In the latest display of Asia’s rising space capability, a Chinese rocket carrying a Pakistani satellite will take off in May headed for the far side of the Moon.
The Chang'e-6 mission will for the first time bring back samples from the Moon’s dark side, said China’s National Space Administration (CSNA).
To promote international cooperation, the 8.2-tonne spacecraft will carry payloads from several countries including France, Italy and Pakistan as well as the European Space Agency, Xinhua news service reported.
The scheduled May launch will be the second time China has carried a Pakistani satellite into space, after China put into orbit two of the country's craft in 2018.
Pakistan aims high
Islamabad also plans to grab a spot on an international lunar station to be built by 2035 in collaboration between Russia and China, with help from firms from France, Germany, Italy, Malaysia and Thailand.
Pakistan signed a series of space exploration agreements with China in 2019, which included China helping to train and launch Pakistani astronauts.
Pakistan currently has six satellites compared to Australia’s 38, Japan’s 204, India’s 111 and China’s 638 – but experts say the Asian numbers were likely to change, thanks to new appetite for joint missions in space.
Qaisar Rashid, a Pakistani journalist, said even with China’s backing Pakistan remains far behind India, which landed its Chandrayaan-3 mission on the Moon on 23 August.
"Despite Chinese help, Pakistan's Chandrayaan is not in sight and its IT sector is still rudimentary," Rashid wrote in an opinion piece in Pakistan's Daily Times.
"Pakistan's Chandrayaan has been lost in short-sightedness, internal strife, and lack of understanding.”
Chinese prowess
China claims its international partnerships exceed projects by Asia’s two other space-faring nations, Japan and India.
It counts 149 accords with 46 national agencies as well as 17 space cooperation organisations, and lists Ukraine, Belarus, Argentina and Nigeria among countries it has worked with in space.
China, which in 2003 became the third country ever to launch a human into space independently, is also set to test its latest spacecraft between 2027 and 2028 with seven astronauts on board.
But an historic collaboration with India faces trouble, as a key component built by India for China’s Tiangong space station awaits export clearance amid military tensions between the two Asian neighbours.
Asian ambitions
Space history seems to be unfolding faster elsewhere in Asia. South Korea has deployed multiple satellites on its homegrown rockets and Seoul invested 582 million euros on domestic space projects in its 2022 national budget.
Taiwan also put aside 847 million euros for its space industry, which aims to launch 10 local satellites by 2028.
Meanwhile Delhi predicted its space economy would rocket 13 times to 12.2 billion euros by 2025, as rural India thirsts for satellite internet coverage.
Newer technologies and falling costs are also expected to boost India’s space industry, which opened to the private sector in April after decades of government control.
“We are seeing a groundswell of partnerships with Indian space companies,” Sanjay Nekkanti, CEO of private satellite maker Dhruva Space, told South Asian news agency IANS.
The company is partnering with French service provider Kineis to jointly operate a satellite, he said.
