US, China could soon cooperate on space missions: report
Staff Reporter 2013-06-12 18:14
The Shenzhou-10 spacecraft at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. The spacecraft blasted off on June 11. (Photo/CNS)
The US may partner with China in future space exploration projects, similar to its cooperation with the former Soviet Union during the cold war era, according to the Boston-based Atlantic magazine.
2013 has been an eventful year for China's aerospace industry, with its Shenzhou-10 spacecraft scheduled for launch on June 11, which will take three astronauts on a 15-day mission to dock with the orbiting Tiangong-1 module. The Chang'e-3, China's first lunar rover, is also expected to launch in October, while the country's Beidou satellite positioning system will continue to expand the scope of its services.
The progress has given rise to discussion concerning the feasibility of China-US cooperation in space exploration despite the existence of multiple blockades, the magazine said.
Last year, 78 launches were carried out worldwide, including 29 by Russia, 19 by China, and 13 by the US, trailing China for the second year in a row. China also outperformed Russia with the successful launch of all 19 of its spacecraft.
China plans to conduct a total 16 launches this year, sending 20 spacecraft into space. After the completion of the Shenzhou-10 mission, the country is expected to enter a new stage of development concerning its Tiangong-1 space station.
Beijing's space program is ambitious in the medium and long term, aiming to send over 200 spacecraft into space by 2020, which will represent 20% of the total launches worldwide. It will also launch an average 30 spacecraft a year, 30% of the global total, with the Changzheng-5, a next-generation heavy lift launch system, and the Changzheng 6, a new generation liquid-propellant rocket, entering commercial operation.
The US has joined forces with almost all major countries in its space station program, excluding China due to restrictions which came in the wake of the Cox Report — a US government report on the security of US nuclear weapons facilities and on Chinese espionage during the Clinton Administration — which accused China of stealing US secrets via the launch of commercial satellites in 1998, with Congress subsequently passing a law banning the launch of US satellites and spacecraft containing components made in China.
Many in the US believe it is futile to block the progress of China's space industry and have begun to propose cooperation so as to induce China's space program to develop in a direction that conforms with US interests.
The Atlantic, a conservative monthly, recently published an article reminding readers that even at the height of the cold war, the US carried out space projects with the Soviet Union, such as the connection of the Apollo spacecraft with a Soviet spacecraft in 1975.
China has already cooperated with the European Union in outer space projects, while the US and Russia have close exchanges regarding the international outer space station and commercial aerospace programs. The lack of cooperation between the US and China is therefore exceptionally abnormal, the Atlantic said.
