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Asia's race to the moon
Published in Saudi Press Agency on 24 - 08 - 2007


Japan claims its project is the biggest since
the Apollo missions put the first humans on the moon.
China, hoping to pave the way for its own manned missions,
says its probes will study the lunar surface to help plan a
landing, AP reported.
But the big question right now is not about science _ it's
who will get there first.
With Asia's biggest powers set to launch their first moon
missions, possibly as early as next month, the countdown is
on in the hottest space race since the Cold War.
Japan's space agency said last week its SELENE lunar
satellite is on track for a Sept. 13 launch, following
years of delay as engineers struggled to fix a slew of
mechanical problems. China, meanwhile, was rumored to be
planning a September launch for its Chang'e 1 probe, but is
being coy as to the exact date.
Both sides say all systems are go.
The Chinese satellite and its Changzheng 3 rocket carrier
have passed all tests, and construction of the launch site
is finished, according to the National Space
Administration's Web site. Last month, China's minister of
defense technology told CCTV that all was ready for a
launch «by the end of the year.»
Officials have tried to play down the importance of
beating each other off the pad, but their regional rivalry
is never far below the surface.
«I don't want to make this an issue of win or lose. But I
believe whoever launches first, Japan's mission is
technologically superior,» said Yasunori Motogawa, an
executive at JAXA, Japan's space agency. «We'll see which
mission leads to the scientific breakthroughs.»
China's military-run space program has taken a great leap
forward in recent years, and Beijing sent shock waves
through the region in 2003, when it became the first Asian
country to put its own astronauts into space.
China also raised eyebrows when it blasted an old
satellite into oblivion with a land-based anti-satellite
missile, the first such test ever conducted by any nation,
including the United States and Russia.
But Japan has stayed close on China's heels.
After a decade of work, Tokyo in February completed a
network of four spy satellites that can monitor any spot on
the globe, every day _ a program spurred by the 1998 North
Korean test of a Taepodong ballistic missile, which flew
over Japan's main island and into the Pacific.
One of the spy satellites has since failed, however,
throwing network's effectiveness into doubt. Still, Tokyo
spends about US$500 million (euro368.4 million) a year on
its spy satellites.
Regional powers India, South Korea, Malaysia and Taiwan
all have satellites in orbit. North Korea claims to have
sent one up with its 1998 ballistic missile launch and to
have used it to broadcast hymns about its leader, Kim Jong
Il. The claim has never been substantiated.
But the planned lunar missions by China and Japan are
among the most ambitious space programs yet.
Japanese space officials have said their 32 billion yen
(US$276 million; euro203 million) SELENE project is the
largest lunar mission since the U.S. Apollo program in
terms of overall scope and ambition, outpacing the former
Soviet Union's Luna program and NASA's Clementine and Lunar
Prospector projects.
SELENE involves placing a main satellite in orbit around
the moon and deploying the two smaller satellites in polar
orbits to study the moon's origin and evolution. Japan
launched a lunar probe in 1990, but that was a flyby
mission, unlike SELENE, which is intended to orbit the
moon.
China's Chang'e 1 orbiter will use stereo cameras and
X-ray spectrometers to map three-dimensional images of the
lunar surface, and to study its dust. The country has
already spent 1.4 billion yuan (US$185 million; euro136.29
million) on the undertaking, according to the official
Xinhua News agency.
Beijing hopes to retrieve samples from the moon in later
missions, according to the project's Web site, and Xinhua
has reported that a manned probe could come within 15
years.
Beijing hopes to retrieve samples from the moon in later
missions, according to the project's Web page, and Xinhua
has reported that a manned probe could come within 15
years. Japan is also considering a manned mission by 2025.
«It's the race for the South Pole, all over again,» said
Hideo Nagasu, former research head of JAXA's predecessor
organization, the National Aerospace Laboratory.
«In the interest of furthering Asia's space technology,
cooperating would be the best option. But I don't think
either side wants to do that just yet.»


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