STRATEGIC
ANALYSIS(^54) | AsiAn MilitAry review |
the US and Russia, which continue as
spacefaring nations.
Final Frontiers
Now a similar struggle is evident in the
Asia-Pacific. Japan and the People’s Re-
public of China (PRC) made early gains in
this sphere, launching satellites into space
in the 1970s, but other nations such as the
Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
(DPRK), India and the Republic of Korea
are now striving to play catch up, and
there are a number of factors driving this
area of development: “Space is important
to these countries for multiple reasons,”
Bill Ostrove, principal space analyst at
Forecast International, a research company,
told AMR, adding that it is an important
driver of technological and economic de-
velopment: “China has successfully sold
satellites and launch services around the
world. In recent years, India has become
a major player on the commercial launch
market, especially its PSLV (Polar Satellite
Launch Vehicle), which has become popu-
lar among small satellite operators.”
The PSLV has been in service for some
20 years, having launched a number of
satellite types into space for 19 countries,
according to the Indian Space Research
Organisation (IRSO). These include the
Chandrayaan-1, Mars Orbiter Mission,
the Space Capsule Recovery Experiment
and the Indian Regional Navigation Satel-
lite System. India received a lot of atten-
tion for its Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM),
which was launched in 2013, in particular,
Mr. Ostrove said. On 15th February, the
PSLV demonstrated its ability to carry 104
satellites into orbit at one time, which was
hailed as being “a landmark in the history
of our space programme”, according to a
letter from AS Kiran Kumar, India’s secre-
tary for space. This is the largest amount of
satellites ever carried using one launcher,
and the achievement was also praised by
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi:
“This remarkable feat by ISRO is yet an-
other proud moment for our space sci-
entific community and the nation. India
salutes our scientists,” Mr. Modi said on
social media: “The capabilities that the
satellites provide are also important for
the economic development of the region,”
Mr. Ostrove continued: “Communications
satellites broadcast video and provide
the backbone for growing data networks;
weather satellites provide meteorological
data important for travel, trade, and mili-
tary operations; and remote sensing satel-
lites provide data on forestry, agriculture,
and the environment.”
Pride is also of importance to nations
throughout the region, and as they be-
come more active on the world stage, the
position they hold as ‘space powers’ is
paramount to their image, Mr. Ostrove
added. In addition to the MOM achieve-
ment gained by India, the PRC also gained
prestige for its methodical human space
exploration development, Mr. Ostrove
said, with the most recent accomplishment
being the launch of its second space sta-
tion, the Tiangong-2, that entered the heav-
ens in September 2016, to which Beijing
will send several crews over the next year:
“Finally, space is an important part of de-
fence capabilities for Asia-Pacific coun-
tries,” he added: “Japan, India, and China
are all investing heavily in military satel-
lites for both reconnaissance and commu-
nications. The (DPRK) is also developing
military capabilities, especially in its ef-
forts to develop and build rockets, which
can deliver satellites to space, but also war-
heads to its enemies.”
Prime Directives
This latter development in the Asia-
Pacific space race is concerning, given
the DPRK’s strained relations with most
world powers, and its seemingly intense
desire to become a regional force to fear.
The development of Intercontinental Bal-
listic Missiles (ICBM), which typically
have a range in excess of 2969.7 nautical
miles/nm (5500 kilometres/km) is one of
the more disturbing areas of progress, as
a projectile of this kind that uses a period
of spaceflight to gain speed would enable
long-range firings that could reach the
continental United States, and to poten-
tially carry a nuclear warhead to targets
there. Nuclear ICBM ownership is typi-
cally used as a deterrent, but it is unclear
if this is the case when it comes to the
DPRK. Underground nuclear weapons
testing has been carried out by the ‘Her-
mit Kingdom’ since 2006, with Pyong-
yang claiming two successful tests in 2016,
despite the nation promising to give up
nuclear development in 2005. Even the
DPRK’s only regional ally the PRC has
condemned recent nuclear testing, join-
ing 14 other members of the United Na-
tions Security Council in issuing a joint
statement in 2016 criticising Pyongyang
regarding the consequences of its ongo-
ing testing. Additionally, in his 2017 new
year address, the DPRK’s Supreme Leader
Kim Jong-un, claimed that the country
was planning on continuing its nuclear
testing, and was planning demonstra-
tions of an ICBM at some point this year:
“We conducted the first (Hydrogen bomb)
test, test-firing of various means of strike
and nuclear warhead tests successfully
to cope with the imperialists’ nuclear
war threats, which were growing more
wicked day by day, briskly developed
state-of-the-art military hardware, and
entered the final stage of preparation for
the test launch of an intercontinental bal-
listic missile; we achieved other marvel-
lous successes one after another for the
consolidation of the defence capability,”
said Mr. Kim Following these statements,
on 6th March, four ballistic missiles of
an unknown type were launched by
Pyongyang, three of which are assumed
India has made
advancements in
Mars exploration,
using an orbiter
to map the
characteristics
of the planet for
scientific research,
while exploring the
possibility of life on
Mars.
ISRO