PASADENA, United States (AFP) - Fifty years after the launch of Sputnik left the United States scrambling to play catch-up in the first Space Race, US scientists fear history may be repeating itself as Asia emerges as the rising force in space exploration.
While the achievements of space programs run by China, Japan and India are modest in comparison to the milestones set by the United States and former Soviet Union, experts at a recent conference in Pasadena believe it is only a matter of time before Asia leads the field.
China, which sent a man into space for the first time in 2003, plans to launch its own moon probe before the end of the year, followed by India in the first half of 2008. Japan kick-started the Asian lunar race on September 14 when it successfully launched its first lunar orbiter.
While China and India have raised the possibility of a manned lunar mission within the next decade, the United States has vowed to return to the Moon in 2020, 48 years after the last US visit. NASA meanwhile has set the ambitious target of wanting to put a man on Mars in 2037.
"When we celebrate 100 years of Sputnik, we might celebrate the 20th anniversary of man landing on Mars," Frank Griffin, NASA's chief administrator said recently.
But many astrophysicists, space engineers and other high-ranking US scientists do not share Griffin's optimism, pointing to waning interest in space exploration amongst young Americans and a lack of government investment in developing elite scientists.
"In America, contrary to our self-image, we are no longer leaders but simply players," said Neil DeGrasse Tyson, the director of the Hayden Planetarium in a recent editorial. "WeÂ?ve moved backward just by standing still."
The numbers of new scientists in Asian countries are eclipsing those in the United States. In 2004, around 500,000 engineers graduated in China, 200,000 in India and only 70,000 in the US, according to a report from the National Academy of Sciences released this year.
The authors of the report -- "Rising Above the Gathering Storm" -- warned the United States risked losing its position as the leading technological superpower if present trends continued.
"Although many people assume that United States will always be a world leader in science and technology, this may not continue to be the case," the report warned. "We fear the abruptness with which a lead in science and technology can be lost -- and the difficulty of recovering a lead once lost, if indeed it can be regained at all.
"This nation must prepare with great urgency to preserve its strategic and economic security."
According to Ares Rosakis, a professor of Aeronautics at the prestigious California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, the scientific community has struggled to capture the imagination of younger generations.
"We have failed to communicate and infuse the excitement of space into our younger generation," Rosakis said.
Charles Elachi, the director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, echoed Rosakis' comments.
"Clearly, there are so many distractions in our society but every time we have kids visiting JPL and we talk about space exploration, showing them Mars rovers, having astronauts, they get completely taken by it," Elachi said.
"The challenge we have now in our society is the wide distraction that kids get from networks, games, iPods, YouTube and so on. We need to figure a way to get their attention."
Frank Fernandez, director emeritus of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), blamed a lack of investment in human resources.
"We need to invest in people," Fernandez warned. "We don't have people in the pipeline."
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