Chinese first to land on Mars?

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Sorry but the private sector will do zip if there is no profit, so could somone please explain where they think the private sector would profit from working on putting man on Mars...?

Visionary projects can only go forward when there is political will to use government (the peoples) money to facilitate much of it, big ideas like this require big investments and solid conviction against inevitably histerical (conservative) political opposition.

[Nortilus (Josh)]

the chinese might be the first there, but it'll be australian steel that gets them there

[Hans Tucker (Hans)]

Originally Posted by icytailmark

i personally would love to see an aussie astronaut on the Mars team!!

Will never happen..Australia spends more money trying to put a gold medal around the neck of Olympic hopefulls than on Scientific ventures. We had a promising Space program operating from Woomera but we allowed it to erode away. The closest thing we had to an Aussie Astronaut was Scully Powers and Andy Thomas and even these two prominent figures could convince the government to invest in a space program.

China being the first on Mars would be the worst outcome because their motives will be self serving...just my 2 cents worth.

[Zaps]

Originally Posted by Hans Tucker

Australia spends more money trying to put a gold medal around the neck of Olympic hopefulls than on Scientific ventures.

Sad but true.

China being the first on Mars would be the worst outcome because their motives will be self serving...

Yes, everyone else would do it "for the good of Humanity", right? That's why the USA wanted to be the first on the moon - it had NOTHING to do with politics or the USSR.

[Hans Tucker (Hans)]

Originally Posted by Zaps

Yes, everyone else would do it "for the good of Humanity", right? That's why the USA wanted to be the first on the moon - it had NOTHING to do with politics or the USSR.

Ok..granted the comment wasn't overly a smart one. Any country serves its own interests but back in the 60's the progress and success (and failures) of the US space program and the landing on the Moon were openly shared with the world.

In reality China or any other country will not make it to Mars alone..it is a costly endeavour which can only be equally shared by a group of nations but that is a difficult issue in its self...just look at the problems that plagued the development of the Euro Fighter.

[Visionoz (Bill)]

Yep, Aussie steel - owned by the Chinese

Cheers
Bill

Originally Posted by Nortilus

the chinese might be the first there, but it'll be australian steel that gets them there

[Mariposa (Amalia)]

the thing is, the goverment in China can build anything they want without any budget constraint because they don't have opposition, nobody can protest if they don't agree with the government plans.
Most of the problems in western countries usually have to do with politics which, in time, lead to budget/time/resources/staff problems. That is something Chinese government doesn't need to worry about.
They can achieve anything as long as they have the technology to get there....or the money to buy it.