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Posted Sep 14, 2018
China's space reach has spread to the Americas with a $ 450 million satellite and space mission control station built by the Chinese military in the Patagonian desert in Argentina. The resort, built in March, is an important event in China's race to become the first to explore the dark side of the moon. In some respects, however, this space station serves more than a research station for the benefit of humanity; in the eyes of the United States, it is beginning to look more and more the way China broadens its reach, although China insists that the United States is drawing premature conclusions.
The isolated base, reports the New York TimesThis is one of the most striking symbols of Beijing's long-standing commitment to transforming Latin America and shaping its future for generations to come – often in ways that directly undermine the political, economic and strategic power of the states. In the region. Peking's dominance in most of the region – and what that means for America's stagnation – is beginning to make itself felt.
The Chinese mission Chang & # 39; e 4 on the other side of the moon, planned before 2020, could eventually lead to the establishment of a radio telescope for astronomers, which would help to "fill a void In the knowledge of the universe by the man. according to Zou Yongliao lunar exploration department of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
China's exploration of the far side of the moon could eventually lead to the installation of a radio telescope for astronomers, which would help to "fill a void" in the knowledge of the man of the moon. universe. The Earth's radio transmissions are unable to reach the dark side of the moon, making it an excellent location for sensitive instruments.
The distant hemisphere of the moon is never directly visible from Earth and, although it was photographed, the first images appearing in 1959 have never been explored. A pioneering radio telescope on the hidden side of the moons will give him a clear window on the cosmos confirmed in June 2016 by an agreement between the Netherlands and China, according to which a Dutch radio antenna would go to the moon on board. Chang & # 39; e 4 Chinese satellite and ushered in a new era of radioastronomy to study objects that might otherwise be invisible or hidden in other parts of the electromagnetic spectrum.
"Radio astronomers study the universe with the help of radio waves, light from stars and planets, for example, which is not visible at all. naked eye, "commented Heino Falke, professor of astroparticle physics and radio astronomy at Radboud University. "We can receive almost all the frequencies of celestial radio waves on Earth. We can not detect radio waves below 30 MHz because they are blocked by our atmosphere. It is these frequencies in particular that contain information about the primitive universe, which is why we want to measure them.
A relay orbiter will be launched in 2018 for the L2 Earth-Moon point and a lander will follow six months later. To the surprise of the geologists of the international lunar science community, the package does not seem to include an instrument devoted to the study of the elemental chemistry of these lateral rocks never sampled before.
The Apollo Basin, the most likely target of the mission, is a large, flat double-ring impact basin located on the lunar slope. The South Pole-Aitken Basin is a huge dark area covering much of the southern hemisphere.
"Since only the South Pole of the Moon can receive sunlight in most of its territory throughout the year, we want to land where there might be plenty of sun and water for build a robotic research station. ", Said Wu Weiren, chief designer involved in the Chinese lunar exploration program Chang & # 39; e. "Nobody has yet landed there. So it will be the first landing if we do it. But there are other countries that are preparing for it.
In what will be a first for humanity, China aims to land at the South Pole of the Moon to establish a research station and examine potential resources, said a senior lunar exploration program director. China. The terrain on the other side is rugged, with a multitude of impact craters and relatively little lunar maria, including one of the largest craters in the solar system, the South Pole – Aitken Basin. The first images appearing in 1959 have never been explored.
The basin is the largest known impact crater of the solar system, 2,500 kilometers wide and 13 kilometers deep. Meanwhile, a "research station" on the "summits of eternal light" at the South Lunar Pole would prevent anyone from approaching.
Martin Elvis, a high-level astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, sounded the alarm on how hostile power – the Chinese for example – could take control of an important part of lunar real estate. They could do it legally by exploiting the provisions of the Outer Space Treaty, which prohibits any country – and by extension, corporations – from possessing property on a celestial body, but a breach in the covenant may amount to warns Elvis.
The real estate in question is the so-called "eternal peaks of light" around the shaded craters at the South Lunar Pole. Unlike the Earth, which is tilted so that the poles are in six months of darkness and six months of light, the moon is almost perfectly aligned with its orbit around the sun. Because of the way the moon rocks, these peaks are bathed in sunshine for most of the time, which means you can have almost continuous power, ideal for a PV plant.
Thus, this part of the moon would be the perfect place to install solar power plants that would support mining operations in nearby craters, where water and other valuable resources such as helium 3 have been deposited for billions of years. years.
Elvis said treaty provisions allowed countries to exploit resources, including setting up research stations, and preventing others from disrupting those efforts. In some cases, this could be a de facto property, Elvis said. While China and Japan are planning lunar landings and business leaders are considering their own space projects, the loophole has grown in importance.
The NY Times suggests that the base is one of China's ways of reaching out to other countries to show that there is indeed cooperation between compatriots in the race for space.
Antennas and other equipment that supports space missions, such as those that China now has in Patagonia, can increase China's intelligence-gathering capabilities, experts say.
"A giant antenna is like a giant vacuum cleaner," said Dean Cheng, a former congressional investigator who studies China's national security policy. "What you want is signals, data, all kinds of things."
The United States, according to The Diplomat, is of the opinion that the Chinese space station is also used to spy on its space neighbors or, at least, to listen to broadcasts using its satellite dish. The Chinese side is very specific about the use of the space station. Time and again, officials explained that the ground station will be used for transmissions in the far space as well as the imminent lunar mission.
The daily galaxy via the New York Times and The Diplomat
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