Some Important Facts About the Little Chinese Spaceship That Could ...
China's Premier Wen Jiabao congratulated his country's new “taikonaut”
only minutes after Yang Liwei hit the grasslands of Inner Mongolia. It
was 6:23 a.m. in the early morning on Wednesday - and he had just circled the
earth about 14 times.
Premier Jiabao appeared to be extremely grateful for his countrymen's work.
But, indeed, he should have thanked the world's superpowers as well, because his
country enjoyed a lot of help from the United States of America, the
former Soviet Union as well as today's Russian Federation.
The Chinese media call it "a crowning moment" of a space program that was
announced by the “the great leader Mao Zedong” in 1958. 12 years later, the
"People's Liberation Army" was able to launch its first satellite on
board of a rocket called “Long March”. It circled the earth several
times, continuously playing the anthem of Mao’s Cultural Revolution:
“The East is Red!”
After Wednesdays apparently very successful mission, the self
congratulating statements from China sounded enthusiastic: “ Today is
your holiday, my motherland! Today is your holiday, my countrymen”.
And there was hardly any talk about the fact, that the Chinese Shenzhou
V, the “Divine Vessel”, according to its creators, looked and felt a
lot like the Russian Soyuz vehicle, that has been developed in the
Sixties and used by the Soviet Union and Russia many times successfully.
“Project 921” is the code behind the manned Shenzhou spacecraft. And we
should know, that it was not exactly, as announced, a civilian effort, but part of the
space program under the command of the general armaments department of
the "People's Liberation Army". Experts in the West assume that the primary piece
of equipment on board was not scientific in nature, but a high-resolution camera for
the single purpose of military reconnaissance.
The highest authority in charge of the space program is General Li
Jinai, member of the Chinese "Central Military Commission". He was
trained in Russia in the past and is also one of the leading forces
behind the strategic nuclear weapons program, developed by China years
ago.
Defense analysts in the West have no doubts that the Shenzhou spacecraft
is a vehicle designed for military purposes. The growing economic
progress that came with the remarkable industrial capabilities during
the past few decades, has made this first manned trip into space
possible.
No question: China had a lot of help even from the United States of
America in its efforts. It's space engineers are not trying to hide the
fact, that the People's Liberation Army is using American computers and
software - not only for the development of it's space program, but also
to improve its ballistic missile force.
At the recent Asia Pacific conference in Beijing, Cheng Qifeng, one of
the experts at the Shaanxi Engine Design Institute, informed his
listeners, that engineers are using computer-aided designs from the
United States in order to improve their rocket engines for the space
program as well as ballistic missile applications. So-called “Hybrid
Modeling Technology”, running on UNIX and Windows NT workstations, has
undoubtedly helped accomplishing major tasks.
Particularly interesting is the fact that the new mission control
facility, built about 30 miles northwest of Beijing, is full of US made
computers, supplied when the Clinton administration was in power in
Washington. The People's Liberation Army was also able to obtain a wide
variety of US missile technology with the help of the Clinton
administration. There are satellite control facilities, satellite image
processing facilities, even multiple warheads delivery systems and other
sophisticated equipment.
Chinese plans for future projects in space are aggressive. China has
announced that it intends to orbit a Chinese space station even before
the year 2008 is over. It will be equipped as a military reconnaissance
platform with "impressive optical systems and ground viewing
capabilities".
There is no question that many experts in the West are alarmed about
that fact - perhaps a lot more then many of the responsible politicians
are willing to admit at this time.
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Erdstation
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