Leaking U.S. Space Information Puts China Back On The Space Map
Posted on November 18, 2008 by admin Under Science · Leave a Comment
Embarrassing as it may sound it is true that the space programs taking place in China have received a lot of help from the president of AMAC, a high-tech International company in the States. Shu Quan-Sheng was born in China but he has become a U.S. citizen and due to his efforts China has managed to revive its space programs. The fact that the Chinese have decided to pay lots of money for information, draws a black curtain on their otherwise pretty clean space history.
Shu pled guilty when he was accused of handing precious information over to Beijing officials. This included plans for the development of a new type of fueling system that was used on space vehicles in the past years, from 2003 to 2007. Besides admitting to violating the U.S. Arms Export Control Act regulations, Shu also shocked the news when he told the prosecutors about the bribes he offered during the last year to the Chinese officials in order to attain a contract for one of the French companies he represented. He also explained how he won the negotiation after paying the fabulous amount of $190,000. All these charges bring Shu face to face to a punishment of ten years in prison for every one of the violations of the act but also to an additional five years for offering bribes.
China’s most notable results have been obtained in the exact same period when Shu was selling them information. The first Chinese representative was sent into space as soon as 2003. The second mission carried out two astronauts in 2005 and the first Chinese space walk took place just a few weeks ago, in September. Another notable result of the Chinese missions in space is the fact that they have managed to map the entire lunar area and this seems to be just the beginning.
By far the sad part of this story is the fact that the world now doubts that the Chinese would have managed to get into space on their own if it weren’t for Shu Quan-Sheng and for the American specialists that have developed the technologies used. You can no longer trust their integrity. The funny part is that it is not the first example of the kind that Chinese Officials offer to the world. During the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, they lied and competed with under-aged gymnasts. Strange how they could not find a suitable person to represent them considering that we’re talking of a population of 1.3 billion people. It is sad that China has gone through such effort to obtain these notable results and yet they have chosen illegal ways to get there.
via: Gizmodo
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