Growing space cooperation between Pakistan, China presents risks and opportunities, experts say
China is ramping up cooperation with Pakistan in space exploration, but experts say Islamabad must develop its own strengths if it aims to benefit from Beijing.
Pakistan's Space & Upper Atmosphere Research Commission, or SUPARCO, and China Manned Space Agency, or CMSA, announced Friday they will train Pakistan's first astronaut for a mission aboard Chinese space station Tiangong.
The agreement comes just weeks after the two sides announced China's Chang'e-8 moon lander mission in 2028 will carry a Pakistani rover.
Last year, China put Pakistan into the moon's orbit taking the first Pakistani lunar satellite ICUBE-Q, aboard its historic Chiang'e 6 mission, designed to retrieve samples from the little explored far side of the moon.
Weeks later, Beijing put another Pakistani communication satellite into orbit.
Picking Pakistan
The latest agreement makes Pakistan the first country with an astronaut to work at Tiangong.
Experts say picking Pakistan as the first guest for China's space station is not surprising as Islamabad hosts the flagship project of China's global Belt and Road infrastructure initiative. The multibillion-dollar program includes a plethora of investment projects aimed at extending Beijing's influence, especially in the developing world.
'In this kind of increased polarization of interest in the world, China, both politically and also from the technological point of view, is trying to be the front-runner of, we can say, the Global South,' said Carlo Iorio, director of the Center for Research and Engineering in Space Technology at the Free University of Brussels.
'So, it's quite straightforward to think that one of the possible first candidates to be granted to use the Chinese Space Station could have been Pakistani astronauts or an astronaut,' Iorio told VOA.
Last October, China announced a 25-year plan outlining its ambitious vision for space exploration.
It includes Beijing's goals of searching for extraterrestrial life, exploring Mars, Venus, and Jupiter, sending space crews to the moon and building an international lunar research station.
'Pakistan's participation in the China Space Station program reflects the deep-rooted ties between the two countries,' said Lin Xiqiang, director general of CMSA, according to the Pakistani statement.
Lin was quoted as saying Pakistan's inclusion 'will contribute to mutual knowledge-sharing and the broader vision of peaceful space exploration for the benefit of humanity.'
Equal footing
Collaboration with China opens access to a treasure trove of technical knowledge and expertise for Pakistan as Beijing has managed the world's first soft landing and roving on the far side of the moon and landed a rover on Mars.
'They have capabilities to indigenously design and develop satellites and launches for all types of applications,' said Amer Gilani, secretary of the Pakistan Human Spaceflight Cooperation at SUPARCO about China's capabilities.
'Pakistan wants to achieve self-reliance in design and development of satellites for remote sensing, communication, deep space exploration, lunar missions,' Gilani told VOA in written comments. 'With collaboration with China our space ambitions can progress much better.'
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif hailed the latest space collaboration as 'a defining moment in the nation's space journey,' but experts say the nuclear-armed country will benefit from the collaboration only if it becomes an equal partner.
'What I want to see is cooperation on equal footing,' said Yarjan Abdul Samad, assistant professor of aerospace engineering at Khalifa University in UAE.
Samad, who is also affiliated with the University of Cambridge, said that while Pakistan may not be able to contribute equally now, it should aim to do so in the near future.
'If you go on these projects and you are just on the receiving end and you get services, what you asked for, then your technological development is very limited,' Samad told VOA.
Chinese edge
The International Space Station, or ISS, and China's Tiangong are currently the only two space stations orbiting Earth.
Managed by a partnership among 15 countries, the ISS is set to be retired in 2030.
Elon Musk, the owner of SpaceX and special advisor to U.S. President Donald Trump, recently called for deorbiting the ISS soon in favor of missions to Mars.
As the market for commercial space exploration expands, Iorio said, that leaves China's Tiangong as the only official government-based space station for further experiments and other activities for years to come.
While this makes collaborating with China attractive for developing countries, Samad said Pakistan should consider more than national pride when putting an astronaut into space.
Sending a Pakistani into space will only make sense, Samad said, if they will 'assist in carrying out work which is not possible with unmanned vehicles and which is not possible in ground conditions and which is helping us in finding solutions to technological problems.'
SUPARCO has said the mission will involve 'cutting-edge scientific experiments in various fields, including biological and medical sciences, aerospace, applied physics, fluid mechanics, space radiation, ecology, material sciences, microgravity studies, and astronomy.'
Despite receiving more than $25 billion in Chinese loans and investments for energy and infrastructure projects as part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, Pakistan is yet to turn its economy around. Experts largely blame governance issues.
Iorio warned that Pakistan must strengthen its technology landscape or risk losing some of its brightest.
"Without supporting research in the country, [it] will drain more talent towards foreign nations, including China," the Brussels-based expert said.
For now, Pakistanis have an exciting opportunity ahead of them as SUPARCO searches for the country's first astronaut.
The criteria?
'Pakistan will select astronauts from Pakistani citizens with background suited for astronauts which could be flying, medical fitness, physical fitness, psychological fitness, research/analytical skills, and high qualifications etc.,' Gilani told VOA. 'Hopefully [we] will be able to get good candidates.'
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