Capacity building in regional space cooperation: Asia-pacific space cooperation organization

The increasing gap in the space capabilities of different countries has led to the need for capacity building in modern times. Space capacity building of countries without or with limited space capacity via international cooperation with advanced spacefaring nations is a good practice towards intragenerational equity among all spacefaring countries, and between spacefaring and non-spacefaring countries at the same period of time. A case study is used here to show the current situation of the Asia-Pacific Space Cooperation Organization (APSCO) and its member states that are associated with their space capacity building. The study finds that neither the satellite technology development model developed by Wood and Weigel (2011) nor the model developed by Ercan and Kale (2017) is a good fit for the development of space capability in all of the developing countries. Therefore, using the APSCO member states as a case study may offer guidelines towards the space capacity building of other developing countries. Moreover, an in-depth analysis of the merits and flaws of APSCO’s capacity building programs through comparing them with similar projects carried out by the European Space Agency (ESA), the Asia-Pacific Regional Space Agency Forum (APRSAF) and some other countries is conducive to providing some references for regional cooperation in the field of space capacity building. While international space law and the APSCO Convention can provide the general principles for capacity building activities under the framework of APSCO, they are only relevant to the development of scientific and technological capacities for space and human resources rather than organizational development and legal frameworks. Some international soft laws can likewise provide guidance for the capacity building activities of APSCO and its member states in the areas of international direct television broadcasting, remote sensing and cooperative way. To enhance its and its member states’ space capabilities, APSCO, in the context of space commercialization and maintaining the long-term sustainability of outer space activities (LTSOSA), should establish a comprehensive internal regime that addresses scientific and technological capacity building for space, human resources, organizational development and legal frameworks, a flexible regime for international cooperation with other developed spacefaring nations and international organizations with relevant technical capabilities and an internal research center for space law, and actively expand its membership by embracing other economically or technologically developed spacefaring nations in the Asia-Pacific region.     

白宫发布的首份国家地月空间科技战略

地月空间为推进科学、技术和探索提供了巨大潜力，是人类活动的新区域。美国白宫科技政策办公室（OSTP）发布首份国家地月空间科技战略，为协调美国政府各部门及合作者在美国空间优先事项框架下开展负责任的、以和平为目的的、可持续的地月空间探索与利用，提供了早期共同愿景，并首次提出地月空间早期发展的4个最高优先级的科学和技术目标，包括:支持研究和开发，以实现未来地月空间的长期发展；扩大地月空间国际科技合作；将美国的空间态势感知能力拓展到地月空间；通过可扩展和可互操作的方式实施地月空间通信和定位、导航和授时，以促进地月空间科学发现、经济发展和国际合作。      

Planetary protection policy overview and application to future missions.

The 1967 treaty on the peaceful uses of outer space reflected both concerns associated with the unknown nature of the space environment and the desire of the world scientific community to preserve the pristine nature of celestial objects until such times as they could be studied in an effective manner. Since 1967, NASA has issued policy directives that have adopted the guidelines of COSPAR for protecting the planets from contamination by Earth organisms and for protecting the Earth from the unknown. This paper presents the current status of planetary protection (quarantine) policy within NASA, and a prospectus on how planetary protection and back contamination issues might be addressed in relation to future missions envisioned for development by NASA either independently, or in cooperation with the space agencies of other nations.     

Overview of current capabilities and research and technology developments for planetary protection

The pace of scientific exploration of our solar system provides ever-increasing insights into potentially habitable environments, and associated concerns for their contamination by Earth organisms. Biological and organic-chemical contamination has been extensively considered by the COSPAR Panel on Planetary Protection (PPP) and has resulted in the internationally recognized regulations to which spacefaring nations adhere, and which have been in place for 40 years. The only successful Mars lander missions with system-level “sterilization” were the Viking landers in the 1970s. Since then different cleanliness requirements have been applied to spacecraft based on their destination, mission type, and scientific objectives. The Planetary Protection Subcommittee of the NASA Advisory Council has noted that a strategic Research & Technology Development (R&TD) roadmap would be very beneficial to encourage the timely availability of effective tools and methodologies to implement planetary protection requirements. New research avenues in planetary protection for ambitious future exploration missions can best be served by developing an over-arching program that integrates capability-driven developments with mission-driven implementation efforts. This paper analyzes the current status concerning microbial reduction and cleaning methods, recontamination control and bio-barriers, operational analysis methods, and addresses concepts for human exploration. Crosscutting research and support activities are discussed and a rationale for a Strategic Planetary Protection R&TD Roadmap is outlined. Such a roadmap for planetary protection provides a forum for strategic planning and will help to enable the next phases of solar system exploration.     

NASA''S strategy for Mars exploration in the 1990s and beyond

NASA's Office of Space Science is changing its approach to all its missions, both current and future. Budget realities are necessitating that we change the way we do business and the way we look at NASA's role in the U.S. Government. These challenges are being met by a new and innovative approach that focuses on achieving a balanced world-class space science program that requires less U.S. resources while providing an enhanced role for technology and education as integral components of our Research and Development (R&D) programs. Our Mars exploration plans, especially the Mars Surveyor program, are a key feature of this new NASA approach to space science. The Mars Surveyor program will be affordable, engaging to the public with global and close-up images of Mars, have high scientific value, employ a distributed risk strategy (two launches per opportunity), and will use significant advanced technologies.     

Strategic Priority Program on Space Science

In 1957, the launch of the first artificial satellite ushered in a new era for modern space science.The past 50 years' developments in China's space science have witnessed many major missions, and substantial progress has been achieved in space science study, exploration technology as well as experiment technology. Strategic Priority Program on Space Science was officially started in 2011. Through both self-developed space science missions and those with international cooperation,it is expected that the innovative breakthroughs will be realized, leapfrog development of related high-tech will be achieved to establish the important strategic status of space science in national development. To sum up, the implementation of the Strategic Priority Program on Space Science will definitely promote the rapid development of China's space science endeavor, making contributions to China's development and the progress of human civilization.      

Planetary protection issues for sample return missions.

Sample return missions from a comet nucleus and the Mars surface are currently under study in the US, USSR, and by ESA. Guidance on Planetary Protection (PP) issues is needed by mission scientists and engineers for incorporation into various elements of mission design studies. Although COSPAR has promulgated international policy on PP for various classes of solar system exploration missions, the applicability of this policy to sample return missions, in particular, remains vague. In this paper, we propose a set of implementing procedures to maintain the scientific integrity of these samples. We also propose that these same procedures will automatically assure that COSPAR-derived PP guidelines are achieved. The recommendations discussed here are the first step toward development of official COSPAR implementation requirements for sample return missions.     

中国空间生命科学40年回顾与展望

我国空间生命科学的探索起源于20世纪60年代，1981年随着空间生命专业委员会的正式成立，依托此专业的学术交流平台，空间生命科学进入多学科并进多机构建设的新阶段.随着中国载人航天及空间探索研究的深入发展，以分支学科或重大问题为牵引，我国在空间生命科学的几个重要领域取得了一系列关键成果.本文从发展历程、研究成果、平台模型、重大项目与后续展望等方面综述了我国空间生命科学40年的发展历程与标志性成果，为后续发展提供借鉴与参考.      

Status of space science and technology — An Australian perspective

The “Tyranny of Distance” has had a profound influence on Australian history and reaction to it has been an important factor in determining national scientific and technological goals. Because of its size and geographical remoteness, Australia is one of the countries to have gained substantially from the applications of space technology particularly in the fields of communications, meteorology and remote sensing. Australia is the fifth largest investor in INTELSAT which carries a major fraction of the nation's overseas telecommunications. A domestic satellite system, AUSSAT, is being acquired to improve telecommunications within the country. Australia is heavily dependent on satellite data for routine meteorological forecasting. Data from the Australian Landsat Station are in strong demand, particularly for mineral exploration. In the field of space science, Australia is collaborating with Canada and the United States in feasibility studies for STARLAB, a free-flying UV-optical one metre telescope proposed for launch by the US Space Shuttle beginning in 1989. These scientific and technological programs in which Australia is participating are all dependent upon the space programs of other nations and in describing the status of space science and technology from an Australian perspective some comments will be made on particular aspects of the space programs of the United States and Japan.     

中国探月工程

"嫦娥4号"于2019年1月3日成功实现人类航天器首次在月球背面软着陆,"玉兔2号"月球车率先在月背刻上了中国足迹。至今,国际月球探测活动共实施126次,期间出现两个探月高潮。20世纪50—70年代,美苏两个航天大国之间的竞争引起第一轮探月高潮。20世纪末至今,各航天国家意识到月球探测的战略意义,纷纷提出月球探测计划并积极实施,月球成为各国争先探测的热点,掀起第二轮探月热潮。中国自2004年首次绕月探测工程立项实施以来,共开展了"嫦娥1号""嫦娥2号""嫦娥3号""嫦娥4号"及再入返回飞行试验共5次月球探测任务,实现"五战五捷",在空间技术、空间科学与应用、国际合作等方面取得了非凡成就,积累了丰富的经验,后续将继续开展以无人月球科研站为主的月球探测活动。     

和平利用空间技术国际合作的现状和前景

本文较详细地介绍了当前应用最广和最成熟的三种空间技术:电信、气象、遥感领域中的国际合作的现状和发展趋势;并指出发展中国家在其现有的科技基础上,通过国际合作,培养一批空间技术和管理人才,配以适当的地面设施,就可获取空间技术所能带来的利益。     

Biological assessment of Ariane 5 fairing

United Nations Space Treaties [10 and 11] require the preservation of planets and of Earth from contamination. All nations part to these Treaties shall take measures to prevent forward and backward contamination during missions exploring our solar system. As observer for the United Nations Committee on Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, the COSPAR (Committee of Space Research) defines and handles the applicable policy and proposes recommendations to Space Agencies [COSPAR Planetary Protection Panel, Planetary Protection Policy accepted by the COSPAR Council and Bureau, 20 October 2002, amended 24 March 2005. http://www.cosparhq.org/scistr/PPPolicy.htm.]. The goal is to protect celestial bodies from terrestrial biological contamination as well as to protect the Earth environment from an eventual biohazard which may be carried by extraterrestrial samples or by space systems returning to Earth. According to the applicable specifications, including in our case the French requirements [CNES, System Safety. Planetary Protection Requirements. Normative referential CNES RNC-CNES-R-14, CNES Toulouse, ed. 4, 04 October 2002.], the prevention of forward contamination is accomplished by reducing the bioburden on space hardware to acceptable, prescribed levels, including in some instances system sterilization, assembling and integrating the appropriate spacecraft systems in cleanrooms of appropriate biological cleanliness, avoiding or controlling any recontamination risk, and limiting the probability impact of space systems. In order to prepare for future exploration missions [Debus, A., Planetary protection: organization requirements and needs for future planetary exploration missions, ESA conference publication SP-543, pp 103–114, 2003.], and in particular for missions to Mars requiring to control the spacecraft bioburden, a test program has been developed to evaluate the biological contamination under the fairing of the Ariane 5 launcher.     

The role of the society of Latin American specialists on remote sensing (SELPER) in the analysis and actions related to the main advances and needs of spatial remote sensing for Latin America

The existence of SELPER (Sociedad de Especialistas Latinoamericanos en Percepción Remota / Society of Latinamerican Specialists on Remote Sensing) has filled a great gap among latinamerican countries. SELPER was formed in 1980 and several important activities, having international support, have been performed and are planned in the near future. SELPER consolidation will help develop several important regional cooperation programs and the next years look very promisory in this sense. Different steps are planned but the most important is related with the formation of such a Latin American Council on Remote Sensing, having official support from different countries of the region; SELPER can help this important objective. Main advances and needs are summarized in this paper and it is possible to conclude that SELPER will be important for regional and inter-regional scientific and technical cooperation on remote sensing.     

Ground-based research with heavy ions for space radiation protection.

Human exposure to ionizing radiation is one of the acknowledged potential showstoppers for long duration manned interplanetary missions. Human exploratory missions cannot be safely performed without a substantial reduction of the uncertainties associated with different space radiation health risks, and the development of effective countermeasures. Most of our knowledge of the biological effects of heavy charged particles comes from accelerator-based experiments. During the 35th COSPAR meeting, recent ground-based experiments with high-energy iron ions were discussed, and these results are briefly summarised in this paper. High quality accelerator-based research with heavy ions will continue to be the main source of knowledge of space radiation health effects and will lead to reductions of the uncertainties in predictions of human health risks. Efforts in materials science, nutrition and pharmaceutical sciences and their rigorous evaluation with biological model systems in ground-based accelerator experiments will lead to the development of safe and effective countermeasures to permit human exploration of the Solar System.     

我国首次火星探测任务

我国首次火星探测任务于2016年立项实施。综合介绍了国际火星探测的历史和现状,我国首次火星探测任务的工程目标和科学目标、总体技术方案、关键技术难点、预期创新成果。我国首次火星探测任务将通过一次发射,实现火星环绕和着陆巡视,对火星开展全球性普查和局部的精细探测,推进火星地形地貌与地质构造、土壤特征与水冰分布、表明物质组成、大气电离层和气候环境、物理场与内部构造等方面的研究。实现火星探测任务目标,针对火星探测面临的各种特殊环境,需突破长期自主管理与控制等8类关键技术,取得的一系列创新成果,将为我国建立独立自主的深空探测基础工程体系,掌握深空探测基础共性技术,形成开展深空探测的基础工程能力。     

Capacity building in space law and space policy

A high level of expertise in space policy and law is required to initiate and keep pace with the expansion of space activities, including those undertaken by the private space industry. Space activities generally refer to those undertakings that are carried out with the use of several technologies for the exploration and utilization of outer space often for scientific, military, economic and social proposes within international and national policy and regulatory frameworks. Space policies and legal regimes determine the scope, nature, pace, possibility and development of space undertakings. Therefore, appropriate space policies and regulatory regimes, both at the international and national levels, are indispensable for the initiation, operation and enhancement of space activities. There are various regulatory models and approaches for regulating space activities, and for building capacity in space law and space policy. It is imperative to have the appropriate human resources and capabilities in the development and implementation of space policies and space legal regimes. This crucial requirement has been well recognized in the more advanced space-faring nations, but not to the same level in other space-faring or space-aspiring nations.     

MEP (Mars Environment Package): toward a package for studying environmental conditions at the surface of Mars from future lander/rover missions.

In view to prepare Mars human exploration, it is necessary to promote and lead, at the international level, a highly interdisciplinary program, involving specialists of geochemistry, geophysics, atmospheric science, space weather, and biology. The goal of this program will be to elaborate concepts of individual instruments, then of integrated instrumental packages, able to collect exhaustive data sets of environmental parameters from future landers and rovers of Mars, and to favour the conditions of their implementation. Such a program is one of the most urgent need for preparing human exploration, in order to develop mitigation strategies aimed at ensuring the safety of human explorers, and minimizing risk for surface operations. A few main areas of investigation may be listed: particle and radiation environment, chemical composition of atmosphere, meteorology, chemical composition of dust, surface and subsurface material, water in the subsurface, physical properties of the soil, search for an hypothesized microbial activity, characterization of radio-electric properties of the Martian ionosphere. Scientists at the origin of the present paper, already involved at a high degree of responsibility in several Mars missions, and actively preparing in situ instrumentation for future landed platforms (Netlander--now cancelled, MSL-09), express their readiness to participate in both ESA/AURORA and NASA programs of Mars human exploration. They think that the formation of a Mars Environment working group at ESA, in the course of the AURORA definition phase, could act positively in favour of the program, by increasing its scientific cross-section and making it still more focused on human exploration.     

Experiences of the GDR in space sciences and technology

Following a historical review of the first activities of GDR scientists in the fields of space research, especially on astronomical and geodetical satellite-observations and in atmospheric and magnetospheric research, the growing scientific and increasingly efficient technological and economic benefits of the cooperation of the Academy of sciences and other scientific and technological institutions of the GDR within the Intercosmos-programme are described. Especially, the experiences in connection with remote sensing, of the cooperation with countries as Cuba and the Peoples Republic of Vietnam and of the common USSR - GDR manned spaceflight are discussed under the viewpoint of the mutual interests of developing and developed countries in the fields of space science and technology.     

Planetary protection program for Mars 94/96 mission.

Mars surface in-situ exploration started in 1975 with the American VIKING mission. Two probes landed on the northern hemisphere and provided, for the first time, detailed information on the martian terrain, atmosphere and meteorology. The current goal is to undertake larger surface investigations and many projects are being planned by the major Space Agencies with this objective. Among these projects, the Mars 94/96 mission will make a major contributor toward generating significant information about the martian surface on a large scale. Since the beginning of the Solar System exploration, planets where life could exist have been subject to planetary protection requirements. Those requirements accord with the COSPAR Policy and have two main goals: the protection of the planetary environment from influence or contamination by terrestrial microorganisms, the protection of life science, and particularly of life detection experiments searching extra-terrestrial life, and not life carried by probes and spacecrafts. As the conditions for life and survival for terrestrial microorganisms in the Mars environment became known, COSPAR recommendations were updated. This paper will describe the decontamination requirements which will be applied for the MARS 94/96 mission, the techniques and the procedures which are and will be used to realize and control the decontamination of probes and spacecrafts.     

On the negligible role of manned missions for the geological exploration of Mars: a commentary.

At the 28th Plenary Meeting of the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) in The Hague, The Netherlands, there was on June 28, 1990, a session of commission MF.1 on Impact of Human Expeditions to Mars, in which, among others, the benefits of manned Mars missions for the geological survey of Mars were discussed. The present commentary does not intend to discuss the pros and cons of manned space flight or of Mars exploration at large, but will reiterate some of the points made in that discussion concerning the justification of manned versus automated Mars exploration in the context of geologic sciences.