Switzerland and space – how a small country succeeds

Is it possible for small nations to get their concerns aired or improve their industries and economies in the field of space activities? In this edited version of a speech to the international symposium on ‘The History of the European Space Agency’, held in London, 11–13 November 1998, the author demonstrates that, through judicious cooperative endeavour within the framework of ESA, and a willingness to put forward solutions rather than harping on problems, it is. Switzerland’s role in the foundation of ESA is discussed, along with various successful initiatives taken by the country. The particular difficulties presented by the country’s constitution – and how they have been overcome – are also examined. The author concludes with some thoughts on the present and futute state of space affairs in Europe.     

ISU design projects : A new instrument for shaping global space policy?

The author argues that students attending the International Space University (ISU) are becoming a force to be reckoned with in space activities thanks to their enthusiasm, dedication and their Design Projects tackling major technological issues. This article reviews previous projects, before focusing on those of 1993 and 1994, and analyses whether they can be seen as agents for change in space policy making. Key ‘selling points’ are the ‘students’ non-rigid approach to thinking and doing, their refusal to believe in the intractability of any problem and the appeal their novel coalition may have for political leaders.     

Canada's early space policy development 1958–1974

In the absence of a mature body of literature on the origins and evolution of the Canadian space program, recent official publications have arbitrarily chosen 1974, the year that Canada's civilian space policy was ratified in the House of Commons, as the popular date of origin. However, this start date ignores several significant policy documents that influenced Canada's space program development prior to that year. This article examines policy that shaped Canada's space program during the ‘golden age’ of space exploration (1958–1974), and will demonstrate that the true origins of the Canadian space program date back much earlier that the current perception.     

Tackling the barriers to progress

Over 200 people attended the ‘International Business in Space’ conference, organized by the Center for Space Policy Inc, Cambridge, MA, USA, in Washington, DC, 9–11 January 1985. The official focus - commercial space developments in the USA, Canada, Europe and Japan - was somewhat of a misnomer. While US, Canadian and European views and interests were well represented, the Japanese element was almost completely absent. Virtually every category of organization likely to be involved in the ‘industrialization of space’ was strongly represented: government agencies, major and medium-sized aerospace companies, entrepreneurial space firms, and service organizations, eg consulting groups, law firms and financial institutions. Not surprisingly at this stage, attendance by non-aerospace potential users of space was very weak. This report highlights two major themes - international cooperation and the role of overnments.     

Leadership for new US strategic directions

Although faced with the new global challenges of terrorism and peer competition, the USA has been slow to adapt its cold war forces, and newer ‘warfighter’ strategy to meet them. Cyberspace and outer space offer the means to do this, via ‘responsive’ microsatellites and low-cost launchers, and broadband internet information and education services. The US military leadership is, however, not well enough versed in these technologies, with senior personnel largely lacking a space or technical background and having little appetite for change. If the USA is successfully to meet current challenges, it must first create a leadership that is technologically capable and philosophically attuned to change.     

Humans versus robots for space exploration and development

Every few years, the eternally resurgent question of whether humans or robots should be adopted for space exploration is dusted off, with arguments on both sides leading nowhere. I argue that this debate is misplaced—there is a well-defined distribution of tasks across humans and the machine, and this distribution is of an evolutionary nature. This article uses a variety of examples to illustrate where robotic capabilities are most appropriate and where human attributes cannot be dispensed with. It further suggests that, even as robotics and artificial intelligence are becoming more sophisticated, they will not be able to deal with ‘thinking-on-one's-feet’ tasks that require generalisations from past experience. Given the current and perceived status of robotics research, I submit that there will be a critical role for humans in space for the foreseeable future.     

Europe's space plans and opportunities for cooperation

This is a slightly abridged and edited version of the welcoming speech made by European Commission Vice-President Günter Verheugen at the ‘Winning through co-operation: sharing the benefits of space’ conference held in Brussels on 17–18 February 2005 as part of European Space Week. The importance of space for Europe across many areas—now explicitly acknowledged by the European Commission—is highlighted. Future initiatives are discussed and the Union's approach to international cooperation is outlined. It was hoped that the conference would provide an opportunity for participants to identify the best opportunities for partnership in space.     

Russia’s space program: continued turmoil

This article examines recent difficulties in the Russian space program through the analytic lens of the Russian political and economic reform effort. It argues that Russia’s problems go beyond a lack of financing. Instead, lack of investment and ‘brain drain’ have caused deep infrastructural problems which would take years of restored funding and political priority to fix. Russia’s continued activity in space stems almost solely from inertia left over from the Soviet period, and from funding provided by foreign partners anxious to exploit the cheap, sturdy elements of that Soviet legacy.     

The military in space : A historical relationship

The Deputy Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff offers some observations on the ‘militarization’ of space, arguing that military involvement does not necessarily mean an environment will become ‘weaponized’. He also comments on some future US space activities.     

Ocean observation and international cooperation

This article reports on the types of effects changes in the oceans can have on the Earth’s atmosphere and climate and on progress in monitoring and understanding these effects with particular reference to the French–US Topex-Poseidon satellite. It discusses the types of results that are now becoming available and describes some of the future satellites that are set to continue Topex–Poseidon’s work. This article was first published in Elsevier’s Nouvelle Revue d’ Aeronautique et d’ Astronautique, No. 3, May–June 1998.     

The astronaut and the robot : Short- and long-term scenarios for space technology

A series of major accidents - the explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger, the destruction of Titan and Delta launchers, and failures of the Ariane rocket series - has led to a reexamination of Western space programmes. In the short term, all satellite launches have been delayed. This is not an insurmountable obstacle, although it will inevitably delay the first space-based tests of SDI hardware. The author outlines the growing gap between the immediate needs of organizations which launch satellites and the more uncertain ambitions of the ‘conquerors’ of space. The former are now bearing the costs of the latter, who are aiming at manned space flights and a human presence in space. In the longer term, these objectives have justifications other than simple industrial and commercial logic. The author suggests that an attempt should be made to reconcile immediate military and industrial needs with the human desire to overcome the ‘Icarus complex’ in the long-term future.     

Leading change at NASA: The case of Dan Goldin

Daniel Goldin set the record for longevity as administrator of NASA, serving from 1992 to 2001. Active and controversial, he was unusually visible as a self-proclaimed ‘agent of change’. Coping with a turbulent political environment, Goldin directed NASA from the end of the Cold War to the early 21st century. He effected change in the multitude of programs under his aegis, especially the Space Station and robotic Mars program. He was hailed at one point as a miracle worker and poster boy of government reinvention for his ‘faster, better, cheaper’ strategy of ‘doing more with less’. But Goldin left the agency under fire for cost overruns and reforms that reached too far. Using a policy innovation process approach, this paper traces Goldin's eventful years at NASA, his policy ends and administrative and technological means. It analyzes the record of success and failure of one of the most, influential administrators in NASA history. That record provides useful lessons for how an administrator gains, uses, and loses power in the US space policy system.     

Transforming Japan's space policy-making

Since its beginning the objective of Japanese space policy has been to ‘catch up’ with advanced spacefaring countries. However, this catching-up strategy is now facing several difficulties, because of the downturn in the economy and changing political and technological circumstances. In such circumstances the Japanese space community has realized the need to change its national space strategy. In 2005 a group of powerful Japanese politicians issued a report on constructing a national space strategy, which recommended that the government establish a new decision-making structure by creating a new Basic Law of Space Activities. These efforts underline the need for Japanese space to shift the focus of its policy from technological development to applications.     

Space ethics and protection of the space environment

The construction of the International Space Station in low Earth orbit and the formulation of plans to search for life on Mars indicate that mankind is intent on making the space environment part of its domain. Publicity surrounding space tourism, in-space ‘burials’ and the sale of lunar ‘real estate’ suggests that, some time in the 21st century, the space environment will become an extension of our current terrestrial business and domestic environment. This prompts the question of our collective attitude towards the space environment and the degree to which we should regulate its use and protect it for future generations. This article offers a pragmatic view of an ethical code for space exploration and development, as far as it relates to the protection of the space environment.     

A new paradigm for international cooperation in space exploration

In announcing a new Vision for the US space program, President George Bush committed the USA to “a long-term human and robotic program to explore the solar system”, via a return to the Moon, leading to exploration of Mars and other destinations. He also stated that other nations would be invited to join the vision. Many other nations have, or are developing, ‘exploration visions’ of their own. The potential for international cooperation therefore exists, both at the vision and program/project levels. This paper, based on Working Group discussions as part of an AIAA space cooperation workshop,¹ presents an approach for maximizing the return on all global investments in space exploration. It proposes an international coordination mechanism through which all these various national activities could be integrated into an inherently global enterprise for space exploration, a ‘virtual program of programs’. Within the context of the coordination, individual activities would utilize the full range of cooperative mechanisms for implementation. A significant benefit of this mode of conducting cooperation is that it would not require the negotiation of complex overarching international agreements as a precondition for initiating international activity.     

Consideration of space activities by the UN general assembly

The thirty-ninth session of the United Nations General Assembly affirmed ‘that complete and general disarmament warrants that outer space should be used exclusively for peaceful purposes and that it shall not become an arena for an arms race’.This text appears in the first of two important resolutions concerning outer space adopted by the General Assembly during its last session. Also in the first resolution, entitled ‘Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space’ (A/39/59 of 12 December 1984), the Assembly called upon all states, particularly those with major space capabilities, to contribute actively to the objective of the peaceful uses of outer space and to take immediate measures to prevent an arms race in outer space in the interest of maintaining international peace and security and promoting international cooperation and understanding.     

Which direction for space? (Part II)

The ISU held its 9th annual symposium in Strasbourg from 30 November to 2 December 2004, with the theme ‘Civil, Commercial and Security Space: What will drive the Next Decade?’ Speakers from industry, academe, space agencies, international organizations and the military presented a range of views on where the different sectors that make up space activity might be headed and, on the final day, sectoral discussion groups attempted to draw together some of the themes that had emerged. This report is an edited version of ISU President Michael Simpson's closing speech, in which he summed up the findings of the discussion groups. The growing importance of user demand was considered likely to present the biggest change to the way space activity is carried out.     

Shaping a legal framework for the commercial use of outer space: recommendations and conclusions from Project 2001

Private and commercial activity in outer space still poses challenges to space law and policy. Within ‘Project 2001’—a legal research project by the University of Cologne's Institute of Air and Space Law and the German Aerospace Center (DLR)—six international expert working groups examined international and national laws, in order to identify gaps and, where necessary, propose improvements to the present legal framework for private space activities. The results were presented and discussed at an international colloquium in May 2001 in Cologne, Germany, where final conclusions have been drawn. This report presents a summary of the project's work and main conclusions, which are documented in full in a comprehensive book to be published in May 2002.     

Worldwide direct audio broadcasting from space : Promoting ‘Glasnost’ with DBS-A

About 100 countries now pursue their ‘public diplomacy’ interests by broadcasting audio programmes via shortwave to 400 000 000 radio listeners. However signals broadcast by surface-based shortwave transmitters are limited in coverage, reliability and quality, and shortwave broadcasting suffers from increasingly difficult operating and political problems. Space technology could now begin to be employed to create common-carrier, common-user (Intelsat- and Inmarsat-like) space-based systems which could provide a truly excellent, low-cost, direct-broadcast audio service throughout the world. The world's governments could thereby use space in a new way to promote ‘Glasnost-Openness’ for ‘the benefit of all mankind’.     

Outer space and cosmopolitics

The two superpowers engaged in power politics on Earth, the USA and the USSR, have devoted great financial and technical efforts to the exploration, control and use of outer space, primarily to gain power-political advantages. This article considers the issue of power politics in outer space. The history and the instruments of ‘cosmopolitical power’ are discussed, as well as the attempts to limit the superpowers' dominance. A united Western Europe is seen to have a major role to play in providing a counterbalance to the concentration of space power.