On the back of the bear to the stars. Russia's function in the Chinese space program.

Written by Krzysztof Karwowski, Jakub Pelc

Analysis briefly:

• The Russian space program, as a russian mass decline, was chronologically the first and achieved crucial successes. China began their space experiences with symbolic support of russian specialists. However, key technologies acquired or acquired after the collapse of the russian Union. Both countries are active in the improvement of advanced space capabilities.

• Russia intends to stay a major country on the phase of space exploration, which is increasingly hard for it. China, on the another hand, is openly playing to balance the United States in terms of technological, strategical and space diplomacy capabilities.

Although China claims to be the home of rockets (the first simple incendiary rockets utilized in the 13th century against the Mongol invasion at the conflict of Kaifeng), modern rocket engineering, as we know it, was born in Russia and Germany. Its improvement accelerated planet War II and the American-Soviet Cold War [1]. This text aims to outline the Chinese space program from the position of russian and Russian contributions and its current function in modern Chinese success.

The beginnings of cooperation

The People's Republic of China already joined the atomic weapons and means of transportation race in the first 50th century [2]. After signing a Chinese-Soviet relationship deal in 1950, The russian Union supported the Chinese manufacture with tools, staff training and documentation of investigation of German rocket programs. In addition, he submitted to the Chinese website copies of his rockets, including R-1 and R-2 (SS-2). DF-1 – the first in the Chinese ballistic rocket household Dongfeng (东风 – east Wind) – it was based on russian projects, which in turn were based on German V-2 [3[4]. The Long March space rockets evolved from them. The People's Republic sent its first space mission in 1970 as part of the program Liang Dan Yi Xing (两弹一星 – 2 Bombs and Satellite). It was a secret engineering task in which the Chinese People's Liberation Army (ALW) sought to get atomic and fusion weapons and an effective means of transportation – an intercontinental ballistic rocket [5] [6]. Most of the work, however, was done with the hands of their own scientists due to the Chinese-Soviet Disarmament initiated during the regulation of Nikita Khrushchev: withdrawal of russian personnel and industrial aid. Nevertheless, the atomic program and the shipment of the first Chinese satellite were successful [7] [8].

The results of the cooperation: the H-6 bomber and fighters under russian licenses and rockets Dongfeng 1 and 2 (photo K. Karwowski, People's Revolution Military Museum in Beijing)

1990s Russia's Difficulty and China's Chance

The situation reversed after the Cold War ended. The collapse of the USSR and the financial difficulties of the Russian Federation coincided with the economical transformation of China and their ambitions. The last decade of the 20th century is besides a slow warming of relations on the Beijing-Moscow line. Space technologies have become the subject of trade and exchange – China's solutions include (i) capsule Shenzhou (神舟 – Heavenly Ship) based on Soyuz ships, (ii) space suits for vacuum work, (iii) medical and training procedures for flying personnel [10]. China has taken large interest in copying Russian dual intent engineering achievements and expanding its own Aerocosmic Town in Beijing. They did so under the influence of visiting their specialists in Star City close Moscow [11]. Moreover, the creation of independent Ukraine, and consequently, a crucial number of arms companies located in its territory, resulted in commercial contacts with Beijing outside Moscow's control. In this way, Chinese manufacturers have acquired, among others, valuable technology of efficient rocket drives from the company You already have.12From Dnieper.

China's most active universities (University of Aviation and Aeronautics) Beihang, Northwest University of Technology and Tsinghua University of Aviation have an agreement on technological and investigation cooperation and student exchange with the State Aerocosmic University of Samara (SSAU) [13[14].

Table 1. Military universities related to aviation improvement and space investigation in Russia and China (own improvement – examples)

Main building of SSAU Aerocosmic University in Samara (Fig. SSAU)

21st Century

Russia continues to play a function in technology exchange with China. However, it is no longer so crucial for China due to the improvement of Chinese retrograde engineering capabilities and the increasing creativity of educated scientists in the country and in the West. deficiency of transparency in contacts and technology transfer does not facilitate analysis. An example of Russian aid – despite deficiency of evidence – may be China's fast advancement in building a satellite navigation strategy BeidouWhich is equivalent to Russian GLONASS and American GPS. This should besides be combined with a multi-annual series of meetings on joint improvement of orbital navigation.

The declared activity of both countries in combating space debris is besides expanding [15or the improvement of rocket informing systems on Earth and in space. The revealed agreements and cooperation are intended to increase the effectiveness of Chinese rocket defence and accelerate the improvement of fresh systems. Joint anti-aircraft and anti-missile exercises of China and Russia indicate an effort to improve detection and defence capabilities against the attack of rocket ballistic and maneuvering missiles. They besides show an expanding rapprochement between the 2 countries. To what degree the joint exercises reflect the real intention of developing an integrated rocket defence [16].

So far, the only authoritative example of cooperation between the space agencies of both countries has been the combined Mars mission of 2011. The Fobos-Grunt probe (Фобос-Грунт) with a lander to research the moons of Mars (Fobos or Deimos) was to fly with the first Chinese interplanetary orbiter Yinghuo (萤火 – Firefly). The launch ended with a malfunction of the Russian component and I will stay in orbit. The probes remained in low orbit and burned in the atmosphere in winter 2012 [17]. A number of Russian failures (Mir station accident, Mars 96 disaster, Fobos-Yinghuo, Luna 25) [18[19In the shadow of the success of the PRC, it may indicate the end position of the Russian space program and the exchange of Russia's role: from the majority to a number partner of China. The fact remains that China invited Russia to the ILRS lunar station program [International Lunar investigation Station] [20].

State for present and forecast

Already at the beginning of the 21st century, there were indications that China was developing so rapidly that Moscow could wait to easy bring into the function of a smaller Chinese partner if Moscow chose to refocus towards Asia [21]. Under the influence of sanctions, Russia's space manufacture is deteriorating, while China is generously supporting its own sector and taking care of its creativity. The effects are increasingly visible in the quality of the infrastructure.

Moreover, as a consequence of the conflict with Kazakhstan over funding, Russian activity on the Baikonur cosmodrome is presently limited [22]. For comparison, 4 successively upgraded and expanded Chinese cosmodromes (and 5th Xiangshan built in the state of Zhejiang) represent a crucial qualitative advantage. It is worth noting that China has made a immense contribution in fresh years besides to the fundamental investigation of space technologies. An example is the active expansion of the National Centre for Aerodynamic improvement and investigation (中国空气动力研究与发展中心) in Mianyang, Sichuana, which is equipped with eighteen aerodynamic tunnels and a combination with China's strongest supercomputers for data processing. Chinese scientists have gained a decently independent basis in the improvement and investigating of space technologies on a scale and degree that the Russians are incapable to propose [23].

Summary

At the core of cooperation with the Russians, China has achieved tremendous success in space exploration. They align the U.S. with the improvement of carrier rockets, communications and satellite navigation, or the ability to destruct satellites. In turn, they vanish in experience, the number of flights carried out, the operation of space telescopes and reflection systems and manned missions. The base of Chinese achievements was primarily the effective transfer of Russian technologies in the 1990s and the continuation of cooperation with Russia.

China underlines the importance of space technology improvement and maintains multi-level relations with Russia. This may indicate a willingness to counter the expanding dominance of the United States in space technology and diplomacy – a desire to balance their influence and capabilities [24]. Russian-Chinese cooperation is 1 of respective formats taken by China to reduce Western dependence on standards and methods of action in space [25].

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Photo: Canva