Request for more space cooperation, us policy prevents any bilateral exchange

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Other nations are going to push for exploration inevitability only question is US involvement
Space exploration is inevitable
Extraterrestrial live is inevitable and new developments will scan planets for livable conditions
China exploring specific
Chinese space development is high now in the status quo- They are sending robots to outer space.
Chinese space development is high now in the status quo- They plan embark a massive space expedition to Mars by the end of the decade.
Chinese space development is skyrocketing- the long march 7 rocket is environmentally friendly and the United States needs to get involved with this new technology
China plans on sending its Tiangong 2 space laboratory into orbit this year, and will complete the full station by 2020*
China plans to carry out record-breaking number of space missions in 2016*
China’s space program has been making breakthroughs while NASA is seeking new roles*
NASA plans on readying the Orion space capsule for its first mission around the mood*
NASA plans on testing the most powerful rocket ever created in the first piloted mission past low orbit since 1972*
A2: China Technology Theft
Impact is non-uniq. China already cooperates on space technology creation
Largest security breach was only a false alarm
Not cooperating hurts NASA more because NASA is already more public then CNSA
Chinese stealing our intellectual property is inevitable with private corporations and forced space debris cooperation

Exploration Args

Exploration Now

Space Exploration Inevitable

We have the technology to colonize in the status quo It is inevitable

Gilster April 8th 2016 (Paul Gilster is an American writer on aerospace and technology topics whose site, Centauri Dreams, chronicles ongoing research into interstellar flight. He is also the author of Centauri Dreams: Imagining and Planning Interstellar Exploration (2004). “How far beyond Earth will we go to safeguard our species?” Published: 08 April, 2016 Edited by Corey S Powell; https://aeon.co/ideas/how-far-beyond-earth-will-we-go-to-safeguard-our-species)

The human future in the cosmos could be all but limitless, if we don’t destroy ourselves first. The same would be true of intelligent aliens elsewhere in the Universe, assuming they exist: how far they travel depends strongly on how long they survive as a species. That survival variable, which the US astronomer Frank Drake incorporated into his famous equation on the likelihood of technological civilisations beyond Earth, is unknowable at present because we are the only such civilisation yet identified. Let’s be optimistic and assume that humans are persistent, working their way through the manifest problems of mastering their tools – or at least mastering them long enough to plant colonies off-world, so that our destruction in one place doesn’t mean the death of the species. There’s a lot of real estate to consider across the star lanes of the Milky Way. Take a sphere 100 light-years in radius, with the Earth at its centre: within it, there exist about 14,000 stars. Beyond that, we don’t know the frequency of habitable planets in our entire home galaxy of 200 billion stars, but current indications are that they’re plentiful, with some estimates running into the tens of billions. If we can begin planting even a few colonies elsewhere in our solar system, and eventually on planets around other suns, our species becomes ferociously hard to eliminate. Kill off one branch and the others persist: learning (we hope) from the sad experience of their forebears; trying new social experiments; pushing technologies to ever higher levels of sophistication; finding out about life elsewhere; and continuing to explore. Our expansion into the galaxy will begin slowly, for the stars are immensely distant. Scatter 200 billion grains of salt – each representing a single star – into an approximation of the Milky Way and, in our neighbourhood, each grain of salt would be seven miles from its nearest counterpart. To reach Alpha Centauri, the triple-star system closest to our own, with a human crew we need to travel at least at 10 per cent of lightspeed (about 30,000 kilometres per second), making for a four-decade crossing. With the help of some form of suspended animation, the journey might be made easier. Ten per cent of lightspeed is an attractive goal. It’s fast enough to reach the nearest stars in a single human lifetime, but not so fast that collisions with interstellar gas and dust cannot be protected against. We’ll need to tune up those technologies and learn to shield our crews from galactic cosmic rays. Deceleration at the destination is a huge problem, but possibilities exist. Perhaps the most plausible of these is using a magnetic field generated by a superconducting loop, a so-called ‘magsail’, that can open in the latter phases of the mission to brake over years against the stream of charged particles emitted by the target stars. As to how to get to 10 per cent of lightspeed in the first place, numerous ideas are bruited about. If we had to make a choice right now, the technology with the highest likelihood of success is probably a vast sail. This would be a ‘lightsail’, driven by a powerful laser or microwave station in close proximity to the Sun; it would ride photons from the beam, acquiring their momentum. Strategies exist to tighten, or ‘collimate’, the beam through a huge lens in the outer solar system, or through a series of smaller lenses that can keep the beam on the departing spacecraft long enough for it to reach its substantial percentage of lightspeed. There are other possible interstellar propulsion strategies, from antimatter to fusion to interstellar ramjets. To help the crew survive the journey, we can explore nanotechnology, artificial intelligence, and uploaded consciousness. Whether it takes one or five or 20 centuries to make it happen, an outpost around another star could eventually grow into its own culture of star-faring. Now the timeframe widens. Give each colony 1,000 years to reach the point where it can begin building starships of its own. The species not only survives but begins to branch out from colonies around the nearby stars, one hop at a time, a slow spread across the Milky Way that is achievable within the known laws of physics. No Star Trek engines here, although we can’t assume that future breakthroughs will not happen. The point is that even if they don’t, expansion into the galaxy is still feasible. If we’re willing to take our incessant drive to make everything happen in our own lifetimes off the table, then an even slower, and perhaps more likely, form of expansion is possible. Our experience building human habitats in space points to huge future space ‘arcologies’ – self-sustaining, city-size ships of the kind once imagined by the US physicist and futurist Gerard O’Neill, with thousands of people living in artificial, Earth-like environments. A kilometres-long ‘worldship’ of this sort might travel much more slowly than our lightsail, perhaps a mere half a per cent of lightspeed (which is still 1,500 kilometres per second). Many of its inhabitants, living through generations aboard the vessel, might well decide after exploration of a new system that planet-based life is less appealing than a habitat they can control at all levels. Our descendants could one day explore planets but choose not to settle on them, living off space-based resources. Our galaxy is 100,000 light-years across. Will we encounter other civilisations as we hop from star to star? Perhaps, and there might be numerous worlds we need to bypass as a result. The US astrophysicist Michael Hart has argued that a slow wave of expansion could cross the Milky Way within a few million years. By then, our spreading descendants probably would have differentiated so much from each other that we would no longer recognise them. They might no longer even be biological. Yet each of them would be a direct result of our civilisation, having embarked upon a celestial migration that can be, if we choose, all but unbounded. In opposition to this optimistic scenario, the original question of survival persists. There are Sun-like stars billions of years older than our own. If it were possible to spread throughout the Milky Way, wouldn’t some civilisation have already done it? The rough passage through technological immaturity might be impassable. Still, we have no choice but to try, to stay alive long enough to get off-world in meaningful numbers before war or accident does us in. Above all else, interstellar flight is a human back-up strategy.

Other nations are going to push for exploration inevitability only question is US involvement

Chiao and Pulham March 23, 2016 (Leroy Chiao is a Former NASA Astronaut and ISS Commander, Elliot Pulham is the CEO of the Space Foundation; “The Politics of Space Exploration” Published: 03/23/2016 01:04 pm ET | Updated Mar 23, 2016; http://www.huffingtonpost.com/leroy-chiao/the-politics-of-space-exp_b_9532278.html)

Human kind is poised on the launch pad of the most exciting, transformational age of space exploration since the orbiting of Sputnik started it all, back in 1957. Despite the forces that are unleashing a race to the stars unlike any we have seen, the subject of space exploration and utilization has been conspicuously absent from the U.S. presidential campaigns. Why is this? Space Exploration, particularly human spaceflight, has heretofore been inextricably intertwined with politics. Political/ideological competition between the United States and the Soviet Union fueled the race to put a human into space, in order to score Cold War victories by demonstrating technological superiority. The Soviets scored early and often, with several victories, including Sputnik and Yuri Gagarin’s flight.* Not to be out-done, the United States declared a new finish-line — saying that it would win the race to land humans on the Moon, which was accomplished in less than a decade — one of the greatest political accomplishments and engineering feats in human history. The Soviets responded by flying the first space stations, the Salyut series. We countered with Skylab, and upped the ante significantly, developing the Space Shuttle. The Soviet Union felt compelled to develop its own shuttle, Buran — and the challenge was beyond them, driving the space program of the USSR to its knees. After just one unmanned demonstration flight, of an incomplete vehicle, Buran was relegated to museums and boneyards, never to fly with a crew, never to fly again. Since the first tentative steps toward partnership with the Apollo-Soyuz flight, and graduating to the Shuttle-Mir program and now the International Space Station (ISS), a political approach of collaboration over confrontation worked to build social, cultural, and economic bridges between the super powers, surviving even the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the former Soviet Union. Cooperation between former foes continued, and still continues, although China changed the political and technical calculus in 2003, becoming only the third country in the world able to launch astronauts into space. China’s requests to join the ISS program over the years were rebuffed several times by the U.S., even though our Russian, European and Canadian partners publicly voiced at least some support for the idea. There were speculations that China’s entry into the human spaceflight club would spawn a new space race and give the U.S. program a shot in the arm. But it didn’t happen. In fact, quite the opposite. The United States retired the Space Shuttle fleet in 2011, and has had no independent means of launching astronauts into space since. The U.S. buys seats aboard Russian spacecraft — thanks to the partnership that has withstood the collapse of the Soviet Union, the advent of the European Union, and the rise of China. This will hopefully change soon, as SpaceX and Boeing approach the first flights of their Dragon and Spaceliner spacecraft, which will carry the first commercially procured astronaut flights from U.S. soil, sometime around the end of next year. Still, there is a bittersweet truth. Since the beginning of the Space Age there have always been only two countries capable of launching humans into space. It is still true. Tragically, the U.S. is not one of those countries. U.S. leadership in space, quite simply, has eroded. While there is no country that can muster the overall capability in all sectors of space as remarkably as can the United States, there are any number of countries that can do some things as well, or better. Twenty years ago, 75 percent of the world’s launch capability was manufactured in the U.S. Today, less than 25 percent is. Fifteen years ago, 75 percent of the world’s satellites were manufactured in the U.S. Today, less than 20 percent are. Why haven’t our elected officials noticed this erosion? Or, if they do recognize it, why don’t they talk about it publicly? The answer is that we have been so used to being the leader in space, for so long, that we take it for granted. We assume, without considering the evidence, that it is still true. Why make it a political issue? Don’t worry! Be happy! This is dangerous. While the U.S. has a vague idea of someday sending astronauts to Mars, sometime in the next 20+ years, China, Russia and Europe are planning, with firm schedules, to send their astronauts to the Moon in the next decade. Shouldn’t we, the United States, lead this effort? If not leading, shouldn’t we at least appear to be relevant? While many positive things have been accomplished in space in the past decade, we believe that one of the most ill-considered comments to color our discussion, has been “Been there, done that,” pertaining to human lunar space exploration. Though not intended this way, it flippantly discounted a unique American accomplishment and a unique body of knowledge that the U.S. can bring to the human experience, and the great human adventure. There are numerous technical, operational and programmatic reasons for the U.S. to go back to the Moon, as part of the effort to send astronauts to Mars. But, recognizing that politics motivate and drive all decisions, the warning klaxons should be sounding loud and clear to our politicians. Other spacefaring nations will go to the Moon, with or without us. There aren’t just two space nations playing anymore, there are dozens. If we don’t lead that effort, another nation or nations will. This is important, as it partially reflects our overall position in the world. Losing that position would be a blow to our international prestige. We worked hard as a nation to achieve and to maintain leadership in space. It would be more than a shame to simply let it slip away.

Space exploration is inevitable

Hayes April 15, 2013 (Tyler Hayes Formerly CEO of Prime a space exploration company “Inevitability” Published: Apr 15, 2013; https://medium.com/space-exploration/inevitability-273f5062f930#.b6ckz2r0v)

For hundreds of years we looked up at the sky guessing and supposing and pontificating that surely there must be other planets out there. But we couldn’t prove it. Nor could we count the stars; they were too many. And their manyness told us there must be so many that it’s impossible for there not to be other stars and planets like ours. But we couldn’t prove it. Then in 1992 we confirmed the first exoplanet. And in 2009 Kepler was launched. Now, already more than 100 more planets have been discovered. Not only have we discovered other planets, the process has now become commonplace. (So goes the nation.) “It’s inevitable.” I’m sure thousands, if not millions, of human beings echoed these six syllables aloud before 1992. Looking up at the sky, looking for other planets, and muttering it to themselves in a moment of hopeful desperation. Or with others in a moment of convincing delight. And they were right. And before them more things were inevitable: traveling into space, discovering DNA, proving heliocentrism. And after them even more things are inevitable: artificial intelligence, a world without poverty, Earth-like planets outside our solar system. And the crucible the latter will inevitably deliver: extraterrestrial life.

Extraterrestrial live is inevitable and new developments will scan planets for livable conditions

The Guardian 2014 (The Guardian is a newspaper covering a multitude of topics; “Life beyond Earth seems 'inevitable', US planetary scientist says” Published: Monday 4 August 2014 15.00 EDT; https://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/aug/04/extra-terrestrial-life-inevitable-planetary-scientist-astronomers)

Astronomers are standing on a "great threshold" of space exploration that could see evidence of extra-terrestrial life being discovered in the next 20 years, an expert has claimed. Life beyond the Earth seems inevitable given the immensity of the universe, says US planetary scientist Dr Sara Seager. In the coming decades chemical fingerprints of life written in the atmospheres of planets orbiting nearby stars could be found by the next generation of space telescopes. Writing in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Seager, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), said: "We can say with certainty that, for the first time in human history, we are finally on the verge of being able to search for signs of life beyond our solar system around the nearest hundreds of stars." Astronomers now know that statistically every star in our galaxy, the Milky Way, should have at least one planet, and small rocky worlds like the Earth are common. "Our own galaxy has 100bn stars and our universe has upwards of 100bn galaxies – making the chance for life elsewhere seem inevitable based on sheer probability," said Seager. In the next decade or two, a handful of "potentially habitable" exoplanets will have been found with atmospheres that can be studied in detail by sophisticated space telescopes. The first of these "next generation" telescopes will be the American space agency Nasa's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) due to be launched in 2018. It will be able to analyse the atmospheres of dozens of "super-Earths" – rocky planets somewhat larger than Earth – including several that could harbour life. Studying a planet's atmosphere for signs of life involves capturing starlight filtering through its gases. Different elements absorb different wavelengths of light, providing information about the atmosphere's make-up. Living things, from bacteria to large animals, are expected to produce "biosignature" gases that could be detected in a planet's atmosphere. They include oxygen, ozone, nitrous oxide, and methane. The problem faced by scientists is that some of these, such as methane, can be generated by geological processes as well as life. The likelihood of "false positives" could be reduced by searching for rarer biosignature gases more closely tied to living systems, such as dimethyl sulphide (DMS), and methanethiol, said Seager. But she pointed out that observations using telescopes such as the JWST, which will focus on backlit "transiting" planets that happen to passing in front of their parent stars, will be limited. Maximising the chances of finding evidence of extraterrestrial life will require a technological leap to methods of directly imaging large numbers of exoplanets. Such an undertaking is daunting, given that directly imaging an Earth-like exoplanet is equivalent to picking out a firefly in the glare of a searchlight from a distance of 2,500 miles. Yet two techniques now under development could make direct imaging of Earth twins possible. One involves specialised optics to block out interfering starlight and reveal the presence of orbiting exoplanets. The other is the "starshade" – an umbrella-like screen tens of metres in diameter placed tens of thousands of kilometres in front of a space telescope lens. The starshade is designed to cast a shadow blocking out light from a star while leaving a planet's reflected light unaffected. "To be confident of finding a large enough pool of exoplanets to search for biosignature gases, we require the ability to directly image exoplanets orbiting 1,000 or more of the nearest Sun-like stars," said Seager. She added: "We stand on a great threshold in the human history of space exploration. If life is prevalent in our neighbourhood of the galaxy, it is within our reach to be the first generation in human history to finally cross this threshold and learn if there is life of any kind beyond Earth."

China exploring specific

China is conducting experiments in preparation for Deep Space exploration

Chinatopix June 21st 2016 (Chinatopix covers developments from China; “China Experiments Human Survival in Space Capsule for Future Deep Space Exploration” Published: Jun 21, 2016 02:55 PM EDT; http://www.chinatopix.com/articles/92824/20160621/china-experiments-human-survival-space-capsule-future-deep-exploration.htm#ixzz4CimvpjF6)

Chinese scientists are experimenting the possibilities and potential challenges of human survival in future deep space exploration missions. The study which is expected to be a breakthrough in future space travel involved the simulating space conditions in a capsule. The study is taking place Shenzhen, South China and involves four volunteers who will be participating in the experiments by living in the sealed space capsule for 180 days. During this period, data collected will help develop China's space exploration projects. The capsule which comprises several compartments also includes a greenhouse in which scientists have grown around two dozen variety of plants such as strawberries, horse radish, soya beans and peanuts. These plants form an essential part of the controlled ecological life support system that enables humans to live in space by making vital resources like oxygen available naturally. In 2005, scientists in the US simulated Mars-like environments in a desert land located northwest of Utah. A greenhouse was set up outside the Mars Research Station, where scientists from the Arizona state university regularly inspected the plants growing in a self-sustaining system that recycled waste and water from the research station. The findings of the research were believed to be crucial for future missions to Mars. As far as the Chinese human space survival program is concerned, according to Xinhua, some reputed institutions are collaborating to make the experiment a success. They include the Space Institute of Southern China, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harvard University and the German Aerospace Center. Scientists will constantly be monitoring the physiological changes experienced by the volunteers during their six-month stay in the enclosed space, particularly their circadian rhythm and emotional health. All of the collected data will enable China to improve its space exploration programs. Improvements will focus on the quality of life astronauts experience in outer space. As well as developing self-sufficient systems that can recycle air, water and food essential for human survival.

Chinese space development is high now in the status quo- They are sending robots to outer space.

Cane, Jun 23, 2016[Jenia Cane, Writer for ChinaTopix, China’s Space Program to Develop Family of Robots for Mars Mission, http://www.chinatopix.com/articles/93148/20160623/china-space-program.htm]

China's space program will receive a major boost as the nation's leading space agency intends to develop a family of robots that will be tasked to handle its unmanned and manned space exploration efforts. According to Tian Yulong, secretary-general of the China National Space Administration, the Central government is formulating a long-term plan for the development of robots that will be sent to space to carry out specialized tasks, China Daily reported. "They will consist of Mars rovers, asteroid explorers, robotic arms and service robots that can help maintain and repair an in-orbit space station, space laboratories and satellites," Tian said at the sidelines of the 13th International Symposium on Artificial Intelligence, Robotics and Automation in Space, held in Beijing. The space administration and Harbin Institute of Technology are hosting the three-day event, which is attended by representatives from more than 10 countries, including the United States, Germany and Japan. "More efforts will be made to develop advanced robots with higher automation to meet the needs of our deep-space exploration programs," Tian said, as he emphasized China's efforts to continuously upgrade its space program. He revealed that China's version of the Mars rover will be home-made, as it will be based on tested, domestically developed technologies and utilize the experience obtained from the country's Yutu lunar rover. Based on the space agency's timetable, the goal is to send an unmanned probe to orbit and successfully land on Mars by 2020. Since the 1960s, China's space program has launched more than 40 space probes to Mars. Currently, there are only two rovers that have been beaming signals directly from the Red planet's surface back to Earth. There are NASA's Mars Exploration Mission rover Opportunity and its Mars Science Laboratory rover Curiosity. Professor Liu Hong, a senior robotics expert at Harbin Institute of Technology, noted that space missions involve a very high amount of risk especially for astronauts, as they operate in a vacuum and under extreme temperature changes and high radiation. "Such operations are suitable for robots to carry out," Liu explained. "Robotic arms are an ideal combination of human intelligence and robotic capability, and these will be one of our research focuses." With China now recognized as a world leader in robotic arms research, it will not take long for its space program to achieve its goal of finally landing the nation's first space probe on Mars.

Chinese space development is high now in the status quo- They plan embark a massive space expedition to Mars by the end of the decade.

Associated Press, Jun. 26, 2016[Associated Press, China on schedule for launch of 2nd space station, Business Insider, http://www.businessinsider.com/ap-china-on-schedule-for-launch-of-2nd-space-station-2016-6]

China on Sunday recovered an experimental probe launched aboard a new generation rocket, marking another milestone in its increasingly ambitious space program that envisions a mission to Mars by the end of the decade. Space program authorities said the spaceship's landing on the vast Inner Mongolian steppe keeps China on schedule to place its second space station into orbit later this year. The launch of the spaceship aboard the newly developed Long March 7 rocket on Saturday was hailed as a breakthrough in the use of safer, more environmentally friendly fuels. The launch also marked the first use of the massive new Wenchang Satellite Launch Center on the southern island province of Hainan. Since launching its first manned mission in 2003, China has sent up an experimental space station, the Tiangong 1, staged a spacewalk and landed its Yutu rover on the moon. Its second space station, the Tiangong 2, is due to be slung into space in September. Following that, the Shenzhou 11 spaceship with two astronauts on board is scheduled to dock with the station and remain for several days. Administrators suggest a manned landing on the moon may also be in the program's future. A source of enormous national pride, China's military-backed space program plans a total of 20 space missions this year at a time when the U.S. and other countries' programs are seeking new roles. China is also developing the Long March 5 heavier-lift rocket needed to launch the Tiangong 2 and other massive payloads. China plans to launch a mission to land a rover on Mars by 2020, attempting to recreate the success of the U.S. Viking 1 mission that landed a rover on the planet four decades ago.

Chinese space development is skyrocketing- the long march 7 rocket is environmentally friendly and the United States needs to get involved with this new technology

Berger, Jun 25, 2016[Eric Berger, SENIOR SPACE EDITOR, China’s powerful new rocket makes a successful debut launch, arstechnica, http://arstechnica.com/science/2016/06/chinas-powerful-new-rocket-makes-a-successful-debut-launch/]

China's developing space program took another major step forward on Saturday with the launch of its Long March 7 rocket, a new class of booster capable of lifting up to 13.5 metric tons to low-Earth orbit (LEO). The primary payload of the flight was a dummy version of its next-generation crew capsule and some CubeSats. The launch highlighted several key advances for the rapidly modernizing Chinese rocket program. It marked the first launch from the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center, located on Hainan Island, the country's southernmost point. This allows better access to geostationary orbit for Chinese satellites. The Long March 7 also operates with kerosene and liquid oxygen fuels, rather than more environmentally dangerous hypergolic fuels used to power earlier launchers that were based on 1970s technology. The new 53-meter Long March 7 rocket is the medium-class version of a new launch family that will also include Long March 5, a heavy lift launch system comparable to the Delta IV Heavy rocket, and Long March 6, a rocket that will launch small satellites into space. Developed by the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, the new fleet of vehicles will allow China to build and service a new space station, which may debut as early as 2022. The rocket launched Saturday is expected to deliver cargo resupply vehicles to China's space station. The Long March 5 rocket's core stage is powered by two YF-100 engines, which China has been developing for more than a decade. The engine has a thrust of about 270,000 pounds at sea level, which is less than one of the space shuttle's main engines (418,000 lbf), but more than one of the Merlin 1D engines (190,000 lbf) used by SpaceX in its Falcon 9 rocket.

China plans on sending its Tiangong 2 space laboratory into orbit this year, and will complete the full station by 2020*

Wang 2016

Brian Wang. “China plans to launch Tiangong 2 space laboratory this year and complete the full space station by 2020” nextbigfuture.com. 3-23-16. Accessed 6-26-16. http://nextbigfuture.com/2016/03/china-plans-to-launch-tiangong-2-space.html

China plans to initiate 20 space missions this year including the testing of its most sophisticated rocket and the launching of a habitual space module. But security analysts in the US are expressing suspicions they have military implications. China is already testing surface-to-air missiles that could strike targets in orbit and it's also working with experimental lasers that can scramble or "blind" satellites. This year, China intends to launch the Tiangong 2 space laboratory. China plans to later send astronauts to this habitual module, which will serve as a stepping stone toward a major space station. Chinese officials plan to have this station fully operational by 2020. Some security analysts fear the station will have military implications. China still trails far behind Russia and the US in terms of space technology. But in the last 12 years, China has sought to rapidly reduce the gaps it holds with both nations, and it's showing no intentions of slowing down.

China plans to carry out record-breaking number of space missions in 2016*

Sputnik 2016

Sputnik News. “China Plans to Carry Out Record-Breaking Number of Space Missions in 2016” sputniknews.com. 1-8-16. Website. Accessed 6-26-16. http://sputniknews.com/asia/20160108/1032826699/china-space-missions-2016.html

BEIJING (Sputnik) — Beijing will conduct over 20 space missions this year, including a launch of a manned spacecraft, China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation said Friday. "This year will see more than 20 space launches, the most missions in a single year," China’s major space contractor said, as quoted by the China daily newspaper. According to the space agency, China will launch the Tiangong 2 space laboratory by late June to probe life support technologies for Beijing’s future space station, as well as the Shenzhou XI manned spacecraft. China is also expected to launch two satellites for domestic navigation systems and one communications satellite for Belarus.

China’s space program has been making breakthroughs while NASA is seeking new roles*

AP June 26

AP “China on schedule for launch this year of 2nd space station” bigstory.ap.org. 6-26-16. Website 6-26-16. http://bigstory.ap.org/article/4c73dc21c41b49e3986a5effd4e1d197/china-schedule-launch-2nd-space-station

BEIJING (AP) — China on Sunday recovered an experimental probe launched aboard a new generation rocket, marking another milestone in its increasingly ambitious space program that envisions a mission to Mars by the end of the decade. Space program authorities said the spaceship's landing on the vast Inner Mongolian steppe keeps China on schedule to place its second space station into orbit later this year. The launch of the spaceship aboard the newly developed Long March 7 rocket on Saturday was hailed as a breakthrough in the use of safer, more environmentally friendly fuels. The launch also marked the first use of the massive new Wenchang Satellite Launch Center on the southern island province of Hainan. Since launching its first manned mission in 2003, China has sent up an experimental space station, the Tiangong 1, staged a spacewalk and landed its Yutu rover on the moon. Its second space station, the Tiangong 2, is due to be slung into space in September. Following that, the Shenzhou 11 spaceship with two astronauts on board is scheduled to dock with the station and remain for several days. Administrators suggest a manned landing on the moon may also be in the program's future. A source of enormous national pride, China's military-backed space program plans a total of 20 space missions this year at a time when the U.S. and other countries' programs are seeking new roles. China is also developing the Long March 5 heavier-lift rocket needed to launch the Tiangong 2 and other massive payloads. China plans to launch a mission to land a rover on Mars by 2020, attempting to recreate the success of the U.S. Viking 1 mission that landed a rover on the planet four decades ago.

US exploring specific

NASA plans on readying the Orion space capsule for its first mission around the mood*

Newcomb 2016

Alyssa Newcomb. “NASA prepares Orion spacecraft for its first big mission” abcnews.go.com. 2-11-16. Website. Accessed 6-26-16. http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/nasa-prepares-orion-spacecraft-big-mission/story?id=36866140

The Orion space capsule is expected one day to carry astronauts to Mars, but for now, NASA is busy getting the vessel ready for its first big exploration mission to the moon. The conical-shaped Orion crew module pressure vessel arrived at Florida's Kennedy Space Center this month from NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in Louisiana. The pressure vessel is about 500 pounds lighter and has fewer parts than Orion had when it blasted off on its first test flight in December 2014, according to Mike Hawes, Lockheed Martin Orion program manager. NASA and Lockheed Martin engineers will now work to outfit the Orion pressure vessel with all the controls necessary for flight, including everything from electrical power storage and communications to flight software and computers. After Orion has had some work done and becomes a fully functional spacecraft, NASA will put it through a series of tests at several of its facilities across the country. When Orion has a stellar report card, the next step for the spacecraft will be a launch to circle the moon in 2018 and embark on its first crew mission around 2023. If everything goes according to plan, Orion could ferry astronauts to an asteroid and eventually to Mars. The capsule, which has a conical shape just like its moon shot-era predecessor, the Apollo, seats four astronauts. While the design may be similar, Orion is equipped with technology that is light-years ahead of the retired spacecraft. Orion's computer can process 480 million instructions per second. It's also 25 times faster than the computers at the International Space Station, according to NASA.

NASA plans on testing the most powerful rocket ever created in the first piloted mission past low orbit since 1972*

Seemangal 2016

Robin Seemangal. “NASA will return to the moon in preparation for human mars mission” observer.com. 2-8-16. Website. Accessed 6-26-16. http://observer.com/2016/02/nasa-will-return-to-the-moon-in-preparation-for-human-mars-mission/

Project managers from Lockheed Martin and NASA gathered last week at Kennedy Space Center in Florida to usher in the return of the Orion crew module and to discuss future missions that will see humans travel beyond low-Earth orbit for the first time since Apollo 17 in 1972. Development of the Orion spacecraft will now be ramping up in preparation for Exploration Mission 1—the module’s first journey to the Moon and into deep space. This feat will act as a dress rehearsal for a crewed asteroid retrieval mission in lunar orbit and be a major stepping stone for NASA’s manned mission to Mars. The Orion was designed as an exploration-class vehicle to take Astronauts farther than any person has ever travelled and will be the spacecraft that eventually propels humans to the red planet. Crew members can be launched to deep space aboard Orion while the vehicle provides emergency abort capability in the event of a malfunction. It will sustain Astronauts during space travel before safely returning them home from high velocities. Since last summer, engineers at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans—one of the largest manufacturing plants in the world—have been busy welding together the Orion’s crucial underlying structure. The facility, part of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, once hosted Chrysler and Boeing during the construction of the Apollo-era Saturn rockets and was even used for manufacturing parts of the Space Shuttle. The recent completion of these welds formed the Orion’s pressure vessel which equips the crew module with a tightly-sealed environment that ensures life-support for the vehicle’s crew. “The work to get us to this point has been essential” said NASA’s Orion Program Manager, Mark Kirasich. “The Orion pressure vessel is the foundation on which all of the spacecraft’s systems and subsystems are going to be built and integrated.” The Orion crew module pressure vessel was flown to Kennedy Space Center from the Michoud Assembly facility on NASA’s Super Guppy turbine aircraft. After touching down at the historic Space Shuttle Landing facility, the crew module was offloaded then transported to the high bay of the Neil Armstrong Operations & Checkout Facility for mounting on “the birdcage” test stand. “There’s a lot of work ahead of us and we’re happy to have another spacecraft in process” remarked Orion Operations Manager at Kennedy, Jules Schneider. Exploration Mission 1 (EM-1), scheduled for 2018, will see an uncrewed Orion fly beyond low-Earth orbit on the most powerful rocket ever developed, NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS). The mission will be launched from Kennedy Space Center and will travel to a distant orbit around the Moon. “It is the first time we will have the operational human-rated version of Orion on top of the SLS rocket” said NASA’s Orion Production Manager, Scott Wilson. “It’s a lot of work, but a very exciting time for us.”

A2: China Technology Theft

Turn – Cooperation gives us more insight into Chinese Practices and wouldn’t involve tech sharing

Johnson-Freese in 2015 (Joan Johnson-Freese is a Professor of National Security Affairs at the U.S. Naval War College. “Found in Space: Cooperation” Published: Oct 09, 2015; http://www.chinausfocus.com/foreign-policy/u-s-china-space-cooperation-a-welcome-dialogue-begins/)

Three remarkable space-related events recently occurred. On Sept 28, NASA announced flowing water had been discovered on Mars. The following week, the movie The Martian was released to an astounding 94% Rotten Tomatoes approval rating and box-office receipts topping $55 million. And perhaps most remarkable of all, on Sept 28, the U.S. and China held the first U.S.-China Space Dialogue meeting in Beijing. An imaging spectrometer on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) provided strong – convincing – evidence that water intermittently flows on Mars. Usually circumspect scientists were near “giddy” at the announcement. The public was interested as well, though not surprisingly their interest focused as much on the Mars team member who plays in a death metal band and speculation about aliens as it did on the science. And then as if scripted, the movie The Martian was released, with Matt Damon’s abandoned-astronaut character winning over audiences with his wit, determination, and (spoiler alert) ingenuity in growing potatoes on Mars and rigging a spacecraft with a tarp to get himself home. But even with wit, determination and ingenuity he wouldn’t have made it home were it not for assistance from – the Chinese. This isn’t the first time that China has snuck into a Hollywood blockbuster. A special version of Ironman 3 with extra scenes featuring a Chinese heartthrob was created for Chinese audiences. And astronaut Sandra Bullock was able to make her way home in the movie Gravity with the help of an (fictional) unoccupied Chinese space station. Clearly, Hollywood is playing to the Chinese movie market. But in both movies, Gravity and The Martian, space catastrophes resulted in the United States and China working together. Though audiences weren’t repelled by the idea of cooperation in either instance, it seems only “naïve” and “foolhardy” scriptwriters think such cooperation is possible, or desirable. And maybe some people in the Obama Administration. Plans for this recent U.S. China Dialogue on Civil Space was first announced last June, consequent to the seventh round of the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue. As online space-policy analyst Marcia Smith stated regarding the Sept 28 meeting, “details are scant.”[1] Mainstream media coverage has been virtually non-existent. Most likely, flying under the radar has been okay with the U.S. State Department, which chaired the Beijing meeting along with the Chinese National Space Administration (CNSA). Otherwise, critics would have undoubtedly trotted out their litany of reasons—ranging from human rights and freedom of religion to concerns, some valid and some overblown, about technology transfer—why the United States should scrap one of its most valuable policy tools, diplomacy, and not communicate with the Chinese regarding space. That’s the kind of convoluted reasoning that resulted in a legislative ban since 2011 on bilateral cooperation cum communication between NASA and the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) with China. Careful to stay within Congressional guidelines, that legislation left it to the State Department to chair the recent Beijing meeting. The increasing U.S. propensity, especially in conjunction with political campaigning, to equate diplomacy with appeasement and negotiation with weakness has not served the U.S. well in other parts of the world, and won’t with China either. The Obama Administration has apparently decided that with nothing to lose politically, it intends to make strategic and sometimes bold foreign policy moves before leaving office, in spite of obstructionist roadblocks: normalizing relations with Cuba, negotiating a nuclear treaty with Iran, and talking with the Chinese about space among them. It is ironic that “talking” has become a bold policy move. According to the DOS media note on the meeting, [2] the broad intent of the meeting was greater transparency, initially including an exchange of information on each other’s space policies. The importance of that simple objective cannot be overstated. The Chinese –- Asian –- cultural propensity toward opaqueness has resulted in the U.S. assessing all things space-related done by China from a worst-case scenario perspective. The American cultural attribute of everybody –- regardless of standing or knowledge – having an opinion on every subject can result in the Chinese believing that anything said in the New York Times or on Fox News is official U.S. policy. Clarity can serve both parties well. Apparently also, according to the media note, space debris and satellite collision avoidance were discussed, in acknowledgement that those issues cannot be handled solely on a national basis and are critical to maintaining the sustainability of the space environment. Since the United States has more assets in space and is more dependent on those space assets in both civil and military operations than any other country, it behooves the U.S. to pursue all potentially valuable avenues available to protect the space environment. It is in U.S. interests. Given the increasing number of Chinese assets in s pace, sustainability of the space environment is in Chinese interests as well. Countries cooperate where both have a vested interest. Other topics that were discussed in conjunction with potential cooperation were civil Earth-observation activities, space sciences, space weather and the civil Global Navigation Satellite System. Beyond the general benefits that flow to the U.S. from cooperation – including learning Chinese standard operating procedures in decision making and operations, establishing an internal Chinese constituency to argue against aggressive Chinese actions that threaten cooperative programs by creating a vested interest in continuance, and getting a closer look at Chinese capabilities – cooperation in each of these areas offers the U.S. more in benefits than associated risks. Working together on civilian-Earth observation activities would likely involve sharing data on complex Earth-system processes relevant to everyone on the planet. There are frequently data gaps in the models designed to address these complex processes, gaps that can be closed by sharing data. Better models would yield positive benefits to both countries in fields like disaster management, environmental studies, coastal and marine planning, and sustainable land use. Everybody wins. Space-science cooperation has long been discussed as potentially valuable and viable for two reasons. First, it can be an area of cooperation where technology-transfer concerns can be minimized. Although it would likely begin only with data exchanges, ideally data exchanges could lead to more extensive projects so that Americans can learn more about Chinese decision making and foster positive constituencies within China. Further, space scientists in both countries are notoriously like stepchildren when it comes to funding allocations. Working cooperatively could enable scientists in both countries to do more with their limited funds. One area of space science with practical application is space weather – being able to anticipate solar flares and geomagnetic storms that are potentially damaging to satellites in orbit and negatively affecting ground facilities and operations, and thereby be able to protect against those effects. Space weather “predictions” are based on fundamental scientific research on solar-terrestrial physics. Finally, discussions on civil Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) focus on navigation satellite systems with global coverage, including the U.S. Global Positioning Satellites (GPS), the Russian GLONASS system, and the expanding Chinese BeiDou system. It is in U.S. interests to assure that China integrates BeiDou with other systems rather than having BeiDou incompatible with other systems. If China were to integrate only BeiDou into the myriad of commercial products that utilize GNSS and that China produces, thereby requiring a different receiver than currently used by GPS, that would wield significant negative economic impacts on the U.S. Additionally, non-integration could also create a more chaotic environment for GNSS use. Therefore, the United States is not merely doing China a favor by participating in these talks or by considering expanded areas of space cooperation, as is sometimes characterized. It is the United States acting in its own best interest. While ideally the U.S. could tie space cooperation to other contentious issues between the U.S. and China – cyber attacks, for example – that is unlikely to happen. Expecting and waiting for that unlikely link to be made allows critical space issues to go unaddressed. There are some fundamental questions about the U.S.-China relationship that might prove useful in guiding future policy. Does it support or go against U.S. interests to keep its friends close and enemies closer? If the answer to that is “yes,” then either way, the U.S. should pursue expanded opportunities to work with China in space. Is in the best interests of the United States to have China stable, or imploding? If the answer is stable, then we inherently must learn to work with China in areas of mutual interest. Is the sustainability of the space environment in the interests of the United States? If it is, there is no choice but to work with China on a variety of space issues. A second meeting is scheduled for 2016 in Washington, D.C. Hopefully real progress will be made in advancing cooperation in at least one of the areas initially broached at the recent September meeting. Space cooperation between the U.S. and the Soviet Union was judiciously used as a mechanism to build broader areas of trust during the Cold War, and Post-Cold War years. The United States knows how to successfully conduct space diplomacy. It is an aberration that today it has to be done in secret so as not to draw the sensationalist ire of politicians and pundits. Fostering cooperation is an integral part of the Space Act that created NASA. Ironically, perhaps through the continued, unintended help of Hollywood the public will recognize the wisdom of allowing NASA, OSTP and the State Department to do their jobs, and begin to take an active role in demanding inclusive space cooperation.

Impact is non-uniq. China already cooperates on space technology creation

Almost simultaneously, the Wolf Amendment was used to bar several Chinese journalists from Kennedy Space Center for the May 2011 launch of STS-134, the final flight of the space shuttle Endeavour and the second-to-last flight of any shuttle. The journalists were classed as “government employees” because they worked for the official Chinese news company Xinhua and thus could not be hosted under the provisions of the Wolf Amendment. The reporters’ interest in the story was a painful irony—STS-134 was carrying the $2 billion AMS-02 (Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer) to be attached to the ISS, a project that was developed in collaboration with Chinese scientists.101

Largest security breach was only a false alarm

Not cooperating hurts NASA more because NASA is already more public then CNSA

Kohler in 2015 (HANNAH KOHLER Georgetown Law, J.D. expected 2015; B.A. Penn State 2012; “The Eagle and the Hare: U.S.–Chinese Relations, the Wolf Amendment, and the Future of International Cooperation in Space” THE GEORGETOWN LAW JOURNAL Vol. 103:1135. Published: 2015 PG: 1160-1161; http://georgetownlawjournal.org/files/2015/04/Kohler-TheEagleandtheHare.pdf)

However the 2014–2015 Wolf Amendments are interpreted, they will still have resounding effects for U.S.–China space-industry relations. Although a complete ban of all visitors of Chinese nationality would be an almost unthinkably direct political affront, even the blanket ban on CNSA–NASA cooperation that is the facial purpose of the statute will have repercussions. The moratorium on bi- or multilateral industry communications created by the 2013 Appropriations Act will severely constrain information transfer between both space agencies, effectively blinding NASA to the Chinese space program’s current endeavors as well as the reverse (although considering how closed-mouthed CNSA is about even public projects, it is likely that this effect will hit NASA harder than China). Additionally, such a measure could cause the already tenuous trust developed with the CNSA to deteriorate. Blocking the United States and NASA from cooperating with one of the major space powers of the world—a country with demonstrated ambition and an increasing capability to achieve dominance in space—may hobble us beyond recovery, at least for the next generation of space advancements. Space exploration is no longer the province of individual nations operating alone, and international cooperation is both widespread and necessary. Just as the international sharing of such sensitive and cutting-edge technology is a valid national security concern, so too should be rejecting the contributions of a major developing power, especially considering the relative political stagnation of space exploration in the United States and the burgeoning enthusiasm for it in China. Although it is impossible to predict what the future will hold for the space explorers of tomorrow, it seems fully necessary to initiate cautious, but optimistic, cooperation with China in space: inviting them as a party to the ISS, certainly, and potentially opening the door for future joint—or even bilateral— projects. The Hughes/Loral debacle limited the U.S. communications-satellite industry for decades,130 and its consequences have only recently been corrected in part; Congress must take care not to make the same mistakes with regard to other U.S. investments in space. Isolating NASA from a country that is both a space superpower and one of the largest economies in the world will only hurt the United States in the long run. China has a long history of self-sufficiency in space, and it is demonstrably capable of overcoming the challenges posed by having to reinvent the wheel (or, as it may be, the rocket) because its global neighbors have historically been too afraid of its military capabilities and ambitions to share what they know. Would a free flow of technology—if not launching systems or ballistic information, then at least those many nonmilitary elements of space travel, exploration, and study—truly hurt the United States? Or would it pique the desire of the Chinese citizens to be free from their repressive government and experience the freedom of a democratic society? If NASA is truly the pinnacle of American ingenuity, courage, optimism, and grace, then (sensibly) open communication between the scientists and engineers in the CNSA can only inspire the latter to demand better for themselves, their country, and their space program

Chinese stealing our intellectual property is inevitable with private corporations and forced space debris cooperation

Smith in 2015 (Marcia S. Smith senior reporter for space policy online which covers developments in policy surrounding space; “Johnson-Freese: Why Wolf is Wrong About U.S.-China Space Cooperation” Posted: 18-Feb-2015 Updated: 18-Feb-2015 06:54 PM; http://www.spacepolicyonline.com/news/johnson-freese-why-wolf-is-wrong-about-us-china-space-cooperation)

Joan Johnson-Freese explained to the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission today why former Rep. Frank Wolf was wrong to effectively ban all U.S.-China bilateral space cooperation. Wolf retired at the end of the last Congress, but his successor as chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee that funds NASA holds similar views. Johnson-Freese is a professor at the Naval War College and author of "The Chinese Space Program: A Mystery Within a Maze" and "Heavenly Ambitions: America's Quest to Dominate Space." She was one of the witnesses at today's hearing on China's space and counterspace programs. Wolf included language in several Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS) appropriations bills that prohibits NASA and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) from engaging in any bilateral activities with China on civil space cooperation unless specifically authorized by Congress or unless NASA or OSTP certifies to Congress 14 days in advance that the activity would not result in the transfer of any technology, data, or other information with national security or economic implications. His indefatigable opposition to cooperating with China was based largely on its human rights abuses and efforts to obtain U.S. technology. He was one of the strongest, but certainly not only, congressional critic of China, always stressing that he loved the Chinese people, but not the Chinese government. Rep. John Culberson (R-TX) is Wolf's successor as chairman of the CJS subcommittee. In December 2013 when rumors swirled that he would replace Wolf, he was interviewed by a reporter for the Houston Chronicle and when asked whether he agreed with Wolf about China replied: "Yes. We need to keep them out of our space program, and we need to keep NASA out of China. They are not our friends." It remains to be seen whether he will include the same language in this year's CJS bill, but Johnson-Freese spelled out why she thinks it is the wrong approach. She provides a comprehensive rebuttal to Wolf's reasoning, but in essence her contention is that "the United States must use all tools of national power" to achieve its space-related goals as stated in U.S. National Space Policy, National Security Strategy, and National Security Space Strategy. Wolf's restrictions on space cooperation simply constrain U.S. options, she argues: "Limiting U.S. options has never been in U.S. national interest and isn't on this issue either." She disagrees with Wolf's assumption that the United States has nothing to gain from working with China: "On the contrary, the United States could learn about how they work -- their decision-making processes, institutional policies and standard operating procedures. This is valuable information in accurately deciphering the intended use of dual-use space technology, long a weakness and so a vulnerability in U.S. analysis." For some issues, there really is no choice, she continues. China must be involved in international efforts towards Transparency and Confidence Building Measures (TCBMs) and space sustainability, especially with regard to space debris, a topic given urgency by China's 2007 antisatellite (ASAT) test that created more than 3,000 pieces of debris in low Earth orbit. She notes that since that test and the resulting international condemnation, "China has done nothing further in space that can be considered irresponsible or outside the norms set the United States." Not that China has refrained from tests related to negating other countries' satellites, however. She and other witnesses detailed China's recent activities in that regard. Kevin Pollpeter of the University of California Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation and Dean Cheng of the Heritage Foundation joined her at the witness table. They reported on "missile defense tests" in 2010, 2013 and 2014 that are widely considered in the West to be de facto ASAT tests, along with a 2013 "high altitude science mission" and co-orbital satellite tests in 2010 and 2013, as potentially related to ASAT development. These tests were non-destructive, however, and did not generate space debris. Former Sen. Jim Talent (R-Missouri), who co-chaired today's hearing, said that the Commission will publish a report by Pollpeter's institute on China's counterspace activities "in the coming days." The Commission was created by Congress in 2000 and submits an annual report on national security implications of the U.S.-China trade and economic relationship.

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