NEWS:
As per the state media, on November 1 this year, China completed its first mission to the moon and return to the Earth with the successful re-entry and landing of an unmanned probe. The probe landed safely in northern China’s Inner Mongolia region, state news agency Xinhua said, citing the Beijing Aerospace Control Centre. Prior to re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere, the unnamed probe was travelling at 11.2 kilometres per second (40,320 kmph), a speed that can generate temperatures of more than 1,500 degrees Celsius. The probe’s mission was to travel to the moon, fly around it and head back to Earth, the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence said in a statement.

VIEWS:
In the recent past, there have been a number of disasters in the regime of space exploration. The Antares, an unmanned supply mission to the International Space Station, is reported to have been destroyed deliberately by launch control as the rocket deviated from its intended trajectory. This was followed by the disintegration over the Mojave Desert of the manned Virgin Galactic Space Ship II that was on a test flight. This was not only a disastrous setback to the first private venture in space exploration sponsored by the flamboyant Richard Branson but a tragic one as it resulted to the death of its pilot. Both these accidents could cast a shadow on the future of space exploration.

Against the background of these catastrophic events, the Chinese space programme registered a major success when its spacecraft, Chang’e 5-T1 named Xiaofei (Little Flyer), made a flawless entry into Earth’s atmosphere and landed safely in the Mongolian desert. The Little Flyer was launched on October 24, 2014, on board a Long March III rocket from Xichang Space Centre in Xichang, China and traversed 8,40,000 km during its journey in space that lasted for eight days. This mission was intended to validate re-entry technology such as heat shield and trajectory design to be employed in a mission for a landing on the moon by China’s fourth lunar probe, the Chang’e-5 to be launched around 2017. This mission will be aimed at collecting samples from the Lunar surface and bring it back to Earth.

China is the third country after the United States and Russia, to have sent a spacecraft into the lunar orbit and successfully recovered it back on the Earth. The Chinese success comes 44 years after the then Soviet Union that was the last nation to have achieved this feat in 1970. The first Chinese astronaut ventured into space in 2003, became once again the third nation to do so after the US and Russia. In 2008, Chinese astronauts undertook their first ‘space walk’. In December 2013, Chang’e 3 landed on the moon and successfully deployed a rover named Yutu (Jade Rabbit) on the surface of the moon. The rover though declared successful by the Chinese space agencies is reported to be afflicted with some technical issues. China now aims to establish a permanent space station by the year 2022 or so, as also has plans to eventually land one of their astronauts on the moon.

Beijing’s highly ambitious and so far eminently successful space programme reflects the nations technological capabilities as well as its stature as a rising global power.

While China was justifiably gloating over her recent success, India had already crossed a major milestone in her space programme with the successful insertion of the ‘Mangalyaan’ in an orbit around the red planet. This was a remarkable technological feat as the failure rate in missions to Mars has been very high. Besides, India is the first Asian space power to have tasted success in a mission to Mars in the very first attempt. Prior to the success registered by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), space agencies of only three nations, i.e, the US, Europe and Russia, had been able to launch successful mission to Mars, either orbiting or landing on it. China’s attempt at a mission to Mars in November 2011 Yinghuo-1 ended in failure. Earlier on in 1998, a mission to Mars launched by Japan ran out of fuel and was lost in space. Another notable feature of the Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) was that it was accomplished at relatively lower cost without compromise in quality as compared with the US. For example, ISRO’s MOM cost just Rs. 450 crore while Mars Atmosphereand Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) launched by NASA, cost the Rs. 4,200 crore. MOM of ISRO will mark the beginning of the agency’s effort at interplanetary exploration.

There is no denying the fact that India and China have been engaged in a furious space race. While China appears to be ahead in some areas of space exploration, India has stolen a march over China in the race for the red planet. China and India have now entered into an agreement to encourage exchange and cooperation in the exploration and use of outer space for peaceful purposes, including research and development of scientific experiment satellites, remote sensing satellites and communications satellites.

As for competing with China, Dr K. Radhakrishnan, Chairman of ISRO, made this profound statement that encapsulates ISRO’s philosophy, “We are racing against ourselves to get into the next level of excellence”.