More than a decade ago, Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, a scientist also known as the Missile Man of India who was also the 11th President of India,
. His broad argument was that the Earth, Moon and Mars should be considered as single economic entity. At the 97th Indian Science Congress, which was hosted by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in January, 2010. he said, “Scientists should start considering Earth, Moon and Mars as an economic complex for future habitat expansion of human beings.” He made similar arguments at a seminar held at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA) in New Delhi in November 2007.
China, it appears, has taken heed of Kalam’s concept. It was recently reported that
. Bao Weimin, director of the Science and Technology Commission of the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), discussed a very ambitious proposal to establish an Earth-Moon space economic zone by 2050. Some estimates indicate that such a zone could create an economy worth $10 trillion a year.
The initial work investigating the feasibility of establishing such a zone is expected to be completed by 2030. This is expected to involve basic research and development of key technologies. China expects to establish a space transportation system enabling this economy by 2040 and then, within a decade, proposes to establish the Earth-Moon space economic zone. From the Chinese side, this idea of economic zone was first announced during 2016, by Zhang Yulin, then deputy commander-in-chief of China’s human spaceflight program. Now, after three years, China has come out with a timeline for implementation of this project and it appears that those experts believe that it could become a reality.
