Space radiation concerns for manned exploration.

Spaceflight exposes astronaut crews to natural ionizing radiation. To date, exposures in manned spaceflight have been well below the career limits recommended to NASA by the National Council of Radiation Protection and Measurements (NCRP). This will not be the case for long-duration exploratory class missions. Additionally. International Space Station (ISS) crews will receive higher doses than earlier flight crews. Uncertainties in our understanding of long-term bioeffects, as well as updated analyses of the Hiroshima. Nagasaki and Chernobyl tumorigenesis data, have prompted the NCRP to recommend further reductions by 30-50% for career dose limit guidelines. Intelligent spacecraft design and material selection can provide a shielding strategy capable of maintaining crew exposures within recommended guidelines. Current studies on newer radioprotectant compounds may find combinations of agents which further diminish the risk of radiation-induced bioeffects to the crew.     

Space exploration goals for the 21st century

This paper addresses, with examples, the essential need to devise important scientific research questions in order to set the objectives of space missions. However, the crucial objective of the human race is to survive the numerous hazards, both natural and anthropogenic, which may be expected to occur on Earth during the 21st century. With some experts believing that human civilisation may not survive to the end of the century, the main goals for space exploration should first be the preservation of planet Earth as a human habitat and, second, for human beings to settle in another haven, e.g. to colonise Mars. Treating this as an insurance policy, the annual premium for which could be around $16 billion, a globally cooperative plan should now be prepared and agreed. The fundamental message of this article echoes Zubrin's belief that, in order to survive, humanity must become a spacefaring species.     

Space exploration and applications in the year 2025

The final plenary session of the 2002 World Space Congress presented a panel discussion moderated by Karl Doetsch. Topics included space activity helping to define our place in the cosmos, space as a place for experimentation, space activity in support of a sustainable world, youth engagement and workforce development, and investments in the future.     

Space policy responsiveness: The relationship between public opinion and NASA funding

Is the government responsive to public opinion of space policy? In 1995, Stimson et al. demonstrated that changes in domestic public policy were in response to changes in public opinion. Ten years later, Jacobs and Page demonstrated that foreign policy was not responsive to public opinion, and instead responds to the opinion of business leaders. This research builds off these seminal works to explore who influences space policy. Findings suggest that the public supports the idea of space exploration, while also feeling that spending on space exploration is “too high.” Therefore, the government appears to be giving the people exactly what they want in regards to NASA’s budget – more money each year – but at the same time a smaller percentage of the federal budget.     

Space policy challenges facing the Barack Obama administration

President Barack Obama faces space policy challenges in security, commercial and civil areas in an era in which the use of space assets for these ends is irreversible. The very future of space is linked to addressing the challenges within the first term of the Obama administration. This paper draws on, but does not attempt to summarize, discussions at the National Space Forum 2008 organized by the Eisenhower Center for Space and Defense Studies at the United States Air Force Academy and the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, DC. The goal of the forum was to examine the key decisions that will need to be made in regard to space policy by facilitating debate among the security, commercial and civil space sectors, and the broader national policy community. The paper focuses on choices which, for budgetary or other reasons, cannot be delayed. A brief discussion of the issues surrounding each choice is presented, followed by the implications of pursuing different choices. One key assumption underlies everything: resources available for activities in space will not grow significantly in real terms over the course of the Obama administration.     

Fostering links between environmental and space exploration: the Earth and Space Foundation

The links between Earth and space exploration occur across a broad spectrum, from the use of satellite technology to support environmental monitoring and habitat protection to the study of extreme environments on Earth to prepare for the exploration of other planets. Taking the view that Earth and space exploration are part of a mutually beneficial continuum is in contrast to the more traditionally segregated view of these areas of activity. In its most polarized manifestation, space exploration is regarded as a waste of money, distracting from solving problems here at home, while environmental research is seen to be introspective, distracting from expansive visions of exploring the frontier of space. The Earth and Space Foundation was established in 1994 to help further mutually beneficial links by funding innovative field projects around the world that work at the broad interface between environmental and space sciences, thus encouraging the two communities to work together to solve the challenges facing society. This paper describes the work of the foundation and the philosophy behind its programmes.     

Space as a strategic vision for Turkey and its people

Turkey entered the 21st century making increasing efforts towards rapid economic and technological development, social change and renewal of its infrastructure. Naturally this process places a heavy load on the current system and it affects every section of society at various rates. Turkey must get involved in new areas in order to continue its development progress by minimizing such effects. One of these new areas is space, which has become an important tool for protecting and improving civilization and is a strategic expression of Turkey's future. This article outlines Turkey's potential in space activities, considers the current situation of space activities in the country and shows their evolution over 20 years with a view to identifying promising developments. Turkey is actively determining the necessary policies to allow future generations to compete in the international arena in the long term. But Turkey must also clarify what sort of space organization model it wants to pursue.     

Space insurance : Comments from an observer

The space insurance industry has suffered serious financual setbacks in recent years. These setbacks, amounting to a net cash outflow of hundreds of millions of dollars, have resulted in substantial increases in insurance rates and the withdrawal of a number of firms from the launch insurance market. After two decades of commerial space activity a number of questions may be raised: What has been learned from the experience to date? What are the causes of the poor performance of the space insurance industry? What can be done to improve performance? What are the likely prospects of the insurance industry and the likely impacts on the communications satellite industry? In order to answer these questions several examples are considered and analytic approaches discussed. The implications of mission modes, failure/recovery paths and multiple correlated payloads are considered, and analytic approaches based upon computer simulation techniques are described which are required to understand the complex insurance environment and the setting of policies and rate structures.     

Space education policy — a global imperative

The discoveries and knowledge gained from space exploration and technology development are valuable scientific education tools which are not being adequately used in the classroom. Moreover, the increasing application of space technology to everyday life and industry requires a work force educated to be able to work productively in this field and to take advantage of all it has to offer. This article provides a survey of what is presently being done in the field of space education in Europe and the USA. Although encouraging, it is not nearly enough to meet the needs of 21st century society, principally because current efforts lack government or industry support. The author argues that this state of affairs must change, and proposed an international symposium as a first step towards this goal.     

Contributions of the International Space Station towards future exploration missions

When the idea of a large space station in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) was conceived in the 1980s, it was primarily planned as an orbiting laboratory for microgravity research. Some even thought of it as an industrial plant in space. Whereas the latter did not materialize because of various reasons, the former is absolutely true when you talk about the International Space Station (ISS). Since the transition to a six astronaut crew in 2009 and the completion of its assembly in 2011, it has been intensively used as laboratory in a wide field of scientific topics. Experiments conducted on ISS have yielded first class results in biology, physiology, material science, basic physics, and many more. While its role as a laboratory in space is widely recognized, the awareness for its potential for preparing future exploration missions beyond LEO is just increasing. This paper provides information on how the ISS programme contributes to future exploration efforts, both manned and unmanned. It highlights the work that has been done or is currently underway in the fields of technology, operations, and science. Further potentials and future projects for exploration preparation are also shown. A special focus lies on experiments and projects primarily funded by the German Aerospace Center (DLR) or with strong German participation in the science team.     

The space elevator in the context of current space exploration policy

The space elevator is an advanced space transportation system that someday could replace chemical rockets as humanity's primary means of reaching Earth's orbit. However, before this can occur, a number of enabling technologies will need to be developed, and a variety of economic and policy questions must be addressed. The goal of this paper is to examine the feasibility of the space elevator in the context of current space exploration policy. The paper reviews the space elevator's critical enabling technologies and presents their wide variety of applications. The challenges of funding the space elevator and of building support for the program are discussed. The potential for international cooperation is considered, and the role of the space elevator in the Vision for Space Exploration is examined. The paper argues that each of the space elevator's component technologies ought to be developed independently to meet separate nearer-term objectives. The space elevator should be just one of many applications considered in making decisions to pursue research and development related to each component technology. The enabling technologies, once mature, might eventually be integrated in the construction of a full-scale space elevator from the Earth's surface to geosynchronous orbit and beyond.     

Space technology in developing nations: an assessment

Space technology can make an immense contribution to solving the problems of the world as a whole, and the developing nations in particular. This report summarizes the use of satellites by developing countries in the fields of communications, remote sensing, disaster management and space science. India and China, in particular, have built up impressive capabilities in several of these areas, but the great majority of developing countries still do not have access to this technology. The author addresses a number of proposals to the international community for bringing the satellite revolution to the developing world.     

Thoracic sonography for pneumothorax: the clinical evaluation of an operational space medicine spin-off

The recent interest in the use of ultrasound (US) to detect pneumothoraces after acute trauma in North America was initially driven by an operational space medicine concern. Astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) are at risk for pneumothoraces, and US is the only potential medical imaging available. Pneumothoraces are common following trauma, and are a preventable cause of death, as most are treatable with relatively simple interventions. While pneumothoraces are optimally diagnosed clinically, they are more often inapparent even on supine chest radiographs (CXR) with recent series reporting a greater than 50% rate of occult pneumothoraces. In the course of basic scientific investigations in a conventional and parabolic flight laboratory, investigators familiarized themselves with the sonographic features of both pneumothoraces and normal pulmonary ventilation. By examining the visceral–parietal pleural interface (VPPI) with US, investigators became confident in diagnosing pneumothoraces. This knowledge was subsequently translated into practice at an American and a Canadian trauma center. The sonographic examination was found to be more accurate and sensitive than CXR (US 96% and 100% versus US 74% and 36%) in specific circumstances. Initial studies have also suggested that detecting the US features of pleural pulmonary ventilation in the left lung field may offer the ability to exclude serious endotracheal tube malpositions such as right mainstem and esophageal intubations. Applied thoracic US is an example of a clinically useful space medicine spin-off that is improving health care on earth.     

Space nuclear power: technology, policy, and risk considerations in human missions to Mars

There is a large discrepancy between potential needs for nuclear propulsion and power systems for the human exploration of Mars and the current status of R&D funding, public opinion, and governmental support for these technologies. Mission planners and spacecraft designers, energized by the recent claims of possible discovery of life on Mars and responding to increased public interest in the human exploration of Mars, frequently propose nuclear reactors and radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs) for interplanetary spacecraft propulsion and for power supply on the surface of Mars. These plans and designs typically assume that reactors will be available "on-the-shelf," and do not take the extensive R&D costs required to develop such reactors into consideration. However, it is likely that current U.S. policies, if unchanged, will prohibit the launch of nuclear reactors and large RTGs in response to a perceived risk by the public.     

Space for celestial symphonies? Towards the establishment of international radio quiet zones

The growth of low- and medium-Earth orbit mobile satellite communications poses a threat to radio astronomers which could be mitigated by the establishment of international radio quiet zones (IRQZs), where communications traffic is managed (not eliminated) to allow radio astronomy to continue. Using the prototype of national such zones in the USA, this article explains how the system would work and discusses the international legal parameters that would bound it, drawing on current aerospace, outer space and high seas legislation. Precedents for an IRQZ—Exclusive Economic Zones, denuclearised zones and the Antarctic regime—are also examined.     

Towards an effective and adequately verifiable PPWT

The 2008 Russia–China proposal to the Conference on Disarmament on preventing space weapons has attracted wide attention. Lengthy debates have been made on the need for such a treaty and for two of its most disputed elements, namely prohibition of ground-based anti-satellite weapons and verification. This article argues that, regardless of verifiability, such a treaty is urgently needed for the benefit of international peace and security, and for the security interests of spacefaring countries. But in order to serve these purposes effectively, the treaty should at least explicitly prohibit testing, deployment and use of space-based weapons and ground-based anti-satellite weapons. Given the necessary political will, it is feasible to “adequately verify” these constraints. The verification regime should permit the incorporation of new measures in the future, combine international technical means and national technical means, combine remote-sensing technologies and on-site inspections, and be complemented by transparency and confidence-building measures.