The Space Era and Asia

As seen, the role of outer space applications has evolved considerably over last few decades for education, meteorology, resources management and communication. On the other hand, the wars fought in the post-Cold War era have brought to fore the importance of space technologies for the militaries. Both the Gulf Wars (1991 and 2003) and Afghanistan conflict (2001) has demonstrated to the world the value of space assets towards controlling the modern warfare. This has also lead to the development of space doctrines for various nation-states.

During last two to three decades, a marked increase in the development of indige­nous outer space programmes and related joint ventures has been observed. Various states in Asia are found investing to space technologies. In some cases, the space programmes are somewhat indigenous in nature while many states are developing their programmes mostly in collaboration with the USA, European Union (EU) or Russia. Nonetheless, the expansion in the number of states possessing outer space technologies is also bringing in the issue of duel-capable technologies to the fore.

The pre-1990 period could be viewed as the Space War period between the two superpowers. The USA and the erstwhile USSR had made significant investments in space-based assets. However, mostly their focus was to use the space technologies for the purposes of monitoring each other nuclear assets. In the final analysis, it could be said that the Soviets could not sustain the space domination race mainly because of economic compulsions. In regard to Asian states, it has been observed that their investments in space did not have any significant military or one-upmanship bias of the Cold War era. They were fully aware about the erstwhile USSR experience of the space race engagement. At the same time, it is also important to note that states having vital strategic objectives usually tend to modernise faster than others. Also, states having developed missile capabilities tend to have advantage in the space arena (converse is also true). Asia hosts some of the shrewdest powers in the world. Naturally, their investment in space needs to be viewed not in isolation but at the backdrop of prevailing geopolitical and geostrategic realities.

Today, the Asian states could be distributed into two broad groupings in regard to their space capabilities: satellite system holders based on borrowed technology and states with satellite launch capabilities (spacefaring nations). In today’s world, it’s not mandatory to possess all the technical capabilities to own a satellite. There are states owning satellites without having either launch capabilities and/or satellite manufacturing potential. This becomes possible because of international collaborations either done at political or commercial level. Approximately, more than 15 Asian states have their own satellites placed in outer space. The states which have successfully demonstrated launch capabilities till date are Japan, China, India, Israel and Iran. North Korea has made claims regarding successful orbital launches but scientific community is not fully convinced about it.

Amongst the Asian states mainly Japan, China and India have significant investments in the space arena. Israel also to an extent could be said to belong to this club; however, their investments are much limited in nature. All these states are capable of designing and developing their own satellites and launchers. Some of them have limitations in regard to putting heavier satellites (more than 3,000 kg) into the geostationary (36,000 km) orbits. Following table offers basic information in regard to the number of satellites in possession of individual countries in the region.

Amongst these, states like South Korea and Malaysia are keen to enhance their space capabilities and are demonstrating keenness to develop the programme in the near future. Unfortunately, South Korea has to witness failures in regard to the development of launch technologies. States like Indonesia, South Korea and Saudi Arabia have ten or more satellites in space; however, it is important to note that there is no direct correlation between the number of satellites and the space potential. What essentially this number could indicate is the interest of these states in this technology and their wiliness for monetary investments. Various other states from the region also have a considerable requirement for satellite-derived products, but they probably face financial limitations and hence do not ‘own’ any satellites. Many such states are purchasing required products either from Asian or global market to reduce the ‘deficit’ of not owning any satellite systems.

Iran and North Korea are found using space launches as a technology demonstra­tor to implicitly inform the world about their ballistic missile capability. However,

it may not be totally correct to view Iran only with the ‘missile’ label. They have demonstrated some significant achievements in the space sciences field too and have successfully undertaken few launches.

Amongst Japan-China-India, the investments and the space assets of Japan and China far exceed India. Deep space missions (missions to put satellites beyond 100,000 km—e. g. Moon and Mars missions) are one area where the journey of all these states could be more or less comparable to a certain extent. In recent times, particularly China’s progress has been most noteworthy with their successful human spaceflights and their efforts towards launching indigenous space station. China has caused a ‘space tsunami’ by successfully carrying out an antisatellite test during 2007. This has brought to the fore the issues related to the ‘weaponisation of space’.11

When issues related to space are debated at the backdrop of geostrategic realities, it becomes essential to understand the ability of space realm in regard to power projection to influence the behaviour of people or the course of events. It is important to understand military strategy and power projection premise of the issues related to space.