Over the moon in China

Here’s the problem with space exploration programs and democracies: A space agency comes up with a great scheme to send an orbiter to the moon. It may even find a way to do it cheaply. Then someone comes along and says, “Hey, what about the schools? What about all the poor people?”

That doesn’t happen in China very much. Those pesky questions, which hold back space programs in democratic Japan and India, aren’t such a bother here.

China’s Chang’e I lunar explorer is winging its way around the Earth, about to sling itself through space and into lunar orbit.

The launch of the lunar orbiter last week was _ in addition to a notable achievement _ a brilliant piece of theater. It came on the heels of the 17th Communist Party Congress, reminding Chinese how the one-party state is propelling the nation into the modern era. News reports said 1,000 journalists turned up around the Xichang launch site in Sichuan province, as well as throngs of tourists. Domestic news coverage was intense.

As a column in today’s South China Morning Post (behind a paywall) notes:

“But amid all the triumphant headlines, no one seemed to be asking: What is the point of Chang'e I? After all, it's not as if the moon is unknown to mankind. China's probe is going to be circling the moon 38 years after American astronauts were walking on its surface, something the mainland media has pointedly failed to mention. Its mission - to map the moon in 3D and study the moon's dust - is hardly essential, especially as the U.S. presented Beijing with lunar rock samples way back in 1978.

As if to defuse potential critics of the Chinese space program, much has been made of the fact that the moon mission is costing only 1.4 billion yuan. According to the papers, that's the amount it costs to extend Beijing's subway by a mere 2 kilometers. But going into space on the cheap is still not adequate justification for a mission with no obvious benefits, given that almost 100 million people on the mainland live on US$1 a day.”

Of course, this doesn’t touch on the obvious political benefits that accrue to the party, and general national pride that comes with such an achievement.

I still remember clearly the night of July 20, 1969, when U.S. astronauts from Apollo 11 walked on the moon. I was 11 years old, and my family was camping in southern Wisconsin. We brought along a portable black-and-white television, and were able to see it, through a lot of static, on the screen. It was unforgettable. Who could drink Tang back then without recalling that it was the “breakfast of astronauts?”

As NASA’s chief acknowledged earlier in a speech a few weeks ago, the Apollo program brought all kinds of intangible benefits to the U.S. as well as tangible scientific progress on things that affect our daily lives, like CAT scans, infrared thermometers and other medical technologies.

Whether China can make those kinds of strides is yet to be seen. But its space program is also likely to have intangible benefits. As an editor of mine notes, the moon conjures up special images here. Just look at how the moon is portrayed in Chinese culture. Thanks to my office assistant Fan Di, here’s a list of festivals and legends with a lunar link:

/ Mid-Autumn Festival: On August 15 in Chinese lunar calendar, the moon is believed to be rounder than usual. In Chinese old traditions this is also a good day for matchmaking and an occasion for family members to get together. Chinese traditionally eat moon cakes on this day. The moon cake tradition is believed to have begun in the Yuan Dynasty, when a popular uprising took place against the Yuan tyranny. On the mid-Autumn day, rebels put messages in moon cakes and transmitted news by giving moon cakes as gifts.

/ Lunar New Year, and the Lantern Festival: The Lantern Festival takes place at the end
of the Chinese New Year Celebration, on the fifteenth day of the first moon in the lunar calendar. The special food for the Lantern Festival is yuan xiao or tang yuan. These are round dumplings made with sticky rice flour.

Then there are the lunar legends that almost every Chinese child knows by heart:

/ Chang’e was a goddess fallen to Earth and transformed into a poor farm girl. When she was 18, she met Hou Yi, an archer from another village. As the legend goes, Hou Yi became a hero when he shot nine smoldering suns out of the sky, ending a drought on Earth. Seeking immortality, he sought an elixir to prolong his life. Chang’e found the elixir and either accidentally or purposefully swallowed it. She fled the irate Hou Yi, jumped out of a palace window and ascended into the sky toward the moon. Chang’e remains on the moon, accompanied by a white rabbit, who pounds immortal elixir in a giant mortar.

/ Also residing on the moon is Wu Gang, a laborer exiled to the moon by the emperor for his wrongdoings. His punishment was to chop down a laurel tree on the moon. But every time he chops, the tree heals itself and keeps growing.

Even today when Chinese people look toward the moon, they think of Chang’e, the white rabbit, Wu Gang, and listen for the chop-chop of his axe. They may also soon be thinking of China’s space prowess. What they won’t have a say in, though, is whether heading for the moon, where there are already human footprints, is the best use of their tax dollars.

Comments

[nanheyangrouchuan]

What also hasn't been mentioned by the Chinese press is that except for the 3D part, China is repeating surveys carried out by Japan and the US in the past 4 years, including Helium-3 and water.

What would be the wager that Chang'e stays in orbit around the moon broadcasting "the East is Red" on known NASA, European, Japanese and Russian space frequencies?

[A B]

1.4 b yuan? That is a tiny fraction of the cost of keeping China's forex reserves mostly in dollars that are plunging in value.

Or a fraction of the cost of importing high priced Microsoft and Apple software from the US when Linux works perfectly well, or on x86 processors when China can bring to market a legal and commercially viable clone, a fraction of the spending by Chinese tourists abroad, or the amount spent on gambling or prostitutes, or a small amount relative to importing foreign luxuries like cars, aircraft, perfume, wines, liquor, cigarettes, pet food, etc.

It would figure that SCMP's columnist would lead the charge to keep China backward and ignorant. No wonder they have to keep their content behind a firewall!

By that SCMP logic, why should China allow Hong Kong to enjoy such a high standard of living relative to China 'with no obvious benefits'? Why not start taxing high incomes in HK to pay for these 'unneeded' programs?

For that matter, the amount of money wasted by SCMP annually to publish and distribute news that is already published elsewhere is probably more than the amount spent on this trip to the moon! Just by eliminating this wastage China can pay for the program many times over!

Who is to say that there is not something new that will be discovered by China's space program on this mission, or on future missions?

Was there even an effort to evaluate the mission's scientific and technical capabilities and the spin-offs before critics start to mouth off? Did the other countries that got to the moon first offer to unconditionally and fully share their data and samples collected with China?

From what we know, the same countries that got to industrialization and high tech industries first certainly did not offer to share the knowhow with China for free....and often at any price. They did the equivalent of giving China a few lunar rock samples.

Looks like there are lots of modern critics of Admiral Cheng Ho around. Never mind that the modern 'voyages' in no way strain the treasury like Cheng Ho's voyages.

If China's wealthy business people were very astute, they would privately finance an effort like sending a lander / submarine probe to Europa - a truly path breaking science project that no one else has done before. The program probably cannot be done for less than 10 or 20B RMB - pocket change if China's wealthy elite got together and chipped in 10M RMB a piece. Then China can tell these critics to go take a long walk on a short pier.

[mike]

i think exploring the moon is tax money well spent. It's peaceful, and it's for science and research. As for whether so much money should be spent on moon exploration at this time in China's history, well, i am not sure anyone knows the right answer for sure. If i could have a vote on how the government should spend my tax money, moon exploration would be high on my list. I don't consider this to be a waste of taxpayer money at all.

[Pffefer]

Following that article (on South China Morning Post)'s logic, I guess one should ask: Why should China do anything? Anything other than helping the poor and the kids who can't go to school? Of course the argument has a point, and I too believe taking care of the poor and those kids who can't afford to go to school (they are China's future!) is more important than launching space explorations like this one. But if we strictly follow the script (in a perfect world), China would get nothings done and it should and must not accomplish anything unless it becomes a developed country. It just doesn't work like this.

And this is not really about democracies. In the US where problems and issues exist (too!), education, child care, health care were squeezed to make room for the war and other expensive endeavors. India? What's stopping India? They are going to launch their own mission to moon next year, right? The upcoming Olympic Games next year in Beijing, despite being hugely popular, did raise questions and initiate debates (albeit quietly) about whether China should have spent the money on its poor instead. Even though China is not a democracy, public opinion still matters.

[jian yang]

I think space exploration programs is alien from democracies.