The Third United Nations Conference on the Exploitation and Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UNISPACE III) was held from 19 to 30 July 1999 in Vienna. The UNISPACE III report is an action plan to harness the power of outer space activities for the benefit of all humankind in the twenty-first century. It calls for specific actions , and describes issues and concerns related to eight main themes: protecting the Earth's environment, global communications, the Global Positioning System (GPS), education and training opportunities for youth, spin-offs and commercial benefits, the promotion of international cooperation, information needs and the global approach, and furthering knowledge and building capacity.
The realization that available funding for large-scale space programs is rapidly moving beyond the financial reach of any single nation has fostered arguments that innovative international collaboration is becoming a necessity. It may even be that cooperative arrangements have become the only way to initiate & sustain the more ambitious space projects of the future. In addition, enhanced international cooperation may well be the preferred & most effective approach to carrying out some projects already on the space agenda. Starting from an analysis of the difficulties & benefits of space cooperation, this report recommends the changes in international space relations needed to enable the major spacefaring nations, which carry out the bulk of humanity's activities in space, to band together so as to afford the future large scale space programs that are needed to expand their knowledge, to explore new frontiers, & to guarantee their common security. To order: Send check or money order to U.S.-Crest, 1840 Wilson Blvd., Suite 204, Arlington, VA 22204. $18.00 plus $2.00 shipping & handling.
This book examines the tremendous benefits that come when we think beyond the boundaries of national interests and consider the venture and adventure into space as a matter of shared ambition, shared knowledge, shared risk, and shared benefit across all of humanity. In our previous books on the meaning and significance of space we have explored a broad range of these themes and topics, starting first in Beyond Earth with a broad examination of many different issues, and then in our second volume with a collection of writings about the challenges and opportunities that Living in Space will present. In the third volume in this series we examined the future of business in space, Space Commerce. The underlying premise of each of these books is that space is not only an irresistible lure for our imaginations, but also an inevitable destination for our serious goals and ambitions. Collectively, the many authors who have contributed their works to this series are committed to the realities of life, science, culture, and business in space, and we all agree that extending civilization into space is both a valid destination that will ultimately be home to millions and billions of us, and so in a very real way it also will become humanity's destiny.
"Climate catastrophe, natural disasters, public health epidemic and financial crisis have altered human perception of essential resources and technology. In the realm of space law, this discourse leads us to the utilization of space resources procured from celestial bodies through space technologies in order to address modern challenges through futuristic solutions. Space technologies remain the fundamental block of outer space exploration determining which participant shall have the functional access to outer space vis-a-visa its benefits. However, the predicament is that space technologies have the tendency of being monopolized as they are capital intensive, requiring substantial investment to support their research & development, leaving technologically advanced space faring nations with little to no incentive to share their technologies. In space law, the Outer Space Treaty (OST) is one of the core legal instruments amongst the five United Nations Space Treaties, which bases it bases itself on the principle of cooperation with respect to the use and exploration of outer space. While the OST ensures freedom of exploration, it does not guarantee equality in the functional access to outer space. This ambiguity in law raises uncertainty amongst States that desire access to space through the sharing of space technologies. Additionally, the other United Nations Space Treaties have failed to provide States with substantive prohibitions against political, economic or strategic discrimination, in particular with regards to functional access to outer space and space technologies.This thesis explores the socio-economic impacts of limiting access to space technology innovation to a small number of privileged users, and highlights the potential of achieving immense well-being by making space technology widely available through a pluralistic and inclusive platform. The research also proposes to understand the historical and socio-political elements that condition the currently limited access to space technology innovation and then, seeks to evaluate and suggest methods that can be adopted to enhance accessibility of these specific space technologies by adopting affirmative policies, ultimately, contributing to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Lastly, this thesis adopts an intersectional approach and necessitates the denunciation of the Westphalian model of international law that currently dominates the governance of outer space, highlighting the need for a cosmopolitan and inclusive approach that builds upon the concept of 'collective humanity'. The 'essence' of this thesis is - evolution and survivability. To not just show there exists a "common good" in the research but to show tangible and quantifiable results that can help achieve SDGs. Discussion regarding this issue is of the utmost importance because it is critical to the facilitation of human survival and offers immense opportunities for well-being"--
Agencies participating in the International Space Exploration Coordination Group (ISECG) continue to advance a long-range international exploration strategy that begins with the International Space Station (ISS) and expands human presence in the solar system, leading ultimately to human missions to explore the surface of Mars.The Global Exploration Roadmap, first released in September 2011, has been updated in August 2013 to reflect updated agency plans and programmes as well as continue to facilitate stakeholder engagement in the effort to chart an international roadmap to Mars. Figures. This is a print on demand report.
Human spaceflight is entering a new era. The assembly of the International Space Station (ISS) will be completed in 2010.2 Supported by a full six-person crew for the first time, it is ready to put its full capabilities to work. While the ISS partners can be proud of having completed one of the most ambitious engineering projects ever conceived, the world at large also will judge the ISS by what is achieved in the utilization phase. In short, the full success of the ISS Program depends on the utilization achievements in the coming years. The people of countries participating in the ISS will expect no less. For more than 15 years, the ISS partnership mastered financial and technical challenges, and weathered changes in national policies and governments. This mastery proves that nations can persist and achieve ambitious long-term goals that are very difficult. The ISS partnership is a model of what will be needed if an ambitious program of exploration beyond low-Earth orbit (LEO) is to move forward. The present partnership can be enriched by collaboration as we prepare for human exploration beyond Earth's neighborhood, to develop supporting technology, and to explore possible relationships with emerging space agencies. Aside from the ISS itself, the international partnership represents an invaluable achievement. Extension of ISS operations to 2020 and beyond is crucial to maximize use of the ISS facilities. A longer operational phase provides opportunities for new participants who may never have thought of using the ISS. A commitment to extended operations enables programs with long-term objectives, and encourages institutions on Earth to support projects in space. Perhaps most importantly, extended utilization allows opportunities to explore the ISS as a research platform and to realize its full potential. Unique attributes of the ISS that enable research and development (R&D) never before achieved include: (1) continuous access to microgravitya and defined partial gravity, enabling experiments with gravity as a controlled experimental variable; (2) high vacuum and the conditions to create ultra-high vacuum, enabling experiments that would be otherwise compromised by trace molecular species; (3) continuous presence in the space environment, enabling long experiment runs and cumulative sets of experiments; (4) significant power and instrument support services at a low-altitude (310-410 km) vantage point over 90% of the populated surface of the Earth, enabling use of the ISS as a platform for observations of Earth, Earth's atmosphere, and space processes; (5) daily human support and transportation resources enabling testing, modification, and incremental development of R&D test beds, instruments, and research programs. The benefits of ISS can be viewed from many different perspectives. As for other unique laboratories, long lead times to discovery can be associated with the many different disciplines that use the ISS. As scientists representing this broad array of disciplines, the ISS partner nations, and future utilization by all scientists worldwide, we met to discuss R&D on the ISS as the utilization era begins. We have captured the major disciplines, key questions, advantages of the ISS platform, and implications of ISS utilization for advancement of knowledge. The products of the discussion are a vision for the “Era of International Space Station Utilization,” with supporting descriptions of the importance of the ISS to key R&D goals. We are certain that in the century to come, the full utilization of the ISS will be seen as having made transformative contributions to a number of scientific disciplines.
With the end of the Cold War, the main question regarding the space race is whether it will become a co-operative venture. This text describing the the European Space Agency shows how such a co-operative enterprise has worked over the past 30 years and how
"This book introduces the concept of space-based technology commercialization and offers a first-time analysis of plausible opportunities, examining the overall marketability of tourism in outer space, including business case studies on celestial solar power and space debris that demonstrate the potential of cosmic technologies in the context of interplanetary business"--Provided by publisher.
