China and Russia to launch joint mission to Mars

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Everything I need to know I learned through Googling.

Not necessarily in that order.

China, Russia join hands for mission to Mars
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_i...6328641463B212
Chinese and Russians plan to launch a joint mission to Mars in 2009 to scoop up rocks from the red planet and one of its moons, a Chinese scientist said on Wednesday. Russia will launch the spacecraft, while China will provide the survey equipment to carry out the unmanned exploration, Ye Peijian, a senior scientist at the Chinese Academy of Space Technology, told a meeting in Beijing, according to the official Xinhua news agency.
The mission will be another step in China's ambitious program to jump to the forefront of space exploration.
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?cha...32B3370A22AAE4
China, Russia plan joint Mars mission
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2...ent_672692.htm

ToSeeked
China and Russia to launch joint mission to Mars

Threads merged.

Well it's easy to plan missions. Not so easy to carry them out. As long as they share with the world, as we have done, I wish them luck. Maybe this partnership is the first step towards a Star Trek type federation. Too bad it's started by commies but then the federation was sort of socialist anyway. Maybe I'm not to old to get to watch science fiction become fact after all.

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You're a coward and a liar and a thOOF - Bart Sibrel

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if they want to bring back samples from Mars surface (or also from Mars' moons)...

how they can avoid (with to-day's technology) the risk of a (possible) lethal Mars virus/microorganism bringed back to earth with the rocks?

...especially if the return capsule will be BROKEN at re-entry!

I think that they MUST plan an earth ORBIT insertion of the sample capsule (that however is a big risk, if someting goes wrong!) with a six+ months quarantine and research with a small microbiology team on the ISS

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gaetanomarano.it
ghostNASA.com

I think the odds of a lethal microorganism being brought back from Mars are infinitesimal. We're a couple of billion years of ruthless evolution ahead of anything on Mars - anything organic that comes back is going to be somebody's lunch, at best.

That being said, the return capsule will be designed to reach ground intact even if there's a complete parachute failure, a la Genesis.

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Everything I need to know I learned through Googling.

Ehm, did you actually, like, read anything (other than your own "published" works) before making that comment?

I like to read ALL but (of course) it's impossible (I'm already in the range of one thousand+ posts and articles read per month!)

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gaetanomarano.it
ghostNASA.com

Not wantng to but in here, But I am sat here watching Russian T/V news from Moscow and they have just done an item that says they intend to build a hotel on Mars and have a space taxi with regular services up and running in 6 years!
edit to add "for paying tourists"
Anyone seen anything about it on Western T/V?
Cheers,
Lyndon
I will go back to my own area now!

The biggest problem with the Russians is usually funding, even the Klipper may never fly because of the lack of Dollars. However manned flight has been great for Russia and Space-tourism has always worked well for the Russians, the Challenger disaster and death of Christa McAuliffe might be what kept NASA away from tourism.
Here's another story on Russia's future plan
http://www.rususa.com/news/news.asp-nid-20157-catid-8
Russian general will search life on Phobos

Hey, international cooperation. Now THAT'S the way to go. We should ask if they wouldn't mind bringing in the US too.

Anyway, should be a cool mission, if they can pull if off. With China's tech, and Russia's rocket power, I think they can.

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I calculated the odds of this succeeding versus the odds I was doing something incredibly stupid...and I went ahead anyway. - Crow T. Robot

Godspeed, John Glenn. - Scott Carpenter

And these atomic bombs that science burst upon the world that night were strange even to the men that used them.
- H.G Wells, The World Set Free

To the conspiracy crowd, radiation is a big Boogey Man that inspires terror and death in all who encounter it. - JayUtah

Perhaps the tiny moon is the sample to be brought back.

All well and good, but after the ISS, not so crazy about the idea.