US mulls what next,China sets ambitious space plan

Science: Chinas space station is slated to open around 2020.

This year,a rocket will carry a boxcar-sized module into orbit,the first building block for a Chinese space station. Around 2013,China plans to launch a lunar probe that will set a rover loose on the moon. It wants to put a man on the moon,sometime after 2020.

While the US is still working out its next move as the space shuttle programme winds down,China is forging ahead. Some experts worry the US could slip behind China in human spaceflight. Space leadership is highly symbolic of national capabilities and international influence,and a decline in space leadership will be seen as symbolic of a relative decline in US power and influence, said Scott Pace,an associate NASA administrator in the George W Bush administration. He was a supporter of Bushs plan,shelved by President Barack Obama,to return Americans to the moon.

China is still far behind the US in space technology and experience,but what it doesnt lack is a plan or financial resources. While US programmes can fall victim to budgetary worries or a change of government,rapidly growing China appears to have no such constraints.

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In 2006,China sent its first probe to the moon. In 2008,it carried out its first spacewalk. Chinas space station is slated to open around 2020,the same year the International Space Station is scheduled to close. If the US and its partners dont come up with a replacement,China could have the only permanent human presence in the sky.

Its space laboratory module,due to be launched later this year,will test docking techniques for the space station. Chinas version will be smaller than the International Space Station,which is the size of a football field and jointly operated by the US,Russia,Canada,Japan and 11 European countries.

The US has no plans to return to the moon. Weve been there before, Obama said last year. Theres a lot more of space to explore. He prefers sending astronauts to land on an asteroid by 2025 and ultimately to Mars. But those plans are far from set.

China,having orbited the moon and starting collecting data on it,is moving toward sending a man there _ and beyond. It hopes to launch the rover-releasing moon probe in about two years. Chinese experts believe a moon landing will happen in 2025 at the earliest.

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Nizamuddin went to the US in December 2015 for a Master’s course in Computer Science, which he completed from Florida Institute of Technology in 2017. He completed his B.Tech in ECE from Jayaprakash Narayan College of Engineering, Mahbubnagar.

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