China’s great leap upwards

In 2003 China became the world's third space power after the US and Russia with the launch of its first manned space mission from the Gobi Desert in the remote northwest of the country. China's first astronaut, or 'taikonaut', Yang Liwei, orbited the earth 14 times aboard the spaceship Shenzhou 5.

A second manned mission aboard Shenzhou 6 followed only a year later. In a seemingly short space of time and on a limited budget, China has made a cosmic 'great leap forward', setting itself apart from other developing nations by becoming a serious contender in space.

Ambitious plans announced by China last week include a lunar fly-by in 2007, a soft landing in 2012 and a return of lunar samples by 2017. Research on space walking and docking technology is going well according to recent reports and construction of a 'skylab' space station has been included in China's five-year plan of economic and social development commencing this year.

"For [China], it's a question of proving to the rest of the world that they have the technology," says Professor Roger Maurice Bonnet, president of the Paris-based Committee on Space Research. "They progress without making too much noise, they are prudent and do what they have promised. There is a sense of national pride that we also find in the US, but not in the EU."

China has been angling for an invitation to co-operate in US-led projects, such as the International Space Station (a collaboration between 16 nations, including 11 members of the European Space Agency), for a number of years. Bonnet thinks that repeated rejection from the US may have been significant in spurring China to develop its own space programme.

Interestingly, last year, when NASA announced its intention to return astronauts to the moon in 2018, China's space agency quickly followed suit with news that they were planning manned missions to the moon for 2017. Could a new space race be on the cards?

Sergio Camacho, director of the Vienna-based UN Office for Outer Space Affairs, thinks not. "[China] has stated that it is going to try out new activities, mainly through international co-operation. There will not be a space race," he says. "The US and Russia have so much experience in space that there would be no competition."

Nevertheless, China could close the gap fast. Bonnet stresses the importance of China's rapidly developing expertise in space technology. "They have an engineering workforce increasing by 1.5 million per year. They are extremely well-trained, mainly at big universities like MIT [Massachusetts Institute of Technology] and come back to China to raise the intellectual resource level in the country."

Furthermore, China has an appetite for space exploration that is perhaps waning in the US and Russia. "This is a third country now able to put a man in space," says Camacho. "That creates enthusiasm and where there's enthusiasm, there is political support. In the US and Russia, many of these space activities have become routine." China's enthusiasm contrasts starkly with the paralysis which has afflicted the US space programme since the Columbia shuttle disaster of 2003.

The signs are that the US will not be ignoring China for much longer. Last week, a Chinese delegation met NASA officials at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. Camacho believes that the visit was symbolic of greater ties in cosmic affairs between the two countries. "The fact that [Luo Ge, vice-administrator at the Chinese National Space Administration] was the only non-English speaker at the event was fairly significant. I suspect that co-operation between the US and China will be coming in the near future," he says.

In the meantime, speculation is mounting over the launch of Shenzhou 7, originally planned for 2007, but amended earlier this year to 2008.

The natural assumption is that China's next cosmic venture will coincide with the Beijing Olympics.

If this proves to be the case, China's space programme will be assured a place in the international spotlight.

Article takes a look at China's space activities.
Article is part of a European Voice Special Report, 'European Space Policy'.