Robust Space Programs

India, China, and the UAE

This essay will focus on the space programs of India, China, and the United Arab Emirates. I will discuss how they have leveraged their comparative advantages in order to go from having little to no space program to some of the most robust programs in the world. I will then explore the size and nature of the various space programs, go over what they wish to accomplish and what reasons they give for spending resources on a space program.

The India Space Research Organization (ISRO) was formed on August 15th 1969. The very first satellite the India launched into space was in 1975.  It was founded with the vision of “harnessing space technology for national development, while pursuing space science research and planetary exploration.” (Government of India, 2021) To date the ISRO operates with a budget of 1.9 billion dollars annually, owns 52 satellites and accounted for 6% of successful global space launches, behind only the United States, China, and Russia. They have proven that they are capable of launching multiple payloads, breaking the record of most satellites launched into space at one time with a staggering 104 satellites on one launch. Only three of these satellites were Indian, the rest were launches for foreign governments with less ability to reach space themselves. (Goswami, 2020) They currently have plans in the works to launch a person into space by 2022, and they have a goal of launching their own space station into orbit by 2030. (Rajagopalan, 2011) The main focus of the ISRO in recent years has been robotic exploration. They have sent robotic missions to both the lunar surface and into mars orbit. The Chandrayaan-1, India’s first lunar probe launched in 2008, confirmed the presence of water on the moon’s poles. In 2014 they became the first Asian nation to successfully put a satellite into mars orbit on their first attempt. This mission was impressive for many reasons, foremost of which being its cost was only 74 million USD, much less than NASA’s mission to mars the same year which cost the United States 651 million USD.

There is no doubt that the policy surrounding space technology and investment has changed dramatically under the new government. President Modi of India has ramped up investments into its military space capabilities by asserting that it is necessary to promote India’s national interest given the importance of space assets in the modern world. In 2019 NASA criticized India for an antisatellite test it carried out very publicly, in which it used its newly developed anti-satellite missile technology to shoot down one of its own satellites. Nasa claimed that the test was riskier than it needed to be and the debris from the destruction of the satellite put the international space station at risk. (Schultz, 2019)

Much of what Modi has tried to accomplish with his focus on space has been to create an entirely indigenous Indian space program. That is, create a space program solely created and controlled by India, without the help of foreign nations. Shortly after the successful antisatellite test Modi tweeted, “India stands tall as a space nation!” proving that the recent increase in space investments have not solely been for militaristic or scientific purposes, rather also they have been made for political gain as well. (Schultz, 2019) There is an argument to be made that investments into the space industry today could yield high economic returns for India in the future. This argument is especially convincing given the amount of effort that the ISRO is putting into researching and developing technologies to mine material on the moon and other celestial bodies. If successful this could be a huge economic industry in the future and India will be poised to take full advantage of it.

China became the third country to ever launch a human being into space in 2003. Since then they have established themselves as a space faring powerhouse. Unlike other countries, the majority of the space development happening in China is government funded and military led. The official space program of China is called the Chinese national Space Agency (CNSA), however in reality most of the work gets done by the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC). This is also where, by far, the most amount of people work. the CASC employed nearly 100,000 people and operated with a budget of 11 billion US dollars. (Singh, Singh, & Singh, 2020) The Chinese government considers space to be just another “tool of geographical and diplomatic competition.” (Paladini, 2021) The Chinese space program advances through 5-year plans, the most recent of which ended in 2020. During these 5 years china has had over 140 successful launches and maintains plans to retrieve mars samples and an exploratory mission of Jupiter. Recently the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation reported that they would achieve a major breakthrough in nuclear powered space shuttles by 2040. The goal of these nuclear shuttles will be to mine space-based resources and establish solar power stations. (Goswami, 2018)

Since 1992 China has had an overall strategy for space advancement that they call the “three step strategy of development”. Step one involves launch a manned spaceship, which they accomplished back in 2003. Step two involves improving spacefaring technology and making breakthroughs in extravehicular activities as well as setting up a lab in space for short term manned stops. The final step is to establish their own space station in orbit. This will provide them a larger scale place for their astronauts to stop for longer periods of time. (Government of China, 2021)

It’s quite clear that China believes that their efforts in space advancement are not being done for the sole purpose of military defense or scientific exploration. Rather it is a combination of this as well as what they believe to be great economic potential for the future. Almost all space technologies either created or bought by the Chinese are duel use. This means that they can be used for militaristic, scientific, or economic reasons. Through their efforts to create the technology needed to mine asteroids and lunar resources, they are making the investment today in the hopes that it will pay off heavily in the future if they are one of the first nations to beginning acquiring celestial resources on a large scale. The potential is definitely there, and unlike other countries without state-run programs they have the resources to go years without operating at a profit in the hopes of large future returns on investment. (Hughes, 2002) 

The United Arab Emirates has created a very impressive space agency, the most advanced in all of the middle east, and better funded than almost anywhere else in the world. Founded in 2014 and operating with a budget of over 5 billion US dollars they have quickly used those resources in order to make leaps and bounds in the field of space exploration. The vision expressed on the government sponsored website states that the mission of the agency is, “To proudly forge a pioneering future for the United Arab Emirates in the field of space, and to inspire our future generations to serve the nation and humanity” (Government of UAE, 2020). The UAE’s space agency is not controlled by the military, rather it is and independently run organization, however as with most space technologies, just because something is created not for militaristic purposes, that doesn’t mean they can’t be used that way in the future.

For a nation with such a nascent space program they are the fifth country to send a spacecraft to mars. It is unique from the other satellites around the red planet in that it will have a different orbit, allowing it to get angles of mars that no other nation has been able to get. Currently all other satellites are in a polar orbit, meaning that they all have a very standard view of mars that shows them different parts of the planet at fixed points throughout the day. Because the Hope satellite is at an incline it will see different parts of the planet at different parts during the day, allowing it to get unique insights into mars whether patterns and other mars phenomena. (El-Showk, 2020).

The United Arab Emirates invested these resources and sent the Hope Satellite to Mars claiming that “our space mission carries a message of hope and confidence in Arab youth." Their mission statements and reasons for exploring these celestial bodies are all very noble reasons: scientific advancement, pride, and a fundamental desire to explore the universe are all listed as the central reasons that they are exploring space. Whether they are also doing it because of possible future financial and economic benefits is up for debate, but even if it is a factor they have proven that they will focus most of their research for non-militaristic (though still dual use) technologies that will allow them to take detailed and unique scientific measurement of our solar system. It’s very possible that in the near future when it becomes clear how much potential for profit exists in extracting space resources, the UAE will leverage their already advanced space program to be one of the first nations to put their foot through the door in this new industry. (Bartels, 2021)

Works Cited

Government of India. (2021). Vision and mission statements. Retrieved March 10, 2021, from https://www.isro.gov.in/about-isro/vision-and-mission-statements

Goswami, Namrata. "India's Space Program, Ambitions, and Activities." Asia Policy, vol. 27 no. 2, 2020, p. 43-49. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/asp.2020.0022.

Rajagopalan, R. (2011). India’s Space Program: A Chronology. India Review, 10(4), 345–350. https://doi.org/10.1080/14736489.2011.624012

Schultz, K. (2019, April 02). NASA says debris from India's Antisatellite test Puts space station at risk. Retrieved March 10, 2021, from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/02/world/asia/nasa-india-space-debris.html

Singh, P., Singh, H., & Singh, W. (2020, June 05). CNSA: China National Space ADMINISTRATION, SPACECRAFT. Retrieved March 10, 2021, from http://www.wishusucess.com/cnsa/

Paladini, S. (2021, February 17). How Mars became the prize for a new space race - and why China is hellbent on winning it. Retrieved March 10, 2021, from https://www.space.com/china-aims-for-mars-prize-for-new-space-race

Goswami, N. (2018). China in Space: Ambitions and Possible Conflict. Strategic Studies Quarterly, 12(1), 74-97. Retrieved March 10, 2021, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/26333878

Government of China. (2021). About cms_china manned space. Retrieved March 10, 2021, from http://en.cmse.gov.cn/aboutcms/

El-Showk, S. (2020). UAE probe aims for Mars—and payoffs on Earth. Science, 369(6500), 127–127. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.369.6500.127

Hughes, J. H. (2002). The current status of china's military space program. The Journal of Social, Political, and Economic Studies, 27(4), 393-408. Retrieved from https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/current-status-chinas-military-space-program/docview/216809819/se-2?accountid=10003

Government of UAE. (2020, November 15). وكالة الإمارات للفضاء. https://www.space.gov.ae/.