On this episode of China Uncensored,
China wants to dominate the final frontier:
Space.
Hi, welcome to China Uncensored, I'm your host Chris Chappell.
Even though apocalyptic levels of pollution
are making China look more and more like a gutter,
Chinese officials are still looking at the stars.
Maybe they've been reading Oscar Wilde?
Anyway, China has ambitious space plans,
the kind that would have rivaled the US and the Soviet Union
during the Cold War space race.
But I've got bad news for China.
If they want to claim territory based on ancient Chinese naval exploration,
then this flag means the moon belongs to America!
Actually, according to the 1967 Outer Space Treaty,
the moon doesn't belong to anyone.
Except the Decepticons.
Yet despite the risk of being killed by giant robots,
China is shooting for the moon.
And even if they miss, they'll still land among the stars.
So here are 5 things you should know about China's space program.
Number 5
The US is really not okay with it.
Did you watch the movie The Martian?
Perhaps the most unrealistic part
is when the US and Chinese space agencies work together.
In reality,
the US government has banned NASA from working with China,
and neither are Chinese nationals allowed to visit NASA facilities
without a special waver.
Chinese astronauts,
or as they call them, "Taikonauts",
are also barred from the International Space Station.
The ban has been in place since 2011,
primarily because of an effort by recently retired US Congressman Frank Wolf.
He was a major player on the funding committee for NASA since 2001.
Wolf was concerned that cooperation between NASA and Chinese space agencies
would give them an opportunity to steal US technology,
something the Chinese military is in fact doing constantly
in a wide variety of US industries.
Wolf also said his concern is "a moral issue"—
that with China's human rights record,
the US shouldn't be dealing with China at all.
Number 4
China's military has space ambitions.
In the 1980s,
the US and Soviet Union were both developing anti-satellite technology.
But, because blowing up something that's orbiting around the planet
creates very problematic clouds of debris,
both sides stopped development.
For reasons you can see in the movie Gravity.
So the international community was a little miffed
when China performed its own anti-satellite test in 2007.
It created the largest space debris cloud in history
after they blew up one of their own aging satellites.
That debris is still out there in space.
It poses a risk to any other satellites in nearby orbits,
and any other spacecraft.
And that's just the tip of the space-berg.
Earlier in 2015, a US Congressional panel issued a report
that says China's space program threatens the US military.
The report says Chinese military analysts believe
space will be "the dominant battlefield,"
and that space warfare is "inevitable."
This involves the Chinese military being able to
"freely use space and to deny the use of space to adversaries."
Number 3
China is building a giant ground-based space station in Argentina.
Don't worry...
It's for exclusively scientific and civilian purposes.
The new space base includes a 100-foot-wide satellite dish
that can track unmanned Chinese vehicles traveling to Mars and the Moon.
However, despite the surely peaceful intent
of China's military-led space operations,
the political opposition party in Argentina was concerned that,
in addition to tracking Chinese space probes,
it could just as easily be used to track US military operations—
and that could drag Argentina into a military conflict with the United States—
should the Chinese military ever decide to use the base for
not scientific and civilian purposes.
Number 2
China might soon be the only country with an orbiting space station.
So in 2024,
the International Space Station will be decommissioned
and allowed to crash into the ocean.
But by 2022,
China plans to have completed its own Tiangong space lab.
If that succeeds,
China's Tiangong space lab might be the only game in town.
Um, orbit.
China originally wanted to be a part of the International Space Station,
but with that whole "the US won't make space deals with China" thing,
China decided to build its own.
And the US is not invited.
It's going to be a modular space station.
The first part is already in orbit around the planet,
though since it's just a prototype, it'll come down.
The Tiangong-2 is scheduled for launch this year.
It will be able to house a crew of 3 people.
And in 2022, Tiangong-3 will join it,
forming the core of what will be a large modular space station.
Other modules, like a lab, can then be sent up and attached.
And finally, Number 1
China may have faked its first space walk.
Back in 2008, China carried out its first successful space walk.
Unless you believe they faked the whole thing.
Which apparently a lot of people do.
Now claiming this is fake is a pretty bold statement to make,
but the Communist Party didn't do itself any favors
when state-run Xinhua released an article
containing a dialogue with the astronauts
that took place after the successful launch of their rocket.
The problem is, that article came out two hours before the launch,
and it was dated two days in the future.
Oops!
Okay, so they prewrote a propaganda piece.
Well, what do you expect from state-run media?
That's what they do.
But that still doesn't mean that this footage is necessarily fake.
But here's how the argument goes.
You see that?
Did that look like bubbles to you?
The allegation is that this whole thing was actually filmed
in an underwater practice tank.
That's why you see bubbles.
And also, the way the flag waves looks to some people like there's water resistance.
But there might also be scientific explanations for those things.
Anyway, you can watch the debunking video here if you want.
So what do you think?
Real or fake?
And what do you think is in store for China's space ambitions?
Leave your comments below and subscribe fore more thrilling episodes of China Uncensored.
Once again, I'm your host Chris Chappell.
See you next time.
You know the saying, "If you build it they will come?"
Well, in China, they didn't come.
Xi Jinping
Zhou Yongkang
Mao. Mao. Mao.
Barack Obama
Obama
I love Chris
OFC?!