The meaning of Japan's space commercialization efforts

The gradual commercial utilization and application of the results of government-led space development programmes is a natural development. In Japan private sector involvement goes further than this because the government budget for space development is very limited. To remain competitive in an increasingly international market Japan now needs to develop a partnership between government and private enterprise to construct a system and structure that will directly benefit the public, otherwise the necessary support for space development will not be attained.     

Space policy-making in the Americas

The Third Space Conference of the Americas, entitled ‘Technology, Education and Environment’, was held in Punta del Este, Uruguay, from 4 to 8 November, 1996. The conference was attended by 255 delegates from 26 countries, eight space agencies and six international organizations. This report briefly summarizes the conference and presents the declaration that came out of it.     

从太空作战演习看天战的最新发展

为取得军事航天竞争优势,美国不断探索航天技术,积极开展航天技术演示验证,多次进行太空作战演习.介绍美太空演习的背景,概括了6次演习的基本内容,讨论了天战的发展.     

Sleep in space

Manned space flights have shown it is possible to sleep in microgravity. However, some sleep disturbances have been reported which influence performance of the crew and safety of space flight. This paper reviews the main studies of in-flight sleep in animal and man. Most disturbances are related to phase lags due to operational requirements. Factors which can disturb in-flight sleep are analysed: environmental factors. Some of them are secondary to space flight ergonomics. Conversely, effects of microgravity on light-dark alternance are less known and lead to interesting problems of fundamental research, psychological factors, especially during long duration flights.     

Estonian space policy and governance in the international space community

Despite the global financial crisis, which dominated 2008 and the first half of 2009, Estonia has decided to invest in a space programme. Estonia has extensive experience in the field of astrophysics and has developed capacities in various areas of remote sensing applications. It is on its way to becoming an active ESA partner. This article examines how Estonia is setting its way as a space nation and describes the new context and the role that various bodies are playing in the process. The paper describes the vision and strategy for space activities in the country. An overview of the possible measures to be taken to support the enterprises and scientific institutions with the highest potential for space cooperation is discussed, as are various risks in making progress in the space field, and measures for overcoming these.     

UK space policy

With an eye on the imminent ESA ministerial meeting, the rationale behind the UK government's often criticized assessment of the utility of space activities is explained. The structure of the country's space policy is described and details given of the UK's involvement in ESA programmes.     

Project space vision

This report represents the results of a survey of young space professionals, conducted on the Internet, with a view to giving them an opportunity to influence long-term space policy. The most important goals of space activity were considered to be achieving scientific progress, providing beneficial Earth applications and exploring the universe, but it was felt that these would not come about without efforts to lower the cost of access to space and regain political and public support. In terms of the latter, it was recommended that projects be pursued which bring space closer to people's everyday lives and examples of these are given.     

UK space policy

The UK is at an important crossroads in its approach to space. The next few years will determine whether it will capitalize on the opportunities provided by its outstanding record in scientific research, or whether space will join the long list of industries where the UK has failed to realize its potential.     

Commercial space development

A panel session on ‘Creative approaches to commercial joint ventures in space’ took place at the American Society of Public Administration National Conference, 28 March 1 April 1987. This report highlights the comments made by the panelists¹ on the steps NASA and US industry can take together to ensure US space leadership.     

Australia''s space heritage

An overview is provided of Australian space activities and their legacy, including the Woomera launch centre, tracking stations, space science, technology and applications. The military basis for many of the larger activities is discussed and the importance of using space-based remote sensing to deal with mounting global problems is emphasized.     

Funding for space - private finance for public space missions?

Private users of space capability are used to buying a service, not a spacecraft. The supplier builds, launches and operates the spacecraft and the users only pay for the service that they receive. Publicly funded users could benefit from the same approach. Transferring responsibility for the success of the mission to a true prime contractor who is best able to manage technical and programme risks can lead to significant reductions in costs and timescales, but demands changes in attitudes by governments, users, industry and space agencies.     

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.     

The space exploration initiative Perspective from the US space science community

As NASA struggles to fund and execute its ambitious Space Station Freedom and Mission to Planet Earth programmes, President Bush has pledge the nation to a programme to return humans to the Moon to stay and to explore Mars. While not predicted on scientific grounds, this Space Exploration Initiative welcomes the support and participation of the scientific community. Success in establishing this relationship will depend on how the initiative is structured, sold and managed within the context of scientists' past experience with large, manned flight programmes.     

Transformation: Structure/space studies in bionics and space design

This paper discusses the architectural design project “Transformation Structure Space”, which was carried out at the Department of Building Construction HB2 in 2004. The goal of the study was to find innovative solutions for space system design through the application of bionic (biomimetic) approaches. Using specific research both fields as the foundation, five different architectural projects based on a scientific-technological concept were developed. The introduction of natural role models into the design process and the development of the application in space and the respective setting proved to be a difficult task within the timeframe of a design program, nonetheless all of the projects show very innovative aspects.     

Performance relationships between ground model and space prototype of deployable space antennas

Performance testing is very useful in the design of deployable space antennas. It is arduous and costly to carry out the prototype experiments on the ground because of the large aperture of the antenna and the difficulty of simulating space environments. Thus, a smaller replica of the antenna, called scale model, is used to achieve the performance testing for reasons of economy, convenience, and saving in time. In this paper, a two-step approach is proposed to predict the prototype performance of the antenna in the space environment according to the performance testing of the scale model. The first step is to analyze the similarity between the prototype and the model in the same environment. Different methods are adopted according to the different performance of the antenna. The scaling laws of the driving force of the deployable Astromesh antenna are established through the differential equations on the basis of the deployment dynamic equations, while the scaling laws of frequency are derived by the dimensional analysis method. The second step is to analyze the performance relationships of the scale model in the different environments. Experiments on the scale model can be performed to obtain the performance relationships. Finally, a complete example of the natural frequency analysis is given to illustrate the two-step method.     

US space policy assessed

Recognizing that, in the wake of major geopolitical changes, technological developments and global recession, the US space programme needed to change, then Vice President Dan Quayle commissioned a review of the USA's space policy which was completed at the very end of 1992. Its findings — in summary form — and recommendations are reprinted here.     

Future Italian space policy

Italy initiated space activities in the late 1950s; however, it was only in the 1980s that these activities grew to the point where Italy became a major spacefaring nation. In 1988, the Italian Space Agency was created with the goal of coordinating all Italian space activities, but severe administrative and organizational difficulties hampered its operation. This viewpoint proposes a new space policy-making process, in view of the increased effectiveness that space activities can bring to various departments of the Italian government and to allow it to better exploit investments in space activities.     

Reforming European space governance

The structures governing European space activity, now some 50 years old, require reform to take better account of the plethora of space uses, the growing involvement in space of the EU and the variable degree of European integration. Adopting a method that involves identifying weaknesses in governance – e.g. lack of a European military space programme; problems in maintaining operational service continuity; opposition to change – the authors argue that only by harmonising its decision making and coherently integrating its public organisations will Europe be able to achieve a space programme commensurate with its technical capabilities and its political dimension.