Preface
In recent years, good news has been coming out of the development of China's space industry, and India began to sit still after hearing this, so it immediately publicly announced its manned space program for this year, and even announced the list of astronauts.
I was amazed by the courage and speed with which India's public plan was to complete the path that China had taken five years to complete, in one year.
So, what exactly is India's space program? Can they surpass China in strength?
The content of this article is written with authoritative information combined with personal opinions, and the source of the literature and screenshots have been marked at the end of the article, please be aware.
Information sources:
Huanqiu.com: India announced that it will build a space station in 2030, Indian media: following China is in line with the laws of history
India's "Gaganyan" program
As early as January 17, 2022, India's Minister of Atomic Energy and Space Development, Jitendra Singh, announced their ambitious space program in Parliament.
According to Gitendra Singh, India will build its first space station in 2030, and their Gaganyan manned space program will also be completed this year.
However, it is worth mentioning that India's space program is completed in accordance with China's space development law.
Nitin J. Tiku, a defense analyst at the EurAsia Times, once wrote in a report:
"If you look at the historical records of China and India together, you will have a clear understanding of the development of the Indian space station, and India has been catching up with China very quickly."
It can be seen that China has always been the key "object" of India's comparison, just like in a class, the second place will always regard the first place as a "strong rival", so it will want to catch up desperately.
However, in September '22, Jitendra Singh postponed the completion of the "Gaganyan" project until this year.
Although the launch of the manned spacecraft has been postponed, this does not affect India's progress, after all, they are already very fast.
On October 21 last year, India conducted its first test of an unmanned spacecraft, and although the process was full of twists and turns, India eventually succeeded and reaped a lot of results.
Information sources:
Global Times: After many twists and turns, India's unmanned spacecraft was successfully tested
On the 21st, the Indian spacecraft was delayed for 45 minutes before launch due to weather conditions, and later called an emergency stop five seconds before ignition due to engine failure.
After a series of troubleshooting and repairs, the unmanned spacecraft was finally successfully launched and delivered to the predetermined altitude.
According to India, the main purpose of their mission was to "test the effectiveness of the manned spacecraft escape system."
The test mission is the first step in India's manned spaceflight, and the successful results will also lay the foundation for their plans to launch a manned spacecraft this year.
Judging from India's manned space program, it seems that they have decided to complete the road that China once took five years to complete in one year.
So, how did this time come about?
Information sources:
Chinese Government Portal: Listen to the footsteps of China's flight - 50 years of China's aerospace
Time to catch up
The mysteries of space are enough to entice anyone to want to explore, and China is one of them.
At the time of the "space race" between the Soviet Union and the United States, China's aerospace development had just begun, and at that time, we watched other countries' space undertakings make innovative breakthroughs again and again, and it was impossible not to envy them.
But at the same time, they also play a great role in motivating us, if others can do it, then how can I not do it as a big country?
Subsequently, one year after Qian Xuesen returned to China, New China established a rocket and missile research institute, officially opening China's aerospace road.
In addition, in 1992, China decided on the manned space project of the Shenzhou spacecraft, and began our "dream come true" program.
On November 20, 1999, China's first unmanned test spacecraft was successfully launched, and for the next three years, China launched one unmanned spacecraft every year for testing.
It was not until October 15, 2003 that China launched its first manned spacecraft, Shenzhou 5, becoming the third country in the world to independently carry out manned space activities.
Our space hero, Yang Liwei, thus became China's first astronaut in space.
It took five years from China's first unmanned spacecraft to the launch of its first manned spacecraft, and now India intends to complete the mission that took us five years to complete in just one year.
In 2022, India has already announced that it will postpone the "Gaganyan" manned spacecraft program until this year.
Last year, the success of their first unmanned spacecraft test gave India confidence that this year, they will directly realize a manned spacecraft, and this timeline is very "exaggerated".
But in reality, India's space development is really fast.
In 2006, when India began developing a satellite navigation system, China had already launched its first artificial satellite in 1970.
When China completed its satellite network in 2020, India was just getting a good grasp of satellite technology.
However, India's satellite networking time is faster than China's, and they have eight years less time than us, which is still a very large span.
However, although India's satellites are developing rapidly, there is a big gap between China in terms of "quality".
Their satellites have only completed the coverage of 1,500 kilometers in India, including abroad, while China's satellites have completed the global networking.
However, we can also see that according to India's speed, it should not take too long for them to complete the global satellite network in the future.
So, apart from these, what achievements has India made so far in space development?
Information sources:
Red Star News: India's "Chandrayaan-3" successfully landed on the moon: a human probe "arrived" at the south pole of the moon for the first time to look for water ice
Aerospace development in India
India's history of aerospace development is comprehensive and fast, and it is even slightly "stronger" than China in some fields.
On August 23, 2023, India's Chandrayaan-3 probe made a successful soft landing at the south pole of the moon.
This landing is the first time that the human world has landed on the south pole of the moon, which is a great step forward for India and the world.
India also became the fourth country in the world to land on the surface of the moon.
Compared with the dynamics of the United States' lunar landings in recent years, including the cases of their two failed lunar landings this year, India can be said to have a faint upper hand.
Second, India completed the capsule return experiment as early as 2007.
It is the success of this experiment that has made India one of the world's space powers, and at the same time has brought confidence to the development of their space industry.
In addition to this, India also has an excellent track record in Mars research.
In November 2013, India's Mars probe Mangarion was successfully launched, which was the first time that India has "surpassed" China in the space industry compared to China's failure to launch the "Firefly-1" Mars probe in 2011.
Information sources:
Globe.com: India's Mars rover is confirmed to be missing, or its mission will end in the near future
However, India's Mangarian is not "localized" very high, and their technology is basically provided by the United States, but success is success, and India has become a winner in this "race" for Mars exploration.
Not only that, but Indian astronauts actually had to go into space earlier than China.
As we all know, China's first astronaut was Yang Liwei, who flew into space in 2003 aboard the Shenzhou-5 manned spacecraft and completed the first manned space mission in China's history.
But in 1984, India's first astronaut, Rakosh Sharma, boarded the Soviet Union's Soyuz T-11 manned spacecraft aboard the Soviet Salyut-7 space station.
As a result, Rakosh Sharma became India's first astronaut in space.
Although India fulfilled its first wish to go to space with the help of the Soviet Union, it was indeed a result of the development of India's space program, and Rakosh Sharma was awarded the title of "Hero of the Soviet Union", which brought India a lot of glory.
It can be seen that India's aerospace development is advancing by leaps and bounds, but why are they still lagging behind China?
Information sources:
Huanqiu.com: Foreign media: Russia proposes to train astronauts for India's manned space flight
The space program that is constantly being put on hold
To be honest, India is not a "low-key" country.
Every time they have a major plan in spaceflight, whether it is realized or not, they must announce it as soon as possible, so that people all over the world can feel their efforts and even taste the joy of not yet succeeding.
For example, Chandrayaan-3, which landed on the moon last year, did bring a substantial breakthrough to India's lunar exploration, and also allowed India to successfully win the first title of "first landing on the south pole of the moon".
As everyone knows, Chandrayaan-2's experience is actually richer.
In 2018, India planned to launch Chandrayaan-2 to the moon, but in this year, India's Chandrayaan-2 launch plan was constantly postponed, so even India's own people began to complain about the country's "procrastination".
Not only that, at the beginning of 2022, India was also full of confidence in realizing the manned spacecraft program, and optimistically waited for the realization of their plan at the end of the year.
Information sources:
Global Network: India postponed the launch of the "Chandrayaan-2" lunar probe, Indian netizens: Procrastination again?
Unexpectedly, in September, India announced the postponement of the plan.
India has directly postponed the plan to this year, although there is no official news to announce their dynamics, but from the success of last year's unmanned spacecraft test, it can also be felt that India's plan for this year should be "stable".
In fact, looking back at India's development history, it can be seen that their aerospace development strength is still worthy of recognition, especially their most representative advantages of short cycle and small investment, which vividly reflect India's difficulties and strength.
However, India's space development started with the support of the United States and the Soviet Union, and even now, India's space technology cannot achieve the same technological freedom as China's.
At the beginning, in order to curb China's aerospace development, the United States can be said to have carried out various technological blockades, and in desperation, China can only rely on independent research and development, step by step, to reach its current achievements.
As a result, India is facing many difficulties in its development.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, India's space development was interrupted, and the United States also gave them a lot of stumbling blocks, which led to India's space program having to choose to suspend or postpone in many cases.
But it is precisely because of these that India's independent research and development concept has gradually become stronger.
As for the future, not to mention whether it can catch up with and surpass China, it will definitely not lag too far behind.
epilogue
China's philosophy of space exploration has always been based on the idea of "peaceful use of space, benefiting all mankind, and win-win cooperation".
We have never wanted to compare ourselves with other countries, but hope that all countries can work together to achieve a win-win situation.
We are acknowledged of India's development, but at the same time, we hope that their space industry will focus on exploration, not comparison.