beijingwalker
ELITE MEMBER
- Joined
- Nov 4, 2011
- Messages
- 65,195
- Reaction score
- -55
- Country
- Location
U.S.-China Team in Space?
Jan 17, 2014 05:51 PM EST
Jan 17, 2014 05:51 PM EST
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is exploring new ways to cooperate with China, according to a report published by Aviation Week.
During a recent gathering of space agency chiefs in Washington, D.C., NASA officials had rare, direct contact with Chinese space leaders, despite a federal law that forbids cooperation in space between the two countries.
The extraordinary exchanges happened, Aviation Week reports, during a gathering of the world's top space agency leaders arranged by the United States State Department and International Academy of Astronautics Jan. 9-10 to discuss the future of deep-space exploration.
Attended by more than 30 top officials, the multilateral setting apparently provided the needed loophole the U.S. officials needed to speak to China's delegation without violating the no-contact law, which was passed by the 112th U.S. Congress in April 2011 and bans NASA from participating in any bilateral agreements or coordination with China.
Charles Bolden, NASA's administrator, previously visited China's human-spaceflight launch site on an official tour, but was unable to return the courtesy to China's chief space official because of the restrictions, which is roundly criticized by many in the space exploration community.
"We are looking for ways in time to find different ways we can be a partner to them," Bolden said in the Aviation Week report. "Human spaceflight is not something that's going to happen with U.S. [and] China in the foreseeable future, because we are forbidden from doing that by law, so let's just get that out there ... that's not going to change; not today, anyway."
Bolden noted that China is already among the 80-plus nations included in International Space Station activities, such as the science program represented by the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, which uses Chinese superconducting magnets as part of its search for evidence of dark matter.
It's highly improbable that China, which is working toward launching its own space station, will be invited to join the ISS partnership between NASA and the space agencies of Russia, Canada, Japan and Europe.
None of the existing station partners has shown a willingness to reopen the treaties that set up the partnership, Bolden said. On the other hand, he added, "each member organization is encouraged to reach out and involve other nations as participants."
The space exploration summit was attended by two Chinese space agencies: the China National Space Administration, a civilian organization that deals primarily with robotic missions, and the China Manned Space Agency, a branch of the People's Liberation Army.
Bolden reportedly met with Xu Dazhe, the newly installed administrator for the CNSA.
