The New Space Race

China and India vie for supremacy in the region’s space exploration programmes – from the Moon to Mars

- Dr. Namrata Goswami

In analysing the space policies of lead Asian players like China and India, it becomes clear that both nations are increasingly focusing their efforts on a “space race” – or, more accurately, something of a “gold rush” in space. While these countries certainly have a long list of objectives they want to accomplish in space, there is no clear finish line, neither is there a definitive time frame.

Their approach contrasts starkly with the Cold War rivalry between the United States and the former Soviet Union, where getting there first mattered most. As a result, when the USSR’s Sputnik 1 burst into the skies in 1957, there was a lot of handwringing at NASA. Yuri Gagarin’s tryst with space destiny was a heartbreaker for the US space programme, which subsequently spurred the race to the Moon and the Apollo programme.

In comparison, the race for space among the Asian exploration programmes is not about simply beating the competition to the finish line. The long-term goals set by these nations are not focused on who plants their flag first. They are more focused on space activity – accomplished on as lean a budget as possible. India took great pride in successfully launching their Mars orbiter, Mangalyaan, in 2013 with a meagre overhead cost of USD70 million, compared to the USD671 million spent by the US on launching their Mars orbiter, Maven.

The low cost of India’s Mars orbiter could potentially draw in lucrative customers to its space programme, particularly noteworthy in a newly competitive environment that has seen the entry of private commercial actors like Space X, Moon Express and Blue Origin. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) announced a second Mars mission by 2020–21, and a first probe to Venus.