Asian Jugaad Is Winning Over Western Elite Technology

Star wars couldn’t have happened any earlier than the century it foresaw. After all, whatever the characters stood for, except for their storyline and ‘nature’ per se, Star Wars was a figment of imagination that was looking at a clear possibility.

Space age is for real and ‘space race’ is here to stay. Every nation that sees the crucial role technology has been playing in the progress of countries which were among the early birds, now does not want to lose out on the space race.

The surge of Asian countries joining the space race is only getting longer, with nations appearing more powerful than each other. China has been a clear front runner with its established space programs. There are few more countries that have joined the elite club – India and Japan. North Korea and South Korea seem to be competing with each other in this area.

But, in case of United States, somehow the things aren’t turning out to be too bright in this area. The country is preparing to wind down its shuttle program, and with that, the race for who can become the most prominent space player has begun among other nations.

Space race isn’t something that countries can plunge into without planning and clever execution. Because setting up space technology needs huge budgetary allocations, that have to be justified time and again.With every success comes the gloating and with every failure – a number of apologies and clarifications from people who were involved in it. And it is because of the huge ‘investment’ that all countries will never opt for a space race as other countries.

However, in the past decade or so, things have really taken a better turn and some countries which didn’t seem to go too far with space race seem to have made some giant strides. Yes, we are referring to India and its hugely successful Mars Orbit Mission (MoM) or Mangalyaan as it was called, last year.

United States was in a dominant position till late, and it continues to be so even now till another nation clearly nudges it out of the spot since America seems to be little disorganised about space possibilities at the moment.

Last year during his address at John F Kennedy Space Center in Florida in April, American President Barack Obama told the audience who were mostly the staff members, politicians, astronauts and business leaders about the race which his nation entered more than half a century ago, and eventually conquered.

More than 50 years ago, Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the first artificial satellite that seemed the tattered version of what we build today, into the earth’s orbit. This first ‘satellite’ was a few pieces of metal, with a transmitter and a battery strapped to the top of a missile. In any which manner, this wasn’t what it was meant to be. It was a wonder that it even worked.

But, the world was dumbfounded. Americans were stunned and Russians were spell bound by their own success. Russia had clearly shown it had taken the lead. But, was it the case?

Soon America woke up to the challenge when President Eisenhower signed a legislation to create NASA and to invest in Science and Maths education. President Kennedy boldly declared in 1961, in a joint session with Congress that the country would be sending a man to moon and will have him return safely to earth within a decade. That was probably among wildest of dreams that finally came true within a short period of time.

The cold war between Russia and America somehow messed things up and two countries that had shown great potential got themselves into a mess that the world watched both getting affected with this. America somehow survived the onslaught, but Russia splintered under various weights.

Today, America has a bold dream again, of sending a manned mission to an asteroid by 2025. There’s a slight increase in funds too, with the renewed budgetary allocation. However, the low side of this speech was, the space shuttle program would be would up soon. And Barack Obama found Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the moon, to back up his words. “We need to be in this for a long haul, and this program will allow us to again be pushing the boundaries to achieve new and challenging things beyond earth,” he added.

Why explore space? Countries that stress on advancement of science, and opportunity to understand the universe better, have been investing in space technology. Apart from tangible benefits, space technology is probably another way of proving superiority for nations that have engaged in it. In a way, if you do well you are the new uncrowned winner/conqueror who went about his feat without having to spill the blood and fire the missiles.

For instance, when NASA successfully executed the ‘man on moon’ mission in 1969 American supremacy in the area was clearly established. By the beginning of 1990, the nation held this position undeniably. American pride was bolstered with regular space mission, and despite a period tragedy. The world watched in awe.

The general feeling among the westerners is that exploration of space is still dominated by US and perhaps Russia. With a successful ‘Rosetta’ mission, they may give a bit of leeway to Europe as well.

However, the space to claim space is really getting crammed up with countries such as India which launched a hugely successful Mars mission last year. With that, India was the first Asian country to conquer space in its maiden attempt. China may well stand and look bemused.