Final frontier
Liu Yu

THE dream of voyaging into space is as glamorous as it is ambitious. It has captured the hearts and minds of the human race for centuries. China has been pursuing this dream for years, but the country's most recent foray into the unknown has attracted more world attention than usual. The reason lies in the fact that with the launch of Shenzhou 7, China's first ever space walk, became a reality.
About seven hours after liftoff at 9.10 p.m. on September 25, Shenzhou 7 moved into the Earth's orbit 343-km out. With one astronaut remaining in the capsule, the other two entered the orbital module to conduct extravehicular activities (EVA), and then released a micro satellite. The three-man crew on board returned to the Earth late on September 28 with a successful landing in northern Inner Mongolia after a 68-hour space flight.
"The success of the Shenzhou 7 space mission will highly improve China's national strength of science and technology, making it only the third country after Russia and United States capable of putting a man into space," said Cui Jijun, commander-in-chief of the mission's ground operation team. "And [these historical footprints left by Chinese astronaut] mark a milestone in China's space history," he said from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China's Gansu Province.
After sending one person into space in 2003 and completing a two-man mission in 2005, China's latest mission shows the steady progress of China's aerospace industry. Being the most technically sophisticated space project, manned space flight includes seven major systems, namely, astronaut, space science experiments, spacecraft, launching vehicle, launch site, remote monitor & control, and landing site. This complex process utilizes the services of more than 100,000 researchers and technicians from 110 institutes and academies, as well as 3,000 units across the country involved.
Major milestone
It has been more than 40 years since astronaut Alexei Leonov of the former Soviet Union stepped out of the spacecraft in 1965. Over the past decades, world space programs have seen more than 400 space walks carried out.
During the Shenzhou 7 mission, astronauts are given a high intensity workload, including assembling, testing, dressing and undressing of EVA spacesuits in orbit. One Chinese astronaut wore domestically-made "Feitian" (literally means flying in the sky) space suits, worth more than 30 million yuan ($4.89 million) to conduct EVA and recover the experimental devices of solid lubricants, while the other stayed in the orbital module to monitor and assist in case of an emergency wearing an imported Russian Orlan-M Haiying space suit.
In addition, it is the first time a Shenzhou spacecraft has been fully loaded with a three-man crew. Behind this historic moment, people often forget the decades of effort made by other Chinese astronauts in the past. China's Astronaut Center (ACC) was established in 2005, where the initially selected 14 "taikonauts" receive intensive body training and performed countless drills on mission skills and responses to emergency situations. Among the 58 training activities falling into eight categories, each takes the human body to extremes. For instance, in the high-gravity endurance-training program, astronauts are subjected to a force of gravity eight times their own weight, while trying to keep their minds clear to complete other tasks. The training program can always physically burn out these strong men.
"It is a symbolic step in aerospace development to manage EVA techniques that are crucial for rendezvous and docking with space laboratories, as well as orbit maneuver and maintenance of the space station," said Huang Weifen, deputy director of China's Astronaut Research and Training Center. "Also, a space walk will enable astronauts to perform scientific experiments outside the capsule. The right space suit is vital to keeping astronauts alive against the harsh surrounding environment of zero-gravity, dramatic temperature changes, ultraviolet radiation and scraps of space trash," added Huang.
According to Huang, they developed the ground-based gravity simulator in a large water pool, and used a mock capsule for tests on space suits. "Meanwhile, our center is in charge of astronaut recruitment, medical supplies, development of both intravehicular and extravehicular space suits, as well as on-board supplies of drinking water, food, and equipments for emergency rescue," she said.
The ACC is planning to groom a new generation of astronauts for future space programs, "New blood will be needed in four to five years, and about 14 candidates of excellent physical and psychological health and impeccable flight records will be recruited," said Huang. In fact, members of the present astronauts team, including those on Shenzhou 7 mission are all in 40s.
The astronauts of next generation will be expected to handle more complex tasks than their predecessors, as ambitious future missions will include launch and dockings of space labs.
New technologies
Deep in the vast and barren Gobi desert, Shenzhou 6, carrying two astronauts, was sent to the Earth's orbit in 2005 from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. One month later, at the celebrated conference, Chinese President Hu Jintao said, "As technology develops fast, China will have to build up its overall innovative strength to win a competitive edge."
In fact, the manned space program demands integral hi-tech innovations, and the Shenzhou 7 mission has achieved a string of technological breakthroughs in the field of aerospace, telemetry (transmitting the measurement of a quantity) and remote control, space life science, and space material science.
The Long March II-F carrier rocket series is developed by the Chinese Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, affiliated to China Aerospace Science and Technology Co. (CASC). A total of 36 technical improvements have been devised to further enhance its reliability and make it more comfortable for pilots. When talking about development of the next generation of launch vehicles, Jiang Weixing with CASC, said that if China plans to launch a space station in the coming years, it will require rocket carriers with a higher payload capacity. "It is very likely that rockets of the next generation will need bigger fuel tanks to boost their capacity," he said.
China's first EVA attempt is secured by 227 major changes related to the spacecraft, such as depressurization and repressurization of the airlock module, plus the micro-electromechanical system of EVA space suits. The airlock is a pressure chamber linking the main body of the spacecraft to the outside. "It [the airlock module] works like a submarine, where transformation of pressure environment takes place," said Ma Xingrui, president of the CASA.
After the EVA, the astronauts released a small accompanying satellite weighing approximately 40kg. The satellite was equipped with cameras to capture the movement of the spacecraft. "The memory is large enough for storing 3,000 pictures," said Shen Xuemin, director of the companion satellite system, adding that the micro satellite possesses the superior capacity of automatic navigation and positioning system, which can adjust space altitude for stable transmission of pictures and audio signals.
The Shenzhou 7 spaceship carried 11 samples of solid lubricant to test the chemical nature of various materials. According to Gu Yidong, chief designer of the space application program with the Chinese Science Academy, solid lubricant was used in the plastic membrane of the Water Cube National Aquatic Center project. "If that technology can be applied to machinery manufacturing, wind power, aviation and automobile industries, it will save enormous amounts of energy," said Gu, adding that high performance lubricating oil can reduce metal friction by at least 20 percent, and thus lower the energy costs by 2 percent, which will save 2-3 million yuan ($294,000-441,000) annually.
In addition, nine vessels and over 30 aircrafts involved in the telemetry, tracking and control (TT&C) system, along with five tracking ships and some 20 terrestrial surveying stations constitute a formidable telemetry network to ensure accurate measuring of various quantities. The relay satellite, Tianlian No.1, also engaged in the space-based TT&C trial.
Space agenda
China formally implemented its manned space projects in 1992, drawing up a three-step plan, which seeks to launch a manned spacecraft, set up a space lab, and to establish a space station. With the successful launch and recovery of Shenzhou 1, an unmanned experimental spacecraft, China demonstrated its grasp of the technologies needed for manned space flight. The Shenzhou 5 mission, China's first manned space flight, made the country the third to carry out an independent manned space mission. And in 2005, Shenzhou 6 completed a two-person, multiple-day space flight, which bolstered the brilliant success of the Shenzhou 7 mission.
"The Shenzhou 7 mission is a major step of China's three-step manned space project, paving the way for crucial technical preparation for building a large space lab," said Ma, also deputy director of the project.
China's growing presence in space exploration displays its space capabilities, so spaceship rendezvous and docking experiments will be on the agenda, noted Thomas Johns, former U.S. astronaut, now consultant to NASA in an interview with the Beijing-based Global Times.
The newly released working plans from the CASC said that, China will launch its space lab after subsequent unmanned and manned space flights during 2011-2015, and will build a new generation of carrier rocket under the plan.

—The Daily Mail-Beijing Review Articles Exchange Item

Time to look beyond Hamid Karzai
Moeed Pirzada

LIES, denials and propaganda don’t change realities. Truth has a nasty habit of sneaking out. And sometimes it even bombards. In the last two weeks it blasted like a hailstorm on Bush administration’s Afghanistan policy.
First it was the Brigadier General Mark Carleton Smith, the outgoing top commander of the British forces in Afghanistan who admitted to Sunday Times in London that absolute military victory in Afghanistan is impossible. This bombshell from the good general soon lost its value with the news that Saudi King has arranged a meeting between the representatives of Hamid Karzai, the Afghan President, and those of Mullah Omar, elusive fugitive leader of the former Taleban regime and that the former Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif, the most popular of the Pakistani politicians, is somehow part of these negotiations. Whatever doubts could have been there were removed by Karzai himself who offered, in an interview on GEO Television, that he will personally guarantee the security of Mullah Omar if he decides to come to Afghanistan. This was certainly the biggest over-commitment of 21st century in the sense that Karzai cannot guarantee his own security outside Kabul’s green zone and that too with the help of US Special Forces. But let’s move forward as more interesting things followed.
French, jumped in with the leak of conversation between Sherard Cowper-Coles, the British envoy to Afghanistan and Francois Fitou, the French Deputy Ambassador to Kabul in which that top British diplomat predicted that Nato-lead military campaign against Taleban is destined to fail. But this was not all; the British Ambassador went on to argue that the foreign military presence is not part of the solution but that of the problem and that the best solution for Afghanistan would be installing an “acceptable dictator”
General David Petraeus, Bush Administration’s hero of Iraq, who is now taking over the US Central Command from end October, then joined with his own prescription. While speaking to a forum hosted by Heritage Foundation, he said that negotiations with some members of the Taleban could provide a way to reduce violence in parts of Afghanistan. This was enough for any columnist to draw his or her own juicy conclusions about the shape of things to come but it looks like that the good Americans did not want to take any chances; lest there is any ambiguity. So we had another leak. New York Times disclosed that the draft National Intelligence Estimate (NIE), the first serious compilation of 16 Intelligence Agencies on the situation in Afghanistan, admitted that beyond the cross-border attacks the situation in Afghanistan is a mess created by the corrupt Karzai government that is not capable to stem the rise in Taleban’s influence.
I have always wondered: do leaks just happen or are done to send messages; to shape things along? The leak in Le Canard Enchaine, the Parisian paper, was certainly an expression of the French unwillingness to move along with a war that is increasingly not making any sense to European governments and the media — but then what is the significance of the leak of the National Intelligence Estimate?
I think we now have sufficient meat at the table to conclude a few things: One, US desperately needs a period of relative stability to declare victory in Afghanistan; Two, US and allies have concluded that such period of stability will not be possible without engaging at least some parts of Taleban resistance; Three; this marks the beginning of the end of the regime of President Hamid Karzai in Kabul. At this point Hamid Karzai’s situation now resembles that of General Musharraf towards the end of 2007 when he was asked to take off his uniform and hold elections with promises of continuing support from White House. No one knows how quickly General Petraeus, Pentagon’s Houdini sets things into motion on this roadmap but the sooner he does the better it will be for everyone: for Afghanistan, for the US and its European allies, for Pakistan, Iran and even the Indians. And trust me this may be the best happy ending for Karzai too: safe with a lucrative future as lobbyist in Washington.
However, what frightens is that while the rational feedback and assessments flow from Pentagon and the Intelligence community there is no end to irresponsible political rhetoric in the US. If I were George Bush or any of his intellectual cronies or even an ordinary American of any sort that supported all those gory actions since 9/11, and I now look around at: the mess in Iraq, failure in Afghanistan, suicide bombers popping up like Champagne bottles in nuclear Pakistan; or the melt down of the US economy with three of the five major investment banks disappearing and America the quintessential Mecca of capitalism embracing a half socialist economy after lecturing the whole world on the benefits of free markets, I am sure looking at all this I would either end up in a confession chamber in a church or worse.

—Khaleej Times

They play religious card in India
Alistair Scrutton

ASKED when he thought attacks by Hindu mobs against Christians would end in Cutttack, a remote part of eastern India, local Christian leader Ranjit Nayak replied immediately, and with a resigned smile. “March,” Nayak said, referring to a general election due in early 2009. “This is all totally politically motivated.”
Like many Christians, human rights groups and government ministers, Nayak suspected hard-line Hindu groups of organizing these attacks in Orissa state, trying to win political support among Hindus over long-standing tensions with missionaries. From attacks on Christians to suspected Islamist bombings, communal politics is back on the agenda across India, to challenge an embattled secular-leaning government as its gears up for an election against a Hindu-nationalist opposition in 2009.
The Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is trying to take the political offensive, campaigning in Orissa state on issues such as missionary conversion, or convincing Hindus in other states of the risks from militant Muslims. The ruling Congress, under pressure to ban Hindu hard-line groups and get tough on terrorism, is struggling both to avoid alienating Hindu voters while also securing its traditional support among minorities, including Muslims. Attacks in Orissa and bombings by suspected Islamist militants that have killed hundreds have dominated media and political debates in the last month. Muslim leaders accuse the police of indiscriminate arrests and even murders of Muslim youth as they try to show they are catching terrorists.
Dozens have died in Muslim-Hindu riots in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. The headlines often supplanted voter worries over inflation. “Do the leaders of the various state and the union governments realize the country is on a dangerous communal and sectarian brink and that urgent measures must be taken to put a lid on violence?” The Mail Today said in an editorial this month.
The last election in 2004, when Congress came to power, was partly seen as a secular backlash against the incumbent BJP-led government, especially after the Gujarat riots in 2002 when more than 2,000 Muslims were massacred by Hindu mobs. While some BJP leaders now prefer to campaign on economic issues, others are happier to rail against issues such as religious conversion, which unite many Hindus.
“Where the BJP is challenging for power they are playing the Hindutva card,” said Kuldip Nayar, a political analyst, referring to the concept of Hindu revivalism. Take Orissa, where at least 35 people, mostly Christians, have been killed in religious clashes since late August. The BJP’s support rose by around five percent in September’s local elections. Congress fell to third place for the first time. Many saw the campaign against conversion as helping the BJP. The BJP denies it has been involved in attacks, but many people blame its grassroots organizations. The government is considering banning one such group, Bajrang Dal.
Ashok Sahu, a respected Hindu leader in Orissa, offers a glimpse into the mentality of grassroot Hindu nationalists. He lamented that Christians were a tight group that counted more than more loosely-knit Hindus. He criticized Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, a Roman Catholic, for using Christians politically. “Christians may only be three percent of the population, but they account for about five percent in polls. That makes a lot of difference in elections,” he said.

—Arab News