Global Exploration Strategy Chapters 1-7
Partners and Principles of International Coordination
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Partners and Principles of International CoordinationThere are multiple stakeholders in space exploration including space agencies and their governments. Other stakeholders include the scientific community, industry and entrepreneurs, educators and professional societies, the public, and media. These stakeholders play different roles and will be connected as appropriate in the implementation of the global strategy. T  he space agencies are today the main stakeholders with a direct interest, as they serve as the focal point for space exploration and are the representatives of funding governments. As long as public sector investment is critical to progress, they will likely steer the overall coordination process.
However, allied to the agencies are the other stakeholder groups that have the potential to advise and assist the space agencies with specific objectives and priorities for space exploration. Thus, most agencies are likely to consult and interact with their stakeholders, and the advice thus provided will assist the international discussions. The table below introduces the key principles for international consultation and coordination for sustainable space exploration and the derived requirements for an associated structure and mechanism.
The Way ForwardBased on the principles elaborated above, the fourteen space agencies have agreed to establish a formal Coordination Mechanism to co-ordinate the Global Exploration Strategy. The specific terms of reference of this forum for information exchange, debate and voluntary decision are being defined [Appendix I if we decide to include it in this document]. Although the areas and activities that will benefit from coordination will change over time as progress is made, some of these have already been identified. They include: standards to promote interoperability; proposals to identify areas of exclusive domain that should be allocated or protected to support space exploration; methods for sharing scientific data and related analyses; the identification of common services allowing for the development of shared infrastructures; mechanism(s) to allow the provision of payload opportunities; ways and means to include vested stakeholders in the planning and coordination process; and, an assessment of the requirement for any relevant international legal agreements. Note that the Coordination Mechanism is non-binding. A plan is in preparation to develop a Reference Architecture as a tool to explore common ideas and identify those areas of practical engineering requiring international coordination. This Reference Architecture will not be a proposal for a single, global programme. Rather, it will be a ‘virtual reality’ resource to help scientists, engineers and planners work together before implementing their individual or joint ‘real world’ projects. The fourteen space agencies have also foreseen the need for other planning tools such as publicly accessible roadmaps and databases. These could be implemented if they help individual space agencies and business to match their strategic plans to the global space exploration agenda and thus help them to define their own contributions. As the Coordination Mechanism will be a voluntary partnership, it will not diminish the right of autonomous decision-making by each nation. However, all participants hope that – by sharing knowledge and ideas before and not after national decisions are made – both the collective rate of progress and the value for money of individual projects will be much increased. Chapter 7A Space exploration is a global partnership in service of society. It will require both human endeavour and technological innovation; and it will deliver new knowledge and commercial opportunity. Window to Tomorrow: Why We Explore Space exploration is driven by: Human Civilization: extend human presence to other planets to enable eventual settlement; Scientific Knowledge: pursue scientific activities that address our fundamental questions about the history of the Earth, the solar system, and the universe – and about our place in them; Global Partnerships: provide a challenging, shared, and peaceful activity that unites nations in pursuit of common objectives; Economic Expansion: expand Earth’s economic sphere and conduct lunar activities with benefits to life on the home planet; Public Engagement: use a vibrant space exploration program to engage the public, encourage students and help develop the high-tech workforce that will be require to address the challenges of tomorrow. This Framework for Coordination of the Global Exploration Strategy has presented a window to tomorrow, one in which the human frontiers are permanently expanded into the solar system, inspiring generations of humanity yet to come. It foresees how the robotic and human space exploration efforts undertaken by many nations working both individually and in partnership could be coordinated to maximise the long-term benefits for all humanity. Each agency that has contributed to this document shares this vision and invites other agencies or institutional bodies around the world to join them in translating the vision into reality. 1 Some languages favour “automatic” versus “robotic” but the two should be considered interchangeable. Page of Download 279.97 Kb. Share with your friends:
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