Space Exploration 3.0 About To Begin
by Staff Writers
Vienna, Austria (SPX) Nov 05, 2007
Space exploration is about to enter a third age where nations will
cooperate to explore the solar system. Nicolas Peter, a research
fellow at the European Space Policy Institute (ESPI), told the
meeting in Vienna that the era of launching space missions to
bolster national prestige was long past and that new opportunities
for cooperation had emerged since the end of the Cold War. He
predicted that an imminent third phase of space exploration could
inspire nations to work together in a spirit of discovery.
The Vienna conference Humans in Outer Space - Interdisciplinary
Odysseys on October 11-12, was billed as "the first comprehensive
trans-disciplinary dialogue on humans in outer space." It brought
space scientists face to face with historians, lawyers, political
analysts, philosophers, sociologists, psychologists,
anthropologists, writers and others. It was organised jointly by
the European Science Foundation (ESF), the European Space Agency
(ESA) and the Vienna-based ESPI.
Until recently the humanities had little input into European space
policy which has been dominated by political and industrial as well
as scientific considerations. The conference is developing the
'Vienna Vision on Humans in Outer Space' which will establish a
clear voice for a new and broader constituency to contribute to the
future of human beings in space.
Peter said there had been two phases of space exploration since the
first Sputnik satellite was launched 50 years ago. The first phase,
up to the early 1990s, was driven by Cold War rivalry between the
US and the former USSR with cooperation extended to political
allies of the two principal space powers. The second phase, up to
the present, has seen the emphasis shift to scientific and
practical applications of space with many new countries developing
space programmes.
The number of space agencies in the world has been steadily rising
since the 1990s and reached 36 in 2005. Bilateral and multilateral
agreements between agencies are also growing. The advent of the
International Space Station has it made it possible for many
countries to take part in long-term, structured programmes of space
research.
What Peter described as "Space Exploration 3.0" is about to
begin.
He said that while humans will play a major role in space in future
it would no longer be in the context of competing states but in
cooperation between many parties. "It will involve industry,
universities and other non-governmental organisations. This
adventure will be driven primarily by a quest for knowledge,
involving not only the hard sciences but arts and humanities as
well. We're evolving towards an open market situation where a lot
of new actors will be able to join the new space race."
The catalyst for the third phase of space exploration, Peter said,
was a speech by US President George Bush in January 2004 in which
he called on other nations "to share the challenges and
opportunities of this new era of discovery."
Fourteen space agencies - including big players from the US,
Russia, China, Japan, India and Europe - agreed a new global
exploration strategy last May. It provided for collaboration on
robotic and human exploration of the solar system including the
Moon, Mars, the asteroids and the moons of the giant planets.
Peter said that cooperation allowed partners to make the best use
of resources and to mount missions that would not otherwise be
possible. Cooperation lent legitimacy to space projects and made
them internationally credible. He pointed out that internationally
agreed projects were also less vulnerable to cancellation through
domestic political or financial problems. "So in this context
international cooperation is not only seen as a political driver
but a building block, a critical enabler for any long-term space
activities and in particular, exploration activities."
He added that it was important for space to be open to all
countries and not just those with the technical means to build and
launch spacecraft. He said there was no conflict between
exploratory and economic motives for being in space and called for
a future of "utilitarian exploration".
Space exploration, he said, could inspire nations to work together
for a common purpose. "For anyone who had the chance to witness the
first Moon landing, it was certainly something really important to
a lot of people and not only in the US," he said. "However, that
was not international cooperation. A global exploration strategy
will allow humanity to assemble behind a peaceful goal. Space
exploration is mankind's next grand challenge."
http://www.space-travel.com/reports/Space_Exploration_3_About_To_Begin_999.html