President Bush Helps Inspire the 3rd Age of Space Exploration

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 a 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.

“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.

“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,” Peter 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.”

Net News Publisher