Asia's Space Race

Clay Moltz's masterful survey of rapidly developing Asian space programs sheds new light on the complex economic, military, and political forces driving them. The significance of Asian space efforts extends beyond immediate technical and scientific achievements and foreshadows the future of international cooperation and competition across the Asia-Pacific region. -- Scott Pace, director, Space Policy Institute, George Washington University Asian states are latecomers to space, yet their collective choices will shape the space environment in the twenty-first century. Clay Moltz has written a theoretically informed, comparative book that expertly analyzes the strategic, economic, and domestic factors driving Asian states into space. He highlights the national and regional dynamics that are making space an increasingly 'congested, contested, and competitive environment,' but also identifies common interests and incentives that could support more cooperative outcomes. A must-read for space experts and Asia specialists alike. -- Phillip C. Saunders, National Defense University, coauthor of The Paradox of Power: Sino-American Strategic Restraint in an Era of Vulnerability As humankind enters a new and more globalized spacefaring era, many hope outer space can become a commons for cooperation. Yet Asian space powers risk a more divisive and destabilizing prospect: an Asian space race. In this exceptional book, Clay Moltz provides the best read available to describe and explain the remarkably dynamic, increasingly crowded, and troublingly competitive field of Asian civil, commercial, and military space activity and presents a range of well-reasoned policy prescriptions for a stronger and more effective regime for space security among Asian powers and their neighbors, especially the United States. -- Bates Gill, director, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), and coeditor of Governing the Bomb: Civilian Control and Democratic Accountability of Nuclear Weapons Serious followers of space technology and politics will find his analysis invaluably informative. Booklist Offering readers unfamiliar with international space politics an alarming picture of the hidden but turbulent developments in Asia, this book is recommended for serious readers in international relations and policymaking.Library Journal Library Journal Moltz deftly melds technological expertise with history and political analysis. -- Andrew J. Nathan Foreign Affairs ...the book should be on the 'must-read' list of senior and mid-level officer education programs...a highly useful primer on the nexus of space technology and geopolitics. -- Lieutenant Colonel Brian Hanley, U.S. Air Force (retired) Proceedings This articulate, comprehensive book provides illuminating insight into a region on the space-power fast track. -- Col Richard B. Van Hook, USAF Air Force Research Institute Book Reviews Asia's Space Race gives readers a succinct overview of a substantial amount of consequential material, especially trends in space...Moltz's book is a must-read for those who need to quickly get smart on the subject of space. -- Joan Johnson-Freese Nonproliferation Review ...a valuable resource both for readers new to the field of Asian space policy and to those seeking a comparative analysis of individual national programmes. -- Columba Peoples Space Policy His thoughtful examination exposes how economic and political competition among Asian nations has released new 'forces that have made space a very different and more complicated environment than it was during the cold war' -- James Matray H-Diplo ...important analysis, well designed for classroom use and also for general readers. -- Roger D. Launius Quest This book is unique for telling the story of the race from a comparative perspective. Survival