. Mars orbiters, Martian and lunar rovers, an orbital space station... If I were a betting man I'd put money on them welcoming the US to the moon once (if ever) Uncle Sam finallly gets there.
"Blueprints and manuals are very helpful, aren't they."
They are. NASA has had them since the 1960s.
The point, in case you missed it, is not China's tendency to imitate, copy, reverse-engineer and use espionage. (Which is very real, no argument there.) Doing this in the 2020s rather than the 1960s also helps: there's so much advanced tech available off-the-shelf today then there was back then. Look no further than SpaceX: their progress would have been unthinkable in the previous century. But that's not what I'm trying to say here.
What I'm getting at is that the difference lies in China having the will do do it and and the way they are are currently putting their backs into it.
Blueprints and manuals are invaluable. NASA has had them for years. Yet the idea of having American boots back on the moon in this decade is pipe dream. Unless they do something really ass-backward, like breaking out those old blueprints and essentially recreating Apollo hardware with a new-looking paint job simply to beat everyone else. But I doubt that, because the don't have the budget to splurge on a PR stunt that won't move the US space program forward in any way.
The US has been ON Mars since 1976, with numerous landers, rovers and orbiters. China has precisely one mission to Mars, with orbiter, lander and rover since 2021. They've done well, but they're hardly about to surpass the US in Martian exploration. As for manned space stations orbiting in LOE, the US first launched one in 1973; the ISS (a multi-nation space station) has been in orbit since 1998, with long-term inhabitants since 2000. And of course Uncle Sam was on the Moon in 1969.
Now I'll agree that the current American administration could mess things up completely, but with no disrespect for China, I don't see them surpassing us in the next few years (unless, as I say, Donald Trump lets them).
I saw some higher res pictures of 3IAtlas and I was very dissappointed. Where were the aliens waving from the windows? Where were the high tech thrusters and light speed warp producers? It just looked like a large rock. Oh well bring on project blue bleam, I guess that's all we'll get. There I was hoping someone would come and save us from our governments. Or perhaps unite mankind in a Hollywood like epic where we beat aliens, despite them having the technology to cross the galaxy, using a computer virus, because their computers will be just like ours. Or maybe they have no resistance to covid despite their identical to human biology, evolved in another world, and all wither and die HG Wells like. Better still it's the predators come back to hunt us and Jason Statham gets called in to save us.
I'll go put the coffee on, take an aspirin and contemplate the bugs in my code.
China is making good use of the opportunity Trump is giving them. While he cuts research budgets and imposes restrictions on funding , China is going full steam ahead and is the new leader in all fields of science. Scientists are flocking to China and leaving the USA and other countries to join them. China is the new leader and the USA lost the race. I do not doubt a second that China will land on the moon or do things the USA just can't do for reasons of infighting. The finger is pointed in one direction.
