If China sent a rover to the moon that was specifically sent to knock down the American flag, I feel like America would spend billions of dollars to send people back up to re-erect the flag. As an American I see this happening, I can already picture the headlines.

@Violetsarenotblue but who doesnitnsay your norwigan

@silas_mob_hall Maybe they immigrated.

@Violetsarenotblue

...And then that next Mars Rovers, after re-erecting the flag, will spend out its remaining functional lifespan, repeatedly driving in a programed pattern that -- after wearing grooves into the dust deep enough to be seen from Earth by telescope -- look an awful lot like a caricature of the Chinese President with a dick in his mouth.

Yup. I could see NASA doing that as well.

I like how the robot is a rabbit, so they finally can have their "rabbit on the moon".

A German moon rover would not have had a mechanical breakdown.

@Rolfbart In essence, we've already seen Germany on the moon ... via the contributions to the Apollo program...

(But let's just agree to put Operation Paperclip as a footnote for now...)

@Dena
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x40yevd

"I vonder vhere Guenter Vendt."

@Rolfbart In space, no-one can check your emissions.

@Whirlwound I think moon rovers do not use diesel engines as a power source.

@Rolfbart The Germans kind of love their diesel engines and diesel technology, so you never know. They might have gone for a diesel engine after all.

@Rolfbart
No, but they use about a million liters of kerosene to get to the moon first...

@CorruptUser Did not think about kerosene as a rocket fuel, but I am not a rocket scientist.

Feelbetter.jpg

Don't worry, the Chinese are about to land another lander on the moon in December 2018, the Chang'e-4. And this time, it'll be on the far side of the moon, too boot. They already have two small communication satellites, the Longjiang 1 and 2 who are orbiting the moon to provide a telemetry relay and they've already released a number of photographs of Earth with a view not seen from the Apollo missions.

Couple that with the fact NASA is planning to build a permanent space station in Lunar orbit, the " Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway" (originally the "Deep Space Gateway" it was renamed by the US orange potato-in-chief who didn't like the name) in the 2020s and that the first manned flight of the Orion capsule, the "Exploration Mission 2", in 2023 will also be a lunar flyby (originally it was a mission to rendezvous with a 4-meter boulder from an asteroid bought to lunar orbit by the "Asteroid Redirect Mission", cancelled courtesy of the same orange potato) and the fact both SpaceX and Blue Origin have their own lunar plans for the 2020s, and I think we have a new moon race on our hand.

Our species can only benefit from it, as we're waay behind on the space exploration stuff and we currently still have our (metaphorical) eggs in the same basket, a blue marble of a basket we've been callously making more and more hostile to our own survival through mindless consumption, short-termism and just plain laziness...

@wingsofwrath

Hopefully the plans will pan out. I want more space.
SPAACE SPAACCCEEEEEE! Wanna be in Space! [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVn1oQL9sWg]

@wingsofwrath

Well to be fair Lunar Orbital Platform Gateway sounds *a lot* better than Deep Space Gateway

@n8cwhite

I don't know. The Deep Space Gateway does sound more aspiration and possibly could greatly ease exploration of the Solar system beyond Earth-Luna, especially if linked with a permanent Luna base.

<3
heh heh
<3

Sweet

So the very same people in the USA that want to kill NASA and support the idea of a Space Force are the ones losing their mind over that the movie First Man does not show the astronauts planting the US flag on the moon. The star of the movie, Ryan Gosling explained that even Armstrong believed that what he, his crew and NASA had done transcended mere nationality but that it was a human endeavor. Lets us hope we can get those troglodytes who are living in the 19th century out of power so that we can all soar fully into the 21st.

@cgrutherford If I'm understanding this correctly, you're saying that a movie about the first man on the moon, who did in fact plant the American flag on the moon, isn't going to show the flag being planted? People are upset about that because while the moon landing wasn't just about Nationality, and more about human endeavor, it was a very historic moment for Americans, because they are the ones that made the journey to the moon, Americans are proud that they were the ones that made this historic moment for humanity a reality, and I guarantee you that if it was any other nation that made that journey to the moon instead of America they would most certainly show their flag being planted.

Dear Brother China: Don't despair! Consider this: You're now a part of a very exclusive club, and we welcome you to it. What you have done is an enormous achievement, and we expect even greater achievements from you in the future. You haven't failed, and your achievement inspires everyone to greater efforts. It will take all of us to win the stars. The goal is too lofty for a single person, family, tribe, or nation to reach. Remember: the whole idea of rockets originated in China. If other nations and cultures have leapfrogged over that technology it is only to inspire China to leap themselves, and help us all to get one step closer to the goal.

Nobody can rest on the achievements of other people. We all have to take our own steps and learn our own lessons, otherwise we may miss lessons that other people didn't have the chance to learn.

@Tarmaque One could say that adapting foreign technology is China's forte anyway, but that would be very unfriendly, so nobody says it.

@minando Or, one could say the opposite. One could say that the very idea of technology began in China, and other countries (geographical areas and cultures) stole it all and developed it to its greatest potential. A surprising number of "modern" technological ideas were done in China long before they were developed in the west. Everything from architecture, to paper, to printing, to water power, to chemistry and astronomy.

#9787355
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wupToqz1e2g
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6ugFcwsgpE

@Dan I did not know I needed a picture of Carl Sagan just chillin' with Twilight Sparkle in my life, but it turns out I did. Thank you!

@Dan Well that's certainly one way to desecrate Carl Sagan.