China space venture could prove profitable

Analysis By Tim Bowler BBC World Service business reporter

Burning cash or creating future income?

China's space programme, which the Bejing government claims to have cost around $2bn (£1.2bn) so far, is motivated more by political desires than by lust for profits.

Putting a human into space is mostly a matter of national pride and international prestige, and in the short term it brings few economic benefits.

But although the initial aim would be to boost China's image, it should eventually bring economic and technological benefits too.

European benefits

Putting this mission into perspective, China has already launched 70 unmanned satellites into orbit.

But even though unmanned flights are much cheaper, China's first manned spaceflight can be justified in both commercial and scientific terms.

Initially, few of the benefits will be harnessed by the Chinese themselves.

In business terms, the most significant gain from the Chinese space project has come in Europe.

There it has invested about $200m in the Galilleo satellite navigation system which is planned as an alternative to the United States' Global Positioning System.

Achievement

But in the longer-term, China's goals in space include the marketing and industrialisation of space technology, with the country becoming a leader in space science.

Even if China's manned space programme is more about politics than business, there is no doubt that along the way there will be economic and commercial spin-offs.

China's 10-year space objectives include settling up a satellite broadcasting system.

And commentators say that China's present leadership subscribes to the belief that national power derives from economic strength, which in turn comes from technological know-how.

It is it perhaps not surprising that all nine members of the standing committee of China's Communist Party politburo, the country's rulers, are all engineers by training.

And this successful spaceflight has demonstrated that China's technological achievements cannot be ignored.