CHINA REVEALS SPACE PLANS INCLUDE MANNED MOON MISSION

by Antoaneta Bezlova

(IPS) BEIJING -- When a Chinese missile in January destroyed an obsolete weather satellite, the experiment revealed the dimensions of Beijing's unexpected and long-shrouded space capabilities.

Undaunted by the diplomatic unease the test created, China has now taken another step in spelling out its space ambitions. The country's top military defense planning body has for the first time unveiled an ambitious blueprint for developing space science, which although defined as civilian research could be applied for military uses.

Top on the list of the country's space projects are a lunar satellite probe that will orbit the moon this year, followed by a remote-controlled lunar rover in three years. Other featured projects include a joint unmanned mission to Mars with Russia and the launch of the world's most advanced hard X-ray modulation telescope by 2010.

The space agenda was released by the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense -- China's secretive military defense planning body -- last weekend, while Chinese legislators were meeting in Beijing to map the country's future economic course. The document promised the country would focus on innovation and sustainability of space science development to better "serve the national economy and security."

A project of political prestige above all, China's space program is believed to use about two billion U.S. dollars annually. But despite its modest budget -- in comparison, the United States space agency NASA's 2006 budget was about $16 billion -- experts believe China's progress in mastering space technology has been remarkable, not the least because the country has been forced to go it virtually alone.

True, China's manned space flights in 2003 and 2005 were meant more as symbolic messages to the world that by projecting its technological and economic power the country demands to be taken seriously.

Since then however, a string of successful commercial or government satellite launches have reaffirmed China's space ambitions. After languishing for years in the absence of foreign clients, China's satellite launch industry experienced nothing short of a boom in 2006 when a record eight launches were completed.

Chinese engineers are now busy preparing for Shenzhou VII, China's third manned space foray, planned for 2008. Officials say the mission's astronauts will perform another first -- walking in space.

Of more immediate significance is China's plan to fast-track its lunar exploration program by launching a moon orbiter later this year. This is to be followed by a second-phase project involving unmanned lunar landers. Further missions set for 2012-2017 will involve collecting and returning lunar samples to earth.

China's goal to land spacemen on the moon can surely be achieved in 15 years, Huang Chunping, former commander of chief of the launch-vehicle system of the country's manned space mission, told the media last week.

Another leading space scientist, however, admitted that China is still a long way from perfecting the technology to land astronauts on the moon. The main technological challenge for China is the low thrust of its rockets.

"Moon landing needs a rocket with 3,000 to 4,000 tons of thrust but currently the most powerful thrust carrier rocket is around 600 tons," Luan Enjie, chief commander of the country's lunar exploration program, said last week.

Nevertheless, Beijing is currently working on the country's new generation of carrier rocket, designed to launch a space station. According to Huan, the new launch vehicle -- Long March-5, will be capable of hauling 25 tons of payload, a significant increase from the current generation vehicle, whose capacity is only 9 tons.

If realized, China's moon ambitions would put the country in the same league as the world's two space-technology giants, Russia and the United States. That much was evident already when China fired an anti-satellite (ASAT) test missile earlier this year, proving it has successfully mastered the technology pioneered by the U.S. and Russia in the mid-1980s.

Speaking of the efforts China has invested in developing its lunar program, government officials often like to emphasize the fact that many of its milestones were achieved single-handedly.

Some 10,000 experts and technicians took part in developing the lunar orbiter -- named Chang'e after a Chinese folktale moon fairy, Luan Enjie told the media last week.

"Starting from scratch, we developed the Chang'e-I lunar orbiter and the whole subsidiary project by ourselves within three years," he said.

The stress on doing it alone is because for years the United States has barred China from participating in any space launch that involves U.S. technology and from work involving the International Space Station.

The ban is meant to punish China for missile technology sales to what the U.S. perceives of as "rogue states" such as Iran. But insiders believe it is also aimed at protecting the domestic U.S. launch market from competition.

The U.S. military has also long regarded China's space ambitions with suspicion, and hard-liners like Donald Rumsfeld liked to point out how the development of the country's manned space program would serve Beijing in improving its military space systems.

Not surprisingly, in the aftermath of China's ASAT test the State Department threatened to reconsider a freshly signed 2006 agreement with Beijing on cooperation in future moon exploration.

The U.S. refusal to cooperate however has not impeded China's space ambitions. It has only led China to actively pursue collaborative partnerships with space programs in other countries.

These include Russia, which has contributed technology for the design of China's manned Shenzhou missions and which has now been revealed as Beijing's partner for the future mission to Mars.

China has also forged alliances with various European satellite makers and in 2004 signed up as a partner and investor in the European Union's Galileo project.