Sailors have been using the stars to navigate the high seas for centuries. Actual space exploration, however, does not have a very long history. It began with the launch of the first satellite, Sputnik, on 4 October 1957 by the Soviet Union. During the last five or six decades humanity has made a significant amount of progress in the domain of space. There has been a constant human presence in outer space since 2000 with astronauts staying aboard the International Space station (ISS) in the low-Earth orbit.

Since the 1970s, various Asian states have also started investing in space. States like Japan, China and India have made good progress with various conventional and innovative programmes. These states have definitely had the advantage of late starters. In the recent past particularly, in the Middle East region, states like Israel and Iran have made investments in space technologies essentially for strategic purposes.

China and India became space-faring states during 1970 and 1980 respectively, when they launched their satellites using their natively developed satellite vehicles. These states both have well established computations, remote sensing (earth observation), meteorological and navigational programmes. From a capacity and capability perspective, it’s perhaps safe to say that China’s space programme is much bigger in nature and more advanced than India’s. At the same time, it is important to note that India’s space programme has been designed to cater to their own specific requirements.

A case in point is the navigational programmes of both the states. China is developing (and has almost completed) a global navigational system while India has developed only a regional navigational system, which suits its own interests. China has more capable satellite launch vehicles in comparison to India, and has a well-established human spaceflight programme in which their astronauts (taikonauts) undertake space-walks. They have also successfully tested the prototype for a proposed space station, which is expected to be operational in the near future. India is yet to make a beginning in this field.