**2.4 Japan**

6 Space Science

Apollo-7 in 1968, which carried a crew of three into the Earth orbit. It was followed by Apollo-8 with a crew of three that completed the world's first manned mission around the

Meanwhile, Soviet Russia was developing "Zond" and a prototype of the spacecraft for

Between July 16 and 24, 1969, The astronauts of Apollo-11 landed and walked on the surface of the Moon. They became the first men to walk on a celestial object other than the Earth. After the success of Apollo-11, the USA successfully completed five more Moon expeditions with the Apollo series. After several Russian launch vehicles and sample-return spacecrafts failed to reach the Moon, the Soviet government officially cancelled the N1-L3 program in 1976. Until that date, Russian rovers Lunokhod-1 and 2 landed on the Moon safely in 1970 and 1973, respectively. Following these events, moon rush, turned into deep space rush

In light of the experiences and developments of the Moon race, Soviet Russia and the United States considered exploration of the inner planets as well. Unsuccessful Mars and Venus probes were launched towards their destinations in the early 1960's. After many disappointments and very expensive trials, for the first time in the history, the American Mariner-4 satellite transmitted 21 images and bountiful scientific data in 1964 at a distance of approximately 10,000 km from Mars. US Mars-1 to Mars-7 and Russian Phobos-1 & 2 were also sent to Mars until 1988, and some of them returned valuable data. The Russians responded with the Venera-3 satellite. The lander penetrated the atmosphere of Venus in 1966, another first time event. Following Venera-3's success, a series of landers, Venera-5 to - 16 were sent to Venus until 1983. Exploration of Mars and Venus continues even today, with the US sending two Pioneers to Venus; six more Mariners, two Vikings to the Mars and two Voyagers, three Pioneers to Jupiter until 1978 and many more up to day. Although the space race may seem to have slowed down after the 1980's due to financial reasons, it is unlikely that it will ever end as human interest in space continues to this day with major projects

The technology derived from the Sputnik missions has led to key developments in modern communication, earth observation, meteorology, early warning and scientific satellites that

While Soviet Russia and the US were continuously conquering the outer space, the rest of the world seemed reluctant to proceed on the same way and did not join the race for some time. Recently, the investments made by the Asian states in lunar programmes have also increased global interest in the Moon. It is likely that the US, Russia and the European

In 1964, the European Space Research Organization (ESRO) was founded by 10 European nations with the intention of jointly pursuing scientific research in space. ESRO was merged with ELDO (European Launcher Development Organisation) in 1975 to form the

Moon between December 21 and 27.

starting from Mars and Venus.

such as the International Space Station.

**2.3 Europe** 

have improved and become the part of everyday life on Earth.

Union will also make significant investments in this direction soon.

**2.2 Deep space rush** 

manned circumlunar flight flew around the Moon.

Japan is the first country in Asia to follow the developments in the rest of the world, founding the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS) in 1950. The first satellite was launched in 1970 with the indigenous L-4S rocket. In the beginning of its developmental phase, the National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA) used a US license to produce rocket engines, which paved the way to the first launch vehicle developed in Japan, the H-II, which was launched in 1994.

The first Japanese missions beyond Earth orbit were launched in 1985 to observe the Halley comet with two observation satellites. The missions were performed together with the Russian and European Space Agencies as part of a joint space exploration program. Japan is also the first Asian country to launch a lunar probe with a satellite called Hiten in 1990. They even sent an orbiter to the Sun in 1991 and sponsored an astronaut mission as part of US Shuttle program in 1992. The first Japanese interplanetary mission, the Mars Orbiter Nozomi (Planet-B), was launched in 1998.

Briefly, Japan invested heavily in exploration of space and space science; astronomy, technology tests, lunar explorations, solar sail research and even sent probes to asteroids and the Moon.

In April 2005, Japan announced ambitious new plans for a manned space programme, including landing on the Moon by 2025. The country now wants to have human presence in space along with unmanned scientific planetary missions and also has ambitions to open a permanent base on the Moon and manned spaceflights around the year 2020.

The Japanese ride to space is supported by their ability to access to space by means of their own indigenous launch vehicle, just like Russia and the US. Sufficient financial support from the government and moral support from society also stimulate Japan's special interest in space. However, it is uncertain today if Japan will continue to invest at the same pace, due to the devastating impact of the Sendai Earthquake and Tsunami in 2011, whose estimated cost is around several hundred billion US \$. Probably, some of the funds, which were allocated for space projects, like other government spending, will be transferred to the recovery of earthquake devastated areas and export oriented Japanese economy.

How Newcomers Will Participate in Space Exploration 9

construction of dockable space station, extra-vehicular activity trials with space suits, biological, medical, chemical, electronic and electro-mechanical experiments in orbit, and

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

The outcome of this investment in space will be very useful in many different areas, such as

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

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

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

financial, moral and especially political and geopolitical positioning for China.

creating a sustainable habitat for the visitors, just like in the ISS.

beyond is theoretically achievable with sustained cash flow.

cooperation with other nations for space exploration.

development and launch.

Organization (ISRO) in 1969.

**3.2 India** 
