How India and China compare in space capabilities, veteran aerospace expert shares analysis

China pushing ahead in space and rapidly scaling up its capabilities is a major global challenge and the clearest example of this was visible in 2021 when China performed more launch missions than America and other Asian nations combined. Air Marshal Anil Chopra(Retd), a veteran Indian Air Force Fighter Pilot and aerospace expert elaborated on the same, while speaking about his upcoming book “China-The Rising Aerospace Power – Implications for India”, at an event hosted by the Chennai Centre for China studies (C3S).

Touching upon the number of orbital rocket launches performed in 2021, he stated "China has more orbital launches than USA and all Asian countries put together.. In 2021, China had 55 launches and we (India) had only two launches. Via 55 launches, China placed 115 spacecraft, a total payload mass of more than 191 metric tons in orbit in 2021" he said. Comparing the launch vehicles of India and China, he said that the Chinese Long March 5 rocket is capable of carrying nearly five times as much payload as India's heavy-lifter the 4-tonner GSLV-Mk3. In terms of capacity building, China is also building heavy-lift category rockets that can carry between 50-50tons to orbit, he added.

In terms of how Chinese satellite constellations were aiding their military objectives, the veteran pilot pointed out that China's Yaogan series of spy satellites allowed constant surveillance across the South China sea, the Western Pacific, the Indian ocean and Army, Air Force activities in Tibet and also in Galwan, where the Indian and Chinese soldiers had a deadly clash. For global navigation purposes, China is depending on a 35-satellite Beidou constellation. In contrast, India's NAVIC satellite-based navigation system covers all of China, Pakistan and the Indian Ocean, with 8 of 11 satellites in place.

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"India's private space companies are doing exceedingly well, whereas China's iSpace, which was incorporated in 2016 and touted as Asia's first private space company is struggling. India has all capabilities in place Anti-satellite missiles, and the GSLV rockets, but our number of launches is less. We have a project for Network for Space Object Tracking and Analysis (NETRA), there is a Directorate of Space Situational Awareness and Management , we have a Defence Space Agency and one day we will have a Space Command", Air Marshal Chopra said.

Further, on the areas where India needed to put more emphasis and efforts, he said that military requirements for satellites are increasing and that India certainly needs more satellites for continuous coverage, faster re-visit and redundancy in space. In terms of Human Spaceflight(Gaganyaan), he said that India was at least 15 years behind China. It was also added that India needed to enhance jam-proof, Intelligence Surveillance Reconnaissance (ISR), Electronic Intelligence(ELINT) and Electronic Warfare (EW) capabilities.

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It is important to note that India's state-run space programme has witnessed severe delays since the onset of the pandemic in 2020 and the launches are yet to return to the usual frequency. The Indian Space Research Organization performed only two launches each in 2020 and 2021, citing pandemic restrictions and delays. Of the two missions in 2021, the crucial GISAT-1 launch turned out to be a failure owing to an anomaly in the GSLV Mk2 rocket's Cryogenic engine. Six months into 2022, ISRO has only performed a single launch. It is expected that the Indian space agency will perform more missions in the latter half of the year. India has a mix of science and technology missions, and commercial launches in the pipeline.