2013 Prediction: Asia Takes Two Routes To Space
Chang'e-2 China is going deep. via WikimediaChina and India have different ambitions in space, but missions from both countries will help us better understand the cosmos. Science and technology have utterly transformed human life in the past few generations, and forecasts of the future used to be measured in decades. But big changes arrive faster and faster these days. So here we've shifted our forecast to the near-term, because we're right on the verge of some extraordinary stuff. These are the trends and events to watch out for in 2013. See them all here. Earth's two most populous nations have major space launches slated for 2013: China will send a lander to the moon and India will propel an orbiter toward Mars. On the surface, their goals appear similar-cement a toehold in a frontier dominated by the U.S., Russia, and Europe-but the ways in which they will achieve them are...