Gonzaga Debate Institute 2011 Mercury China Coop Aff


Mission Planning – China Capabilities



Download 0.99 Mb.
Page73/93
Date18.10.2016
Size0.99 Mb.
#2396
1   ...   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   ...   93

Mission Planning – China Capabilities



Mars, lunar and orbital docking missions already planned by China

Ressler, U.S. Air Force Major, 9

(Aaron R., Advancing Sino-U.S. Space Cooperation, April 2009, p. 8, http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf&AD=ADA539619, accessed 6/29/11) EK


It appears the PRC is likely are developing their program based on 21st century motivations as space is an opportunity to not only build national prestige, but move forward in the global economy as a supplier and global player in the benefits of space development. They are highly interested in the commercial satellite industry, with plans to launch 100 satellites from 2006 to 2010.45 The construction of its fourth launch site will also greatly expand China’s capability of launching payloads into GEO orbit.46 Future manned and unmanned missions spanning the next 15 years include plans for orbital docking, moon voyages, and the beginnings of a Mars program.47 China’s resounding success and planned upgrades to its Long March series boosters will help in this endeavor. China’s commitment to space is evident with its possession of “the facilities, satellite technology, mission control centers, and launchers required of a space power.”48

Mission Planning – Key To Coop



The U.S. and China mission planning would allow for common objectives

Cheng, Heritage Foundation Asian Studies Center Research Fellow, 9

(Dean, The Heritage Foundation's research fellow on Chinese political and security affairs, specializes in China's military and foreign policy, written extensively on China's military doctrine, technological implications of its space program, worked with Science Applications International Corp, with the China Studies division of the Center for Naval Analyses, studied China's defense-industrial complex for a congressional agency, as an analyst in the International Security and Space Program, spoken at the National Space Symposium, National Defense University, the Air Force Academy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Eisenhower Center for Space and Defense Studies, “REFLECTIONS ON SINO –US SPACE COOPERATION,” Space and Defense, Vol. 2, No.3, December 2009, pg. 4) KA


Joint mission planning. This level of cooperation would involve establishing a common objective for the two (or more) parties, with each side contributing its own spacecraft. The best example is probably the Disaster Monitoring Constellation (DMC). The DMC is comprised of satellites from five nations (Algeria, Nigeria, PRC, Turkey, the UK). These operate together as a single constellation. Thus, it constitutes more than simply a matter of sharing information, but instead involves operating together in order to provide prompt support to international disaster monitoring. Another example of joint mission planning, this time in a bilateral sense, is the Apollo- Soyuz Test Project (ASTP). The ASTP was cited at the Eisenhower Center workshops as a possible model for Sino-US space cooperation, with some suggesting a Shuttle- Shenzhou mission. In the ASTP, the US and USSR agreed to a mission involving a rendezvous and docking, with each nation using its own spacecraft. To undertake the mission required not only making sure that the docking systems were compatible, but that each side understood the other’s flight procedures. Consequently, not only were there repeated exchanges of flight crews, but there were also repeated sessions involving both nations’ flight controllers mission control centers and their respective communications links.6 It should be noted that the ASTP ultimately involved nearly four years of planning and exchanges, suggesting that joint mission planning will be an extensive, and extended, process.

Missions are key to cooperating with China – common uniting factor

Kulacki, senior analyst and China project manager in the Global Security Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists, 2011 (Gregory, “Engaging China in Space,” All Things Nuclear: Insights on Science and Security, http://allthingsnuclear.org/post/2826515287/engaging-china-on-space, January 19, Accessed July 1, 2011, NS)
To be successful, U.S. efforts to engage China on cooperation in space need a specific task or project, somewhere to go together or something to do together. This project needs to be significant enough for the senior Chinese leadership to interrupt the trajectory of China’s current space agenda and direct China’s space planners to accommodate it. For that to happen China’s leaders will need to be confident the United States will carry through on the project. The abrupt end to the agreement to have China launch U.S. satellites in the 1990s is a reminder of the potential political risk to any Chinese leader considering cooperation with the United States in space. Without those two elements, U.S. efforts to engage China’s space stakeholders are unlikely to succeed. U.S. officials should understand that China’s Foreign Ministry is empowered to implement, but not initiate, policy. If there is nothing to implement, there is nothing for it to do but engage in polite conversation. This may be why the Obama administration officials leave discussions with their Chinese counterparts feeling confused and frustrated. The administration may decide it’s not willing to take as big a step as is needed to cut the Gordian knot that’s binding up meaningful engagement with China on space. But it should understand what’s behind China’s tepid response to its proposals.


Solvency – AT – Coop Fails – Common Standards – Key To Coop



The U.S. and China common standards and baselines are a pre-requisite for cooperation over space

Cheng, Heritage Foundation Asian Studies Center Research Fellow, 9

(Dean, The Heritage Foundation's research fellow on Chinese political and security affairs, specializes in China's military and foreign policy, written extensively on China's military doctrine, technological implications of its space program, worked with Science Applications International Corp, with the China Studies division of the Center for Naval Analyses, studied China's defense-industrial complex for a congressional agency, as an analyst in the International Security and Space Program, spoken at the National Space Symposium, National Defense University, the Air Force Academy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Eisenhower Center for Space and Defense Studies, “REFLECTIONS ON SINO –US SPACE COOPERATION,” Space and Defense, Vol. 2, No.3, December 2009, pg. 3-4) KA


Establishing common standards and baselines. A potentially deeper level of interaction would be cooperation in the creation of common technical standards or baselines. This level of cooperation would create not only equipment and procedures that were compatible, but would also begin to expose scientists, technical staff, and administrators from each side to the other. To some extent, this has occurred in some areas of satellite services. Companies manufacturing GPS receivers, for example, are all accessing the same GPS signal; therefore, to some extent they must work to a common standard (at least in terms of their receivers). That does not mean, however, that the receivers are mutually compatible, only that they rely upon a common signal source and format. Cooperation at this level would, in fact, encourage not just accessibility but compatibility. Establishing common standards and baselines, however, would require each side providing the other with information on how each side designs their systems, and, to some extent, how those systems operate. Greater cooperation might require more detailed discussion of operating procedures. All of this may be seen as offering a potential venue for espionage. It was this type of concern in the Loral and Hughes scandals that ultimately ended American use of Chinese commercial space launchers. In the wake of two launch failures involving APSTAR II atop a Long March-2E and Intelsat 708 aboard a Long March-3B, the American partners, Hughes Space and Communications International, Inc., and Space Systems/Loral respectively, assisted in the subsequent investigations. In each case, the companies helped identify shortcomings, involving both design flaws as well as failures in analytical methodology. This assistance was seen as contributing significantly to improvements in not only China’s space systems, but China’s nuclear missile forces.



Download 0.99 Mb.

Share with your friends:
1   ...   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   ...   93




The database is protected by copyright ©ininet.org 2024
send message

    Main page