The first-ever partnership between India and China in space technology is threatening to get derailed as crucial scientific equipment made in India for China’s Tiangong Space Station struggles to obtain export authorization.
A team from the Indian Institute of Astrophysics in Bangalore last year applied for an export licence for the Spectroscopic Investigations of Nebular Gas (SING) apparatus. However, Indian scientists now claim that their efforts to obtain its export authorization have run into a wall.
According to reports in the Chinese media, the team of Indian scientists has claimed that nearly a year after the decision to send the equipment to China was made, it has not heard of any further developments on the application.
“Everything was completed two months ago. The instrument is currently prepared for flight in the clean room,” project manager and astrophysicist Jayant Murthy told the media.
Even if the inability to obtain export authorization is concerning, Indian scientists may not be wholly surprised by it. The experts had earlier voiced concern that the export of the equipment would be hampered by tensions between India and China that began with a military standoff at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh.
“We are cautiously optimistic that the project will go according to plan. China and we are still having technical discussions about the payload, and we have informed them that in order to move forward, we need an export authorization from Indian authorities. We’ve written to the appropriate organisations and are expecting a response,” Murthy was earlier quoted as saying by the media.
The China Manned Space Agency and the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs jointly selected SING as one of nine international experiments on board Tiangong.
A UN-led effort that urged research teams from all over the world to compete for the chance to develop payloads that will be shuttled to Tiangong in 2019 selected nine groups from 42 applications, including experts from the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), Bengaluru.
The $50,000 apparatus is expected to scan the sky in the ultraviolet waveband as it orbits the Earth to help researchers better understand the composition and behaviour of interstellar gas, the birth of stars, and other phenomena. It will be installed on Tiangong as part of the first India-China partnership in space science.
In the past, India and China have collaborated on research projects like the Giant Metre Wave Radio Telescope, which allows astronomers all around the world to locate and analyse stars and galaxies by studying radiation at meter-scale resolutions. However, once Tiangong takes shape, the SING project will be important.
The absence of export authorization for India’s SING is seen as a setback by the international community and by the country’s scientific community. The SING might be the first international cargo to operate on the Chinese space station if it makes it there this year.
The majority of SING’s components, including a telescope and spectrograph, were developed by Murthy and his graduate students, although he told the media that the tense relationships between India and China did not help.
The US and Russia are another great example of two nations working together for more than ten years on the International Space Station (ISS) and associated projects despite having little to no common interests. Overall, given that the space sector is also politically charged with geopolitical reasons and playing a significant part in the decision-making process, a continual push towards such collaboration between two non-aligned states will prevent conflict circumstances in the future.
Although India and China undertake frequent border talks, there hasn’t been much progress because New Delhi wants the PLA to revert to its pre-2020 positions. Chinese demands for normalisation of relations continue, but Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar has repeatedly stated that this is an unacceptable stance.
The Chinese Tiangong will be the sole space station in existence after the ISS, which is commanded by the United States, deorbits at the end of this decade. The Tiangong is currently hosting experiments by researchers from all over the world, demonstrating Beijing’s attraction to the scientific community.
Even though there may not be any conflict between the two countries, the export delays coincide with India and the US moving forward with their space collaboration.
