History of how China won the Star Wars

Quietly and efficiently, China is working towards catching up with the US in the exploration of the final frontier — space. Of course, as things stand now, China would need to cover much ground before it matches and outperforms US in the race for space. But there is no denying the fact that China, the world’s second largest economy, has resources, competence and a clear cut political commitment to surge ahead as a global space power.

Technology management consulting firm Futron Corporation’s Space Competitiveness Index reveals that the Asian Communist giant matched America’s number of launches during 2010 for the first time. As it is, the conclusion of Futron Corp’s analysis is that the US is fast losing ground to global competitors as its space policy continues to be vulnerable to political compulsions compounded by economic recession.

Indeed, after space shuttle Atlantis made its final touchdown at the Kennedy Space Centre for the last time in July, the US has been left without a manned space vehicle for the first time in five decades. And with the budgetary support to the Chinese space programme continuing to be steady and robust, it stands to reason that China would join the ranks of the advanced space-faring nations.

Western space analysts believe that China’s impressive strides in space is, in a way, a reflection of the country’s rapid military modernisation on ground, sea and air. ‘Over the past decade, China has arguably gone further, faster than any other space faring nations,’ says Futron Corporation.

In the US, space enthusiasts rue the fact that the Obama administration’s failure to support the Constellation Program has left the field wide open for China to forge ahead with manned conquest of space.

In keeping with its grand strategy of staying ahead in space, China has already hinted at sending a manned expedition to earth’s nearest celestial neighbour in the none too distant future. ‘The moon is an obvious target for China and they would be there by 2020,’ observes Ken Pounds, professor, space science, Leicester University. Clearly, neither the Europeans nor the Russians have evinced interest in sending a manned mission to the moon. China, which has already sent an orbiter around the moon, is planning to launch a robotic probe to the moon sometime next year.

Further into the future, China has a plan up its sleeve to realise a sample return mission to the moon. China has also spoken of setting up a human base on the moon and work towards mining lunar resources including Helium-3, an abundant and eco-friendly energy source.

Significantly, in 2003 China became the third country — after USA and Russia — to send an astronaut into space. In 2005, China repeated this feat by launching two astronauts into orbit onboard its Shenzhou spaceship. China stunned the world when in 2008 it successfully performed a space walking feat. The successful completion of the human space flight and space walking exercise have given impetus to the Chinese plan to build and launch an orbital complex. An orbital complex, besides helping China undertake cutting edge research, could also serve as a strategic platform in space to bolster its space war efforts.

As pointed out by Ashley Tellis, a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, space has come to acquire a privileged position in China’s military thinking. Tellis says China sees space as a vital platform to effectively use its armed forces against adversaries.

In 2007, China stunned the world by successfully destroying is aging weather watch satellite, located 537 miles above the earth by making use of a ground-based medium range ballistic missile.

This shocking development provided unflinching evidence of China’s efforts to perfect anti-satellite devices. China is also known to be experimenting with laser devices to realise space-based weapons.

Confirming its growing prowess in space, China on September 29 successfully launched its Tiangong-1 (Heavenly Palace) space laboratory module as a stepping stone to its ambitious plan of eventually setting up a permanent orbiting complex in space in 2020.

Tiangong-1 would serve as a platform for validating rendezvous and docking procedures, and its test will come several weeks into the mission when it would dock with Shenzhou-8 spacecraft.

‘Tiangong-1 is primarily a technology test bed. It is not going to immediately provide China any military capabilities,’ says Joan Johnson Fresse, an expert on the Chinese space programme at the US Navy War College on Rhode Island. All said and done, this space accomplishment is expected to bring Bejing closer to Moscow and Washington with a long-term manned outpost in space. 

The author specialises in defence and aerospace issues