Aff 1ac pgms
Download 493.63 Kb.
|
AT Lunar Mining RegimeCurrent moon agreement establishes a regime – US ratification doesn’t matter ESPI, 8 (European Space Policy Institute, 2008, “The Moon Agreement: Its effectiveness in the 21st century,” http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=14&ved=0CCwQFjADOAo&url=http%3A%2F%2Fkms1.isn.ethz.ch%2Fserviceengine%2FFiles%2FISN%2F124689%2Fipublicationdocument_singledocument%2F200c24db-052d-4afb-b953-12a5b9cfb155%2Fen%2Fespi_%2Bperspectives_14.pdf&ei=ZnkTTsuMK436sgb33JSFDw&usg=AFQjCNFiinAagSwJoQyZTQLgY2B2cd_4DA&sig2=RWd1H-AuDUvkhpe_b-72Eg JV) The Moon Agreement in the 21st century Forty years after the unprecedented achievement of Apollo 11, the major space-faring nations are again showing interest in missions to the Moon. At the beginning of the 21st century, various countries press ahead with plans for human space exploration: the United States, China, India and Japan are developing lunar exploration programmes, and Canada, Germany, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom, the European Space Agency and others have revealed their future plans for the human and robotic mission exploration of both the Moon and Mars as well as missions to other celestial bodies in our solar system. We are at the threshold of a new era of space exploration in which mankind’s use of outer space will expand and diversify rapidly with a considerably increased number of space actors pressured by sectorial and national interests. Security issues still predominate, although economic considerations now play an increasing role. The commercialization and privatization of space activities leads to new challenges and their vast potential raises the need for being able to plan and act with a more specific and rational direction, as well as the issue of the role of the international legal framework. Moreover, space exploration and its practical applications are, by their very nature, of global concern and will require to an ever-increasing degree the cooperation of all nations. This is certainly the ultimate aim of the heads of 14 space agencies who, on 31 May 2007, met to coordinate their exploration planning. The result of the discussion is a document entitled the “Global Exploration Strategy”. Some words of this strategy are particularly elevating: “this new era of space exploration will strengthen international partnerships through the sharing of challenging and peaceful goals”.13 In this context, the Agreement Governing the Activities of the States on the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies could be able to play a relevant role. The Moon Agreement represents an effort on the part of the international community to establish conditions promoting the peaceful uses of the Moon and other celestial bodies. But there are several political and legal questions that arise for discussion. While more specific laws or regulations governing outer space need to be added as the realities of space warrant such provisions, some of the core principles of the Agreement continue to be the object of debate. As of today, only 13 states have ratified the Moon Agreement and an
No political support for NASA McDade, 11 (2/13/2011, Jim, Alabama News, “NASA needs a giant leap over politics,” http://blog.al.com/birmingham-news-commentary/2011/02/my_view_nasa_needs_giant_leap.html, mat) Historically, the month of October has provided the United States with some of its more shocking jolts. In October 1929, an unprecedented stock-market crash sent America spiraling down into that devastating era of deprivation which became known as the Great Depression. The U.S. government responded to that crisis by spending billions of dollars on a New Deal economic-revival program. In October 2008, the U.S. stock market fell five days in a row, the worst week ever, signaling the Great Recession, from which the nation is still attempting to recover. Eight decades after the Great Depression, the government solution was spending trillions of taxpayer dollars on bailouts, economic stimuli and recovery programs that blurred the lines between capitalism and socialism. Big government always seems to respond to any crisis with big spending. Oct. 4, 1957, was possibly the best day U.S. space exploration advocates ever had. Russia's Sputnik caught the American public and most members of Congress by surprise. In a state of national near-panic following Sputnik, Congress and the White House soon agreed to create NASA and start pumping billions of tax dollars in both civilian and military space efforts. As usual, spending money was the most attractive solution to a national crisis. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration was created in 1958 to manage the national civilian space effort. The American public was gripped by fears that Russian satellites could spy on U.S. defense facilities, or their own backyards, or even could use satellites to drop H-bombs on U.S. cities at will. Some of those fears were realistic, but many were not. No matter. The taxpayers' wallets were ripe for the picking, and pork-loving members of Congress jumped at the opportunity. Alabama, Florida, Texas and the entire Southern crescent of states along the Gulf of Mexico pooled their political clout to bring billions of NASA dollars to the South, particularly in the cities of Houston, Huntsville and Cape Canaveral, and to scores of universities and businesses. Contracts were awarded all across the nation, but it was the South that prospered the most. The massive Apollo program of the 1960s, designed to leap well beyond the Soviets -- all the way to the moon -- brought the climax of space spending in Washington. Resistance to NASA spending was futile. University presidents and progressive-leaning professors were brought on board politically after they were promised more billions for their campus science and engineering programs. Space was almost as big for some university budgets as college football is now. In 2011, the public no longer perceives any immediate threats from space, so the party is now apparently ending for space exploration fans. The White House and Congress agreed to kill America's latest plan to return to the moon, called Project Constellation, and NASA is now struggling as an agency without a meaningful new mission in sight. Washington has failed to provide NASA with a clearly defined mission to replace Project Constellation, and the space shuttle program is winding down for good later this year. Tough economic times combined with a low level of public willingness to sacrifice for space make NASA a sitting duck for the budget ax. The Barack Obama administration wants to take basic Earth-orbital human space transportation services away from NASA and turn them over to a new, but untested generation of space companies that are run by a collection of foreign and domestic entrepreneurs. That proposal raises some serious national security, political and other issues, so a stalemate with Congress has put NASA's future in limbo. The arguments have ripped the space exploration advocacy community apart. Traditional aerospace contractors such as Boeing, Lockheed Martin and ATK are flagship American companies that will surely lose if NASA is compelled to pay someone like South African Internet millionaire Elon Musk's SpaceX company for launch services. Musk is a significant campaign contributor to U.S. political candidates -- giving 10 times more to Democrats than Republicans -- and that has raised some eyebrows in political and space industry circles. Meanwhile, the Obama administration is ordering NASA to focus more on basic research, future mission planning, diplomatic and educational outreaches and other activities scarcely imagined by taxpayers back when Sputnik was streaking overhead. NASA engineers used to worry about things like the sound barrier and the Van Allen radiation barrier. Those barriers seem relatively simple and minor in comparison to the political barrier presently confronting the agency. Directory: files files -> Answer True False 2 points Question 2 files -> Integer programming and game theory files -> 4 Integer Programming files -> Bpa vehicle Window Repair Scenario #1 task: Procure vehicle window relacement. Objective files -> Pop Warner History files -> North Carolina Inclusion Initiative Mapping Where Children with ieps are Being Served Purpose files -> Fall 2013 Spring 2014 Program Data: Standard 1 Exhibit 4d files -> Hanban – asia society confucius classrooms network 2010 request for proposal files -> Northern England’s set-jetting locations Download 493.63 Kb. Share with your friends:
|