Moon mission: India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle has so far launched 29 satellites.
Credit: ISRO
Beijing's long-term ambition is to develop a fully-fledged space station by 2020 to rival the International Space Station, a joint project involving the United States, Russia, Japan, Canada and a clutch of European countries.
Japan has also been boosting its space programme and has set a goal of sending an astronaut to the moon by 2020.
Japan's first lunar probe, Kaguya, was successfully launched in September last year, releasing two mini-satellites which will be used to study the gravity fields of the moon among other projects.
Spy satellites
As well as the commercial ramifications, the development of a space race in Asia has security implications, with the potential for developing military applications such as intelligence gathering and space-based weapons.
Earlier this year, Japan scrapped a decades-old ban on the military use of space, hoping to remove any legal obstacles to building more advanced spy satellites.
India started its space programme in 1963, developing its own satellites and launch vehicles to reduce dependence on overseas agencies.
Chandrayaan-1, with a launch weight of about 1.3 tonnes, is shaped like a cuboid or rectangular prism and carries 11 payloads – five from India and others from abroad. The rocket, India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, has so far launched 29 satellites.
