The Chinese have embarked on the space exploration industry by sending a rover, Jade Rabbit as it's named, to the moon. This seems a little late, because haven't we explored the moon enough? But the Jade Rabbit has discovered lava flow from roughly 4.5 billion years ago. It appears as if this exploration is filling in the gaps of knowledge that were previously missing. They discovered the youngest rocks from the moon, between 1 to 2.5 billion years old.
Even though we had explored the moon multiple times before, it is interesting to find that there are still so many more things we don't know about it, because we as humans like to know everything. It's refreshing every once in a while to be reminded that we're just humans.
Also, this is going to start a whole new competition for space exploration. Before, it was mainly us and Russia, but now that China's in the mix, with many brilliant scientists at their disposal, the industry is going to become a rampant one. This will either be peaceful competition, or turn into another Cold War. Considering it's with China and Russia, I'd say the second is more likely. I will definitely keep a close eye and watch the Chinese's progress through this industry.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25402455
It's awesome how far we have come in this kind of technology. But I agree with you, this could involve a less than peaceful approach towards research, especially with the countries involved.
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