czokletmuss

Okay, let me play your game and use some cherry-picking to "prove" something. I'll use USA as an example because it has a space program too and, well, it's a good example. First a couple of facts: 1. Do you know that almost 50 million of Americans live on food stamps? Not only this, but do you know that goverment is so desperate that they cut the spending on it recently? 2. Do you know that current USA debt has surpassed 17 trillion dollars? 3. Do you know that there are influential groups in USA who are against teaching evolution in school or against vaccines or against other manifestations of science? 4. Do you know that USA have worse education system than Lithuania, Slovenia, Barbados, Canada or Spain? And that it keeps getting worse? 5. Do you know that unemployment in USA is around 8-14% and amongst the unemployed are recent college graduates who are in debt (college) and struggle to find a job? And that a lot of them are moving back to their parents? The list can go on and on. So what are the conclusions after this biased cherry-picking? USA is the bankrupting state which barely holds together, there is no future for the young generation, educational system is a mess, fundamentalists are gaining support and economical diversity (beetween the richest and the poorest) are growing, which causes the middle class to die. Who's to blame? Why of course, the space program! Just think about it - only 99,5% of the budget goes to non-space spendings. It's an outrage. I say we kill NASA and give billions from its budget to the poor and hungry and desperate (did I mention that there are hundreds of thousands of homeless people in USA?). What? It's only 0,5% of the budget? Welfare and military spending are much bigger? Nonsense! It's all because of the space exploration! You see what I'm doing here? I'm doing the same thing you did with India - biased cherry-picking and false conclusions. ISRO budget is $860 million in this fiscal year, India budget is $267 billion. Even if they cancel the space program, where would the money go - to the poor? Or would it be spent on more jet fighters? Space exploration inspire people. Young people especially - some of them in India will think "Holy crap! We'll sending a mission to Mars and we're still a developing country - think what could we achieve if we truly improve our economy and standard of living". And some of them will become enterpreneurs giving jobs, some politicians fighting with poverty, some engineers and some maybe even the first Indian astronauts. Because that's the power of space exploration - inspiration and courage to dream big: I think that India is choosing wisely what to do with this $860 million (and that's whole ISOR budget, this mission's budget is much smaller). I think they know what they are doing and it's not up to us to judge them. Personally I can only say - good luck, India, and kodspeed

Probably. So what? It's going on Moon now, which means we may get a whole new interesting data.

First such radar on the Moon ever. Is it much? I think it it considering it's just the third Chinese mission to Luna.

You'll find out tomorrow. Oh, and this is just probable ETA - no obligations. And don't be angry if something happens and it gets postponed, please

Exactly. It's like showing some really really poor region of EU or Detroit in USA and saying "you see, the whole continent is poor". You're talking about more than 1000 million people, lajoswinker. You should avoid generalization or you'll be slipping into silly stereotypes (and for this we have polandball).

In this article (http://www.spudislunarresources.com/blog/china-america-and-the-moon-boldness-and-abdication/) you can find an interesting analysis of China-USA relations in context of space exploration. Plus, you can download very, very interesting article from American Aerospace here (http://www.aerospaceamerica.org/Documents/AerospaceAmerica-PDFs-2013/November-2013/Feature_ChinasBoldLunarPlan_AANov2013.pdf), in which the Chang'e 3 descent module is analyzed and compared to Apollo LEM. Did you know that CNSA will be putting on Moon object which weights 40% of LEM mass? The Chinese Moon landing in the next decade may not be so far fatched after all.

Unfortunately I have to agree with you. Alas, political stunts are necessary to get money and public interest in the first place.

Me too. This sound is just so... immense. http://youtu.be/5vFwTJ44lFw

He's savvy and he's potentially dangerous, that for sure EDIT: Sneak-peek into the next chapter (coming Soonâ„¢) BTW which word is more appropiate in this situation - "sneak-peek", "teaser", "trailer" or something else?

Of course it is, I just messed up the number - sorry!

Data from article says that LM-5 will have 130t to LEO. I think I can agree with that BTW, on NASAWatch.com there are few new links concerning China in space: http://nasawatch.com/archives/2013/11/is-china-in-spa.html

I don't think SLS is a good idea from an economic standpoint but its not financed from my taxes so it's not really my business. Seeing how political tension between USA and China slowly increases (which is only natural - one is a superpower and the other wants to be one too) the new Red Scare/Space Race is not completely improbable. I'm all for more effort and money put into the space exploration, so I see nothing wrong in it. Definitely! Americans or Chinese, whoever is going to land on the Moon next is going to be a human being - and that's what's most important

Oh come on, it's not the point. The point is why they're building Saturn V-class rocket.

Sure I can't and I don't. I wish I know Chinese, now I'm limited only to English articles about it and there aren't that much data - besides, Chinese space program resembles a lot old cold war Soviet program in its secrecy. Anyways, you can say what you want about CNSA but they have a clear vision and a plan how to realize it (or at least it seems like they do). NASA on the other hand...

Long March 9 = CZ-9 on this picture Source: http://www.americaspace.com/?p=22881 So China is building its own SLS. Why would they need rocket more powerful than Saturn V? The answer seems to be obvious.

"Contact"! I loved this movie, I watched it like dozens of times And good idea with the cosmic trolling

Real life happened. As you may have noticed, I didn't have quite enough time for my AARs lately as I'd wish to. However, I'm not abandoning neither "The Space Race" nor "The Grand Tour". I'm trying to keep ratio of new episodes 3:1 or 2:1 in favor of "The Grand Tour", so you should expect new episode (at last!) soon. Keep in mind though that "The Space Race" require more free time (conversion to 0.22 is still not finished) than "The Grand Tour", where all I need is just to start the game and play (the mission plan was done months ago). TL;DR - expect new chapter sometime soon; don't expect them to be released as frequent as those of the Grand Tour though

I know Yeah, you're right - silly mistake. I'll fix it. BTW I guess this qualifies as Writers Cannot Do Math, or to be more precise, Misplaced a Decimal Point. And yes, there is a trope for everything.

You could be interested in Mars Trilogy by Robinson, there are whole chapters where the colonists argue about this issue - Green Mars faction (terraforming) vs Red Mars faction (preserving the true Mars).

Fresh info with picture: Source: http://www.france24.com/en/20131105-china-shows-off-moon-rover-model-before-space-launch

And what is it? Good point - however, seeing how tense the atmosphere is on board "Proteus" right now I guess he would prefer to just be left alone with his machines. Stany (States) Zjednoczone (United) Ameryki (of America), to be precise. But it could be worse, much worse - for example a cricket (the bug) in Polish is "świerszcz" LOL I know ur secrets KSC u mad?? EDIT: Oh, and thanks for the rep everybody

I would just like to add these two videos: Visual representation of what's been discovered And some PR talk from Administrator Bolden about it BTW is this a southern accent?

- Who is he? - He's an asshole, sir. - I know that! What's his name? - That's his name, sir. Asshole. Major Assh- Oh screw it, I'll just post a video http://youtu.be/CNJj-PA8lKU Good work, Hayoo - could we expect more from the sci-fi classic?

Holy crap, the asteroid is already here!

ANNOUNCEMENT After much deliberation I finally decided to make it possible for you to make donations via PayPal for the best cause there is - me! Moar details and complete Q&A here: czokletmuss.blogspot.com. EDIT: First page is updated, the smaller version of the mission plan's current status is as follows: