Space Matters
Dear Reader,
I am sure you’ve enjoyed my updates on Space Matters every fortnight. I am elated to inform you that going forward, Space Matters will merge with Technopolitik.
In Technopolitik, the Takshashila Institution’s Hightech Geopolitics Programme brings you the latest commentary and updates on issues where technology and international relations intersect, from an Indian national interest perspective.
The Great Game for Space:
ILRS Now has a Roadmap
There is now a defined path for Russia and China to explore the moon.
In one of the most geopolitically significant moves related to space exploration, earlier this year, the two countries announced their plans to cooperate on a joint lunar exploration project.
The project primarily aims to establish a research base on the surface of the moon. Dubbed International Lunar Research Station(ILRS), it began with a mere Memorandum of Understanding between the two nations.
The project is emerging as a framework for a competing bloc to the US led Artemis Accords with China and Russia inviting all nations, international groupings and other entities to join.
Earlier this month, the Global Space Exploration Conference in St Petersburg featured a presentation by China’s CNSA and Russia’s ROSCOSMOS in which the details of the various phases of the ILRS project was finally revealed.
The Global Space Exploration Conference was jointly organised by the Paris-based International Astronautical Federation and ROSCOSMOS.
As the above slides indicate, the various phases will feature an amalgamation of Russian and Chinese component missions, as well as those of any potential partners who may sign up for ILRS in the future.
New Launches, Gear and Plans
China launches more Yaogan-30 Satellites
According to this report in Space News, China has launched the ninth group of its classified Yaogan constellation of satellites. The Yaogan satellites are thought to be Electronic Intelligence(ELINT) tools meant for orbital military application.
Japan passes new Law for Utilisation of Space Resources
The Japanese National Diet has passed a new law which is similar in nature to the US’s Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act. It will demarcate the various caveats and clauses by which the Japanese space sector will be guided in the quest for exploitation of celestial resources. These include the granting of prerequisite permissions for the prospecting, extraction, exploitation and use of said celestial resources.
Space in Media:
Life(2017): This great sci-fi horror movie features a mission with a multinational crew onboard the International Space Station that discovers a dormant extra terrestrial life form. The life form arrives onboard an unmanned soil sample return mission from Mars. Through the course of the movie the lifeform turns hostile and escapes all the quarantine measures. Forcing the final redundancy to be enacted: the entire space station must be pushed off to deep space.
Interesting Publications Resources and Links:
An interesting report on future military operations beyond the Earth’s orbit
The latest episode of the New Space India Podcast
An interesting Journal article about the “Critical Geopolitics of Outer Space”