**3.1 China**

Actually, the technological roots of Chinese space studies can be traced back to the late 1950's. As the space race between the two superpowers reached its peak within the context of the Moon race, China did not want to be left behind and initiated its manned space program in 1971. The first manned program was cancelled in 1972 due to financial reasons. The second manned program was launched in 1992 and led to the successful orbital flight of Shenzhou-5 in 2003. Following this flight, China managed to send men into orbit and successfully bring them back to Earth in 2008, thereby becoming the third nation in the world to accomplish that complicated mission. This success encouraged China to make an official declaration about plans for a manned space station and the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program (CLEP).

Current indications are that China will proceed at its own pace; it was officially announced that participation in the ISS is not on the agenda. To achieve successful orbital operations of a Chinese space station, several expensive and slow steps have to be taken, including 8 Space Science

In the early stage of the space age, almost all space activities were carried out by a small number of developed countries and the USSR. However, an important development in recent years is, as we call it, the democratization of space. Increasingly, nations who want to exploit space for the good of their citizens and to boost national development have stepped into the space technology arena. Some large countries had already initiated their space programs as early as 1950's. China and India comprise the category of newly industrialized countries that represent 37% percent of world population and have made great achievements in the meantime. As of today, these countries have managed to put their own

Newly industrialized countries like Brazil, South Africa, Turkey, Thailand, Malaysia and some other nations have taken their first steps mostly through relatively low-cost small satellite technology transfer programs and/or by collaborating with nations strong in space technology. For these nations, most of whom are either in the newly industrialized or developing country category, the first priority is generally satisfying immediate needs and achieve a return on investments as soon as possible. The main focus is generally on earth observation, which is an important tool to support development. Countries who can afford

In parallel to space technology investments for immediate needs, efforts in the domain of space science and space exploration have increased as well. China and India have progressed similarly and initiated their space activities in 1950's. Although they have boosted their activities much later than Russia, the US and Europe, since the 1980's, they have become part of the elite club that is paving the way for the future of space exploration to expand scientific knowledge, develop their country's technical capabilities, and provide employment opportunities for valuable human resources in the areas of space technologies and science. With increasing interest in space, more countries are aspiring and will aspire to space exploration activities by the use of space technology following these examples. After summarizing the space programs of China and India, we will review developments in the

Actually, the technological roots of Chinese space studies can be traced back to the late 1950's. As the space race between the two superpowers reached its peak within the context of the Moon race, China did not want to be left behind and initiated its manned space program in 1971. The first manned program was cancelled in 1972 due to financial reasons. The second manned program was launched in 1992 and led to the successful orbital flight of Shenzhou-5 in 2003. Following this flight, China managed to send men into orbit and successfully bring them back to Earth in 2008, thereby becoming the third nation in the world to accomplish that complicated mission. This success encouraged China to make an official declaration about plans for a manned space station and the Chinese Lunar

Current indications are that China will proceed at its own pace; it was officially announced that participation in the ISS is not on the agenda. To achieve successful orbital operations of a Chinese space station, several expensive and slow steps have to be taken, including

launch vehicles on serial production and even reached the lunar orbit.

to have also invested in telecommunication systems and launch vehicles.

**3. Democratization of space** 

rest of the world.

Exploration Program (CLEP).

**3.1 China** 

construction of dockable space station, extra-vehicular activity trials with space suits, biological, medical, chemical, electronic and electro-mechanical experiments in orbit, and creating a sustainable habitat for the visitors, just like in the ISS.

While the future of ISS is clouded by financial considerations and very small global public interest, China in contrast has expressed self confidence, self reliance, strong determination and future plans for a space station. However, China will most likely conduct fewer and more limited trial missions, unlike the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and Russian space agency (Roscosmos) did in the past, to cut costs. Recently in 2011, the world's largest launch vehicle construction facility opened in China and one of the products will be the Chang Zheng-5 heavy lift launch vehicle, which is supposed to be capable of delivering 25 tons to low earth orbit (LEO) beginning of 2014. Once heavy lift capability is achieved, space transportation for landers, rovers and travel of Taikonauts (Chinese version of the term astronaut) from the space station to the Moon, Mars and beyond is theoretically achievable with sustained cash flow.

The outcome of this investment in space will be very useful in many different areas, such as financial, moral and especially political and geopolitical positioning for China.

The start-up of the Chinese space exploration program is Chinese Lunar Exploration Program (CLEP). The Chang'e program is part of CLEP and currently consists of two orbiter spacecrafts that were launched in October 2007 and October 2010, respectively. These satellites have provided data about possible future landing sites and mapped the surface of the Moon. Although key elements of the first satellite were mainly developed and funded by China, international support came from ESA by providing the necessary deep space network for Chang'e missions in return for Chang'e-1 data. Due to the political reasons, China could not benefit from the US Deep Space Network distributed all over the world, which would have enabled continuous communication with spacecraft and accomplishment of Telemetry, Tracking and Control (TT&C) tasks. Thus, the only option for CLEP was to rely on ESA's network. Meanwhile, China upgraded its own TT&C network, which was originally designed for manned space missions, and managed Chang'e-2 mission without any foreign support, thereby achieving independence. Presumably, we hope to assume China will share its valuable sources through regional, international or bi-lateral cooperation with other nations for space exploration.

For the Mars program, China cooperated with the Russian Federation; however, the Russian partners couldn't perform the launch in 2009 when Mars was relatively close to the Earth, so the most favourable launch window was missed due to the delay in the Phobos-Grunt project. This opportunity could have been evaluated as one of the best joint interplanetary outer space explorations had it succeeded. However, the willingness and close cooperation between these two giant states is an emerging and encouraging opportunity for the others, especially those who want to participate in outer space exploration and share the cost of development and launch.

#### **3.2 India**

Following the successful launch of Sputnik-1 in 1957, the Indian National Committee for Space Research was founded in 1962, later evolving into the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) in 1969.

How Newcomers Will Participate in Space Exploration 11

**Country Rank**  USA 1 Europe 2 Russia 3 Japan 4 China 5 India 6 Israel 7 South Korea 8 Canada 9 Brazil 10

Despite being the geographically smallest country among other newcomers, Israel reached its indigenous launch capabilities much earlier than many of the countries mentioned in this chapter. This success is based on its ballistic missile program in 1980's, and the help of a very strong local defence industry. Although recently many scientific applications have been developed, mainly by scientists originating from the Ukraine and Russian Federation, the main scope of the Israeli space program is defence needs and the country has no restrictions

Due to geographic constraints, Israel is planning to launch its rockets from aircraft, similar to Indonesia and thereby avoid drop zone problems. Israel also cooperates with ESA via EU 7th Framework Programme (FP7) programs, Ukraine, the Russian Federation and also

The South Korean Aerospace Research Institute, KARI, was founded in 1989 and so far has invested in earth observation, meteorology, communication and ocean monitoring satellites, launch vehicles and human space flight. Today a lunar lander prototype is ready and KARI would like to realize its lunar exploration program until 2025, following the successful qualification of the KSLV (Korean Space Launch Vehicle) rocket, many other spacecraft

The Brazilian space program, initiated in 1961, is primarily launch vehicle oriented. After several sounding rocket trials, a collaboration agreement with China was signed in 1988 resulting in the China-Brazil Earth Resources Satellite program (CBERS). So far, three satellites have been launched and two more are on the way. Brazil has also signed cooperation agreements with Canada, ESA, NASA, Russia, Ukraine and France and is also looking for partnership opportunities with Israel. The country has owned the Alcântara Launch Centre since 1982, and has collaboration programs with Ukraine based on the

Table 1. Top 10 in Futron's Space Technology Capacity Index.

**3.3.1 Israel** 

to use export licensed space products.

technologies, and procurement of necessary funds.

generally with the US.

**3.3.2 South Korea** 

**3.3.3 Brazil** 

Cyclone-4 launch vehicle.

Following the same development patterns of Japan and China, India invested in earth observation, communication, meteorology, scientific and outer space exploration programs (e.g., the Moon) and formulated its own launch vehicle program to guarantee the access to Earth's orbit. While the space program was formulated with little foreign consultancy and support, the lunar program, Chandrayaan, was supported by international institutions and several countries. Chandrayaan-1 was launched in 2008 and is one of the best and so far, one of the most successful international outer space exploration programs, even though the mission ended earlier than expected. Bulgaria, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Canada, ESA and the United States participated in the mission, contributing various payloads and flew onboard the spacecraft free of charge. Recently, ISRO allocated funds for Chandrayaan-2 & 3 that includes lunar lander and rover segments. Although NASA and ESA would like to participate this project as well, Chandrayaan-2 will mainly be performed with Russian support and estimated launch dates are after 2013 and 2015, respectively. Another key aspect of Chandrayaan-1 is that 11 different instruments, designed by different organizations, worked well and with each other on a single satellite platform. This represents a tremendous achievement in terms of gathering different organizations and technologies under the same umbrella on board a single satellite platform and enabled them to benefit from the same technological standards on a totally non-commercial space mission.

According to Indian officials, the main drive behind the lunar exploration program is to expand scientific knowledge, develop the country's technical capabilities, and provide working opportunities for valuable human resources in the areas of space technologies and science, which are the crème de la crème of the Indian nation.

The Indian Lunar Exploration program has included international cooperation from the beginning and will hopefully continue to do so in the upcoming Chandrayaan missions as well. Invitation to these types of prestigious cooperation programs could well serve as an appetizer for newcomers in the future. Additionally, India aims to demonstrate independent human spaceflight after 2020.

Although totally initiated and funded by the Indian Government to promote development, the program has many accomplishments, including the development of a home grown launch vehicle and indigenous satellite platform, boosting scientific interest, technological capability and public and institutional the awareness about the Moon within India. Moreover, providing a free-ride for international contributors has marked the Chandrayaan-1 initiative itself as one of the best and most successful opportunities to discover outer space together with other nations. It is the most international lunar spacecraft ever designed.

### **3.3 Others**

Futron Corporation released the 2010 Space Competitiveness Index in which countries are ranked according to their space competitiveness, which was measured using a method developed by the company. The top 10 Countries (Europe being considered as one entity) and their ranks are reported as follows (Futron, 2011):

The first six countries have already been discussed up to this point. Three other countries that can be considered as newcomers are shortly introduced in following subsections.


Table 1. Top 10 in Futron's Space Technology Capacity Index.
