China has become the third nation in the world to send men into
space, following the United States and the former Soviet Union, and
subsequently joined the world's space club.
How do Chinese scientists think about the nation's presence in
the club now with six members, namely the United States, Russia,
Japan, India and the Europe Space Agency?
By the end of 2004, more than 5,700 space missions, including
manmade satellites, piloted spacecraft and deep space explorers,
had been launched around the world. Of the total, 3,192 came from
the former Soviet Union and Russia, 1,782 from the United States,
104 from Japan and 48 from the Europe Space Agency (excluding those
launched by France, Germany and Britain independently).
As the 21st century begins, space technology has increasingly
symbolized the overall strength of a country, said Zhu Yilin,
academician of the International Aerospace of Astronautics.
Both developed and developing nations have attached importance
to space exploration, Zhu added. In recent few years, Brazil, the
Republic of Korea (ROK), Pakistan and Israel launched their own
space programs. Other nations with their space activities based on
purchased satellites numbered nearly 70, and those beginning to use
space technology, more than 160.
Zhu said China has become the world's only third nation to send
men in space. Though in its infancy, China's manned space program
has outperformed Russia's space series currently in service in
terms of various technologies.
In the research and application of rockets and satellites,
members of the world's space club have their respective advantages,
Zhu said. China boasts carrier rockets each with a boosting
capacity of 10 tons or so and satellites for a full range of
purposes.
Zhu noted Chinese satellites are a bit outdid by those made in
the Europe Space Agency in terms of service life, accuracy and
other properties. Generally they are equivalent to Japanese
satellites and a little more advanced than those made by India.
As for deep space exploration, China plans to land an unmanned
probe on the Moon by 2010, likely becoming the fifth nation to
launch a lunar explorer in the world, Zhu said.
China has powerful ability in space technology research, with a
world-class force of related scientists, said Hu Wenrui,
academician of the International Academy of Astronautics and Chinese Academy
of Sciences.
With help of Shenzhou series, China has completed initial space
scientific experiments in a systematic manner. They are all
pioneering programs and hotspots in the world, involving space
astronomy, space physics, life science, microgravity studies and
Earth system, noted Hu Wenrui. Hu cited a moderate-definition
imaging spectrum device that was tested aboard the Shenzhou-3
unmanned spacecraft. He said the device has met the world-class
criteria.
Unlike the United States and Russia whose space experiments have
been carried out for more than four decades, China started late in
this field. So China has to boost the development of the sector in
a selective way, Hu pointed out. In the coming five years, China
will narrow the gap with the two space powers, Hu believed.
Of the two space powers, Zhu Yilin said, the United States
annually pumped US$30 billion in space programs on average, or 80
percent of the world's total.
Russia boasts a number of world's "firsts" in space exploration,
including the first manned satellites, first manned space flight
and the first space walk. Along with an economic resurrection,
Russia plans to carry out two unmanned Mars probes before 2015, Zhu
said.
With a history of 30 years, the Europe Space Agency, constituted
by 17 European nations, now ranks third in the world's space club.
Its annual input in space programs averages US$3.8 billion, next
only to the United States.
Zhu deemed that in the current space exploration spree, some
emerging countries, such as Brazil, ROK and Israel, also merit
attention.
(Xinhua News Agency October 16, 2005)