Nations with secondary space programs--some of which once joined China in criticizing U.S. space-control policy--are now promoting their own ideas of controlling space through advanced communications and networking. At the Strategic Space and Defense conference in Omaha (Oct. 9 to 11), military leaders from France and India were among those advocating a new role for nations operating in the United States' shadow.
China and India both are planning to launch moon shots within a year in the latest sign of the two Asian powerhouses' intensifying rivalry and growing technological prowess.
India's space scientists are reaching out further into the universe. Even as an unmanned mission to the moon is readying for launch, and a manned mission to space awaits final approval from the government, they are already eyeing the next destination - Mars.
India carried out a successful test on Thursday of its longest-range ballistic missile, the Agni III, which is capable of carrying a nuclear warhead more than 3,000 km (1,900 miles). Defense analysts say the Agni III is primarily designed to counter the military strength of China, which also has nuclear weapons.
India has begun to develop a nuclear-powered, nuclear-armed submarine to give the nation a sea-based platform for its strategic nuclear deterrent, according to a former head of the Indian navy.
China's test of a ballistic missile to knock down a satellite in space, apart from evoking widespread concern around the globe, has sent alarm bells ringing in India's defence and security establishment. Though it is believed that China's ASAT (anti-satellite) weapon system test on January 11 was meant to be a direct challenge to the overpowering US military dominance of space, it does have some implications for India, which has a robust space programme.
The Indian government has approved spending 14.2 billion rupees ($316 million) to develop an independent regional satellite navigation system that would launch starting in 2008 and reduce the nation's dependence on the GPS system operated by the U.S. Department of Defense.
As part of the Bush administration's effort to forge a close strategic partnership with India, NASA has announced it will piggyback one of its lunar probes on India's lunar mission. Critics argue that cooperating with India will weaken the voluntary Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR).
The author argues that U.S. plans to cooperate with India on space technology "risks repeating in India the same errors that previously allowed damaging U.S. space technology transfers to China."
An effort to develop cooperative seismic monitoring of the Indian Ocean to prevent a repeat of last year's Tsunami is being held up by Indian concerns that the data could reveal too much about their nuclear weapons testing program.