JOHNSON SPACE CENTER, Houston--The United States and China have agreed to discuss expanded cooperation in space science and to start a "dialogue" on human space flight and exploration, according to a joint statement released in Beijing on Tuesday. The U.S.-China Joint Statement said both nations looked forward to reciprocal visits by the NASA administrator and appropriate Chinese space leaders in 2010.
"The United States and China look forward to expanding discussions on space science cooperation and starting a dialogue on human space flight and space exploration, based on the principles of transparency, reciprocity, and mutual benefit," the joint statement said. "Both sides welcome reciprocal visits of the NASA administrator and the appropriate Chinese counterpart in 2010."
President Obama visits the Forbidden City in Beijing.
(Credit: Pete Souza/White House)John Logsdon, a space policy analyst at George Washington University, said expanded cooperation makes sense, but only if both sides are open with each other and share the technical data necessary to ensure safe operations.
"I think it's great," he said in a telephone interview. "It opens the door to see whether, in fact, there's a basis for cooperation. I think the operative word in there is 'transparency.' If China is willing to provide the information we need to work with them and vice versa--they were the ones who have been somewhat reticent to do that--I think it makes total sense."
The future direction of the U.S. manned space program is unclear as NASA waits for the Obama administration to make a decision on how the agency should proceed after the space shuttle is retired next year.
... Read moreBoosted by government initiatives and green spending, China's IT market in 2009 will only be minimally affected by the global economic slowdown, according to a new report from Springboard Research.
IT spending in the country will reach $51.2 billion in 2009, a year-on-year growth of 11 percent, the research firm said in a statement Friday. This is only 2 percent shy of Springboard's previous estimate of 13.1 percent growth, or $52.1 billion.
China's IT market growth, noted Springboard, has largely been protected by the financial crisis as its export industry, the country's worst hit sector, is not a key buyer of technology. China's huge domestic market and its "almost closed financial system" also play a part in helping the country cope with the market conditions, said Bryan Wang, Springboard's country manager for Greater China.
"Moreover, a strong government investment plan will boost spending in various economic quarters and help the Chinese IT market sustain its place as a shining star in the Asia-Pacific region in 2009," he added.
Last November, the Chinese government announced a $585.2 billion stimulus package, which includes plans to invest over $290 billion on railway network expansion from 2009 to 2011. This, Springboard noted in its report, highlights the market opportunity for IT products.
IT expenditure in key verticals such as government, education, and telecoms will grow on the back of the government stimulus package, said Wang. According to the report, government-driven infrastructure spending will bolster a large portion of investment in the country in 2009, while IT expenditure relating to 3G wireless networks will also be a big area of spending for telecom operators in China in 2009. The banking and finance sector's IT spending will remain firm, but IT planners will exercise more caution in their purchases.
In addition, green IT will be fast-growing in China--the market for green IT products and services is expected to have a five-year compound annual growth rate of 71 percent to reach $447 million in 2011.
"Springboard Research believes the green data centers and related green IT services will become a hot area for these organizations in 2009," the report noted. "Enterprises will look to rapidly build out investments in green-field data centers, and this will also bring out the concept of virtualization and recycling with existing infrastructure, which is increasingly becoming a critical part of the investment moving forward."
Players in the business process outsourcing (BPO) market, particularly small and midsize independent software vendors, may be the most affected by the global financial crisis, Springboard said in its report.
Many Chinese BPO companies located in cities including Dalian and Shenzhen, have a majority of their businesses from overseas banking and financial institutions, it explained, adding that these providers' businesses would be affected in 2009 as a result of "very few" contracts secured in the second half of 2008.
Hong Kong and Taiwan, having been part of the global financial system for decades, would also be more affected by the global slowdown, Springboard added. The impact on Taiwan's IT expenditure would be more severe, as Hong Kong is expected to gain financial support from mainland China.
According to Springboard, the Chinese government's plans and policies will lead to a more stable IT market from the second quarter of 2009.
Vivian Yeo of ZDNet Asia reported from Singapore.
This is an artist's rendition of Ares I in the assembly building at the Kennedy Space Center. Ares I is a two-stage rocket configuration topped by the Orion crew vehicle and its launch abort system. It is designed to carry crews of four to six astronauts and has a 25-ton payload capacity.
(Credit: NASA)President-elect Barack Obama appears to be gearing up for a space race 2.0, this time with China.
Obama's transition team is considering doing away with some of the barriers that separate the U.S. Department of Defense and NASA, according to Bloomberg.
Citing people who've discussed the idea with the Obama team, Bloomberg says they believe collaboration between the country's civilian space agency and the military's space program would speed up the time in which the U.S. is able to send people back to the moon.
The main--and very costly--goal is to build a rocket that can carry Orion, NASA's next-generation spacecraft, to the International Space Station, the moon, and further out into the solar system. NASA has planned to use its new Ares I rocket for that purpose. Last year, it completed preliminary design review for the Ares rocket, which is slated to launch for the first time in 2015.
But Obama would like to get Orion in the air before then. Getting a working rocket system up and running will be critical to getting the U.S. back to self-sufficiency with its space programs. As it stands now, the current space shuttle is scheduled to retire in 2010. So if Orion launches with Ares as planned in 2015, this leaves a five-year period of time in which the U.S. will have to pay Russia to fly astronauts to and from the ISS. And that's assuming Orion (and Ares) are delivered on time. If history is any indicator, delays are likely if not guaranteed. And with added demands for federal funds due to the recession, it's unclear where NASA and some of its programs stand.
Bloomberg's sources suggest the Obama team believes the Defense Department (which spent about $22 billion in the last fiscal year) can share some of its resources to give NASA a boost--and that they're even considering scrapping development of the Ares rocket entirely in favor of using the Pentagon's Atlas or Delta rockets, which are much further along in development.
Whatever they decide, the incoming administration is likely feeling some pressure from China, which plans to land a robotic rover on the moon in 2012, with a manned mission to follow a few years later.
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