China successfully launched its first lunar probe, the Chang’e-1, on Wednesday. The satellite is expected to transmit its first three-dimensional images of the lunar surface back to China late next month. The launch came just weeks after Japan put its first satellite into orbit around the moon; the Japanese explorer Kaguya will start to transmit information beginning in December. India, which has also joined the undeclared space race in Asia, plans to launch a lunar satellite next spring. Asian nations have begun to draw a new picture of the “space race,” which has thus far been led by the United States and Russia.

The aims of the space race can be categorized into three parts. The first is scientific and technological development. The launch of a satellite itself is a big step toward high-tech scientific development. Data transmitted by the satellite can be used to examine the architecture and structural changes taking place within the stratosphere. The second is to develop resources of energy in space. The moon is believed to have some superfluid helium-3, one of the products of nuclear fusion that can be used to make rocket fuel, which is scarce here on earth. China expects the Chang'e-1 to provide data about it. The third goal is to cope with future competition for hegemony in space. As the technology for a satellite launch is based on missile technology, a country's capability to compete in the space race is directly linked to its military prowess in space. One of the major items on the agenda for most nations participating in the space race is building a space station.

South Korea’s space technology lags behind that of China and Japan and the gap is some 10 years. China has said that it will launch an unmanned moon rover into space by 2012 and a space shuttle by 2017. Japan and India each plan to launch shuttles by 2020. The United States has announced that it will let people live on the moon in 2020. As for South Korea, it could launch its first satellite next year with its own technology. A lunar project could be in the pipeline by about 2020, but there is no long-term government plan and a lack of fundamental technology and the requisite technical experts. That is the reason why we should take our cue from the launches of lunar satellites in Asia.