Thursday, October 25, 2007

Beijing's rocketing ambition


Despite a ban on US components, China's space industry is advanced

China's former leader Mao Zedong once quipped that his country could not launch a potato into space - but times have changed.


The launch of China's Moon probe Chang'e 1 is the latest in a series of achievements attained by the country's space programme recently.

Chang'e 1's launch is the first stage of a lunar exploration project that could see China put a man on the Moon within 15 years.

But critics, particular those in the United States, worry China's space programme also has a threatening, military aspect.

Those fears were voiced in August by Lt-Gen Kevin Campbell, head of the US army's Space and Missile Defence Command.

He warned that China might be just three years away from being able to disrupt US military satellites in a regional conflict.



China often repeats that it does not want to initiate an arms race in space.

But its ability to turn space into a battlefield was demonstrated in January when a ground-launched missile successfully destroyed a defunct weather satellite.

Military expert Andrew Yang, of the Taiwan-based China Council for Advanced Policy Studies, says China is building up its military capabilities in space.

"The space programme is run by China's defence industry so the military is heavily involved," he explains.

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