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Brazilian Rocket Explodes on Launch Pad
steman writes "BBC News Online says that 16 people have been killed and a Brazillian space rocket was destroyed in an explosion in Brazil. It seems that the space race is heating up again, with many countries getting involved such as China, Europe and Japan to name just three. Will the future of space exploration be dominated by names other than Russia and the USA?"
Well, most of the effort from European Union countries comes through the European Space Agency. This is why it's probably okay to classify them as "the europeans". They've not done any solo manned stuff yet, but have done a lot with space probes and unmanned missions.
Although they don't have manned launch vehicles of their own, they work with the Soviets and with NASA. Their highest profile manned project is their work on the International Space Station - both in terms of supplying space hardware and astronauts. Their most notable unmanned project is the groundbreaking joint-NASA SOHO sun observation probe.
Upcoming projects of note: a manned Mars mission is in the (very) early planning stages.
It seems as though international cooperation should be the *only* way to go when it comes to grand plans such as reaching Mars. If NASA, ESA, China, India and the Soviets all put their differences aside and pulled together - humanity could become a truly spacefaring species within our lifetimes (graduating from a "type 0" to a "type 1" species that has mastered interplanetary travel [where type 2,3 = extra-solar and galactic travel).
In some ways, a country like the UK has less independent power than Texas, as the EU regulates particularly economic matters more than the federal US government
In most ways, conversely, the EU member states are more independent than US states (e.g. they each have their own army - UK did not need EU approval to send troops to Iraq)
The interesting point is that there is no limit to the power that will be centralised in the EU, and an assumption that every few years a new round of treaties will centralise power further. The treaties are full of the phrase "Ever Closer Union", and explicitly prevent seccession. (To the best of my knowledge, the equivalent question in the USA was, um, unclear until 1861-65).
Obligatory plug (though my membership lapsed some years ago): UKIP
This question implies that space exploration in the past was dominated by the two superpowers. From a manned spaceflight perspective, this implication is quite correct; but from an unmanned perspective, it is rather inaccurate. Over the last three decades, a large proportion of the activity in unmanned space exploration has been undertaken by countries other than two superpowers. And let's not forget that, unlike most unmanned misisons, the moon race was about politics, not science.
Looking towards the future, quite a bit of the exploration of our solar system involves both USA/Russia and other countries, either in collaboration or in competition. Particular missions to keep an eye on include:
So, we can see that there is a lot going on at the moment in the field of space exploration. Over the past few days, I've been watching HBO's "From the Earth to the Moon", and its made me regret that I wasn't alive during the space race. But, on reflection, there is plenty going on right now to get excited about!
Tubal-Cain smokes the white owl.
Who belongs to ESA? ESA's 15 Member States are Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Canada has special status and participates in some projects under a cooperation agreement. As can be seen from this list, not all member countries of the European Union are members of ESA and not all ESA Member States are members of the EU. ESA is an entirely independent organisation although it maintains close ties with the EU with whom it shares a joint space strategy.
Gentlemen, you can't fight in here, this is the War Room!
It has to do with plate tectonics. If it's a large thickened section of the earth's crust "floating" on the mantle, and it moves around as a single independent unit, then it's a continent.