China is planning to become known as the space-faring nation for the foreseeable future. China has been sending lunar probes since October 2007, beginning with the Chang’e-1, which sent pictures of the surface of the moon. Chang’e-2 has been orbiting the moon and will until the end of 2012. China is also planning on sending a rover to the moon around 2017, a man around 2025, and building a multi-module space station.
The United States has been famous for exploring space ever since the moon landing in 1969. But lately, other than a rover to Mars, the US seems to have slowed their progress to outer space. With Obama just now being re-elected, it is possible that we will have little progress over the next four years. Other candidates like Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney claimed they would revive America’s space exploration. Romney and Ryan claimed they would set clear priorities for NASA and encourage American private space flight. Newt Gingrich wanted a moon base which was ignorantly ridiculed and referred to as “colonization,” which means something completely different.
Many wonder if space exploration is even important. There are questions on Earth that may have an answer on other planets. There are questions on other planets with answers important to us but beyond our current reach in outer space. The latter is a much more alarming thought. Mars was once fertile and covered in water, a compound essential to humanity’s survival. Something happened to make Mars a red, dry, dust-covered, desolate planet; we don’t know what that something is. That something just may happen to us. So space exploration is potentially an imperative for Earth’s safety.
Personally, the idea of only one country on the planet attempting to reach for the stars is a sad one, especially considering the fact that China is totalitarian (meaning that the government has complete control and surveillance over everything). The infinite frontier should be a high priority for most governments. Perhaps more countries, including more libertarian and liberal ones, will follow China’s ambition. It is time for humanity to revive its interest in the universe.