01-03-2005 03:23									#1
	Japanese moon base Remove this text

quote: Japan aims for moon base by 2025 Last Updated Mon, 28 Feb 2005 16:45:59 EST CBC News TOKYO - On the heels of its successful rocket launch on the weekend, Japan announced plans to send people to a station on the moon by 2025. "We will include [the lunar station] as one of the future goals in our new long-term vision, which we are going to submit with the government's Space Activity Commission by the end of March," an official with Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency told Agence France-Presse on Monday. Japan's space agency, or JAXA, also aims to set up a satellite system to transmit alerts for disasters like earthquakes or tsunamis. Satellites would send information to cellphones on Earth, added the official, who asked not to be named. The official was responding to a news story in Monday's edition of the Japanese daily Mainichi Shimbun, which reported JAXA is drafting a long-term plan to develop vehicles like NASA's space shuttles by 2025. Japan's space plans call for robots to explore the moon by 2015. Within two decades, technology could allow humans to stay on a solar-powered lunar research base for extended periods. The international space industry doubts Japan will become a major player at launching commercial satellites, but its technology could contribute to regional tsunami warnings. On Saturday, a rocket designed and built by the Japanese successfully placed a satellite into orbit. The $155 million US satellite will assist weather forecasts and aircraft navigation. In 1972, Japan became the fourth country to launch a satellite. Aside from its lunar mission, the country aims to be the first to collect and retrieve samples from an asteroid. In November 2003, one of Japan's H-2A rockets exploded in midair, temporarily grounding its space plans until the technical problem was fixed. The setback came one month after China successfully launched its first astronaut into orbit. Japan's $2.5 billion US space budget can afford one or two launches per year. Although Japanese space officials say they are not in a space race with China, a government panel recommended studying the possibility of establishing a manned space program. A perceived nuclear threat from communist North Korea may also be contributing to Japan's space activity. In a break from its peaceful space policy, Japan began launching spy satellites in 2003.

http://www.jaxa.jp/index_e.html

	01-03-2005 03:33									#2
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I am fully prepared for a lunar global war, as long as it gets the moon colonized.

Japan had some problems with it's space program, AFAIK... hope that they'll get over them, and will cooperate as little as possible with other nations on the issues, while continuing to strive forward in their space exploration.

	01-03-2005 03:43									#3
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This must not be allowed to happen. Everyone knows that a Japanese moon base will attract every space monster in existence.

	01-03-2005 03:45									#4
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tentacle rape on the moon

	01-03-2005 03:46									#5
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quote: Originally posted by Azazel tentacle rape on the moon

*Prepares to steal idea*

	01-03-2005 03:48									#6
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quote: This must not be allowed to happen. Everyone knows that a Japanese moon base will attract every space monster in existence.

They're doing it to stop the attacks on Tokyo. I think they're finally tired of having to rebuild 364 out of 365 days of the year.

	01-03-2005 05:20									#7
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I get the feeling you guys aren't taking my thread seriously.

	01-03-2005 05:23									#8
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Naw, their national debt is worse then Americas or Italy's so they don't have the cash for big new space programs.

	01-03-2005 05:24									#9
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GODZIRRRA!!!

	01-03-2005 05:43									#10
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Good to see that somebody wants to do it....

Well, actually, every Space Agency out there wants a permanent scientific base on the moon. The question is whether and when they'll have it. I doubt the Japanese alone are able to make such an effort

	01-03-2005 06:03									#11
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2025 is pretty optimistic for a country which is only just studying the possibility of manned missions, but it's certainly the next logical step to take in space exploration.

	01-03-2005 06:04									#12
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Oh, ocme on, its obviously as move to solve the pension problem- whcih do you guys think is really cheaper, keeping old people here on earth and giving them decent pensions, or shipping them off to die glorious deaths making Nippon on the Moon?

Those old people that make it will be allowed to come back and have a wonderful 7' by 6' studio.

	01-03-2005 06:07									#13
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They just tell the old folks that they're going to the moon then when they reach orbit they open the airlocks and toss the old coggers out.

	01-03-2005 06:08									#14
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Are you nuts? Orbital pollution is bad enough as it is- what if some dead senior knocks out some important television satellite?

Nah, you have to go to the moon- the more old japanese people burried there, the more Japan can claim rights over the whole thing- who will argue, or build over giant Japanese cemeteries?

	01-03-2005 06:18									#15
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This is doable, if Japan wishes it. However, there are a couple of things to keep in mind about Japan's space program.

Throughout the 70s and 80s, Japan licensed the design of an American rocket, the Thor. In succession, the N-1, N-2, and H-1 had only one miss out of 24 launches -- the miss being early in the program. In other words, this was a successful rocket program.

In the early 90s, they thought they had a good handle on this rocket stuff and decided to strike out on their own and design a purely Japanese rocket, the H-2. Unfortunately for them, the H-2 proceeded to fail twice in its first seven attempts. Since that rocket didn't work out too well, they decided to design another, the H-2A. After 5 successes, in 2003, the H-2A blew up -- quite a fireball.

Japan finds itself in a precarious situation. The Japanese are space nuts through and through and don't like to lose face by failure. But they had just blown up their rocket and now they had a serious inferiority complex. Their only successful programs were with American-designed launchers.

They redesigned the H-2A and breathed a huge sigh of relief when over the weekend they successfully returned it to flight.

So right now, you're seeing a lot of frothy comments from the Japanese. No longer are they a backward nation that can't put a tin can in space to save their lives. Rather, they are now an invincible spacefaring nation and can stick it in the eye to all comers.

I would give it a couple of weeks for them to settle down.

	01-03-2005 06:42									#16
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quote: Originally posted by techumseh I get the feeling you guys aren't taking my thread seriously.

Ya think?

	01-03-2005 06:55									#17
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Actually, BustaMike, it should be:

GOJIRA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

	01-03-2005 07:45									#18
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Meaningless Banter. i remember seeing something in 98 on the net about russia going to the moon in 2004. Hasnt happened. Ive seen dozens of countries commit to timetables only to axe the programs months later. Nasa, The Soviet Union/err Federal Space agency are the only nations capable of doing it in a 25 year time frame. With europe getting there.

	01-03-2005 07:55									#19
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In this case though, there'd be lots of patriotism and national pride to fund a Japan-China space race.

	01-03-2005 08:29									#20
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Yeah, well Italy's gonna be the first country to put an astronaut on the sun!

	01-03-2005 10:48									#21
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Not a very comradely thing to say about the nation that produced Gramsci.

	01-03-2005 12:10									#22
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quote: Not a very comradely thing to say about the nation that produced Gramsci.

When the revolution comes, everyone will be forced to wear a special implant giving them the mistic abilities of teh "humor".

	01-03-2005 14:41									#23
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quote: Originally posted by techumseh Not a very comradely thing to say about the nation that produced Gramsci.

That's okay, che's from Italy.

	02-03-2005 01:38									#24
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* Straybow looks around, doesn't see this in thread

All your base are belong to us!

	02-03-2005 03:01									#25
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Asian space race!

This could be exciting! Who's next to throw their hat in the ring? Taiwan? North Korea?

	02-03-2005 03:40									#26
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if you believe nkorea, they've already had one. =p

skorea's looking for a launching site, as well.

	02-03-2005 03:49									#27
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Sounds very exciting! Someone already mentioned that Japan has more debt than America, but on the otherhand Japan doesnt dump billions of dollars to fund its wars and military. I'm sure the Japanese are capable of doing this in say 30 years time. I'm sure they can come up with the trillion dollars it requires. Tough job, but doable.

	02-03-2005 07:05									#28
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To relate to another thread, it's funny how the one country with a shrinking population may be the first to begin space colonization.

	02-03-2005 07:47									#29
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Who's that? Russia? The Ukraine?