Global Space Agencies Gather For Collaboration

UltimaGuy handed us a link to a story on the Register site, covering NASA's plan to create a collaborative space effort across the globe. Agencies from 'Italy, Japan, China, Britain, France, America, India, Korea, Ukraine, Russia, Canada, Germany, Australia and the ESA' got together for the first time since the formation of the Global Explorations Strategy team last year. "This year, they met in Kyoto to discuss a draft Framework for Collaboration, which will set out how the various agencies will work together. The team has agreed that its main focus should be robotic exploration of the solar system, particularly of the moon, Mars and the near-Earth asteroids. It has also proposed a non-binding collaboration mechanism which would allow all agencies to share their plans, and look for opportunities to work together. This would also provide a route for agencies to share the data from their own missions with scientists from other agencies."

Comments

I think that we are headed that way

[WindBourne]

This is simply some small collaboration. It is not the space building that has been going on with RSA, NASA, and ESA. Offhand, I think that China and America are still in a bit of a space race to get to the moon and control some of the prime real estate. Russia has been desperate for money so has been working with everybody. That is about to stop.

But It is a major part of why we are pushing COTS and did the bigelow deal. If NASA can not do the job, then private enterprise will. Basically, it is the multiple prong that America needs. In fact, I am hopeful that America will add several BA-330's to the ISS (or allow others to dock to it).

Re:I think that we are headed that way

[WindBourne]

South and North Pole. The only 2 things that are of IMMEDIATE interest is lots of sunlight and the possibility of water. The sun is needed to generate power. There are several place on the entire moon where you can get sunlight about 95% of the time. That also means that it is the only place that has relatively stable temps. Still low, but much easier (and cheaper) to engineer to. Any chance of water is almost 100% chance of being in craters in the poles and very little where else. The reason is that sunlight does not reach inside of these craters. But probably the biggest one is sun. Otherwise, you will have to provide your own power and heat. Now, if you want a base, you are into nukes (which adds a LOT of costs). If you have both poles loaded with solar, then you can beam the power all over. As to the telescope sites, well the moon is loaded with lots of those. But some are better than others. In particular, inside of those craters, the temps will be very cold and dark ALL the time. There are others places that will that way 80% of the time, but you still have to engineer for the 20%.

Re:Wrong Focus!

[Aglassis]

our chances of surviving here would still be exponentially better than our chances on Mars. So one could infer that if we could survive on Mars, then it would probably make it a lot less likely that we would be annihilated while on the Earth. And if we could survive on Mars, then it is certainly probable that we wouldn't be far from developing the technology to live anywhere in our Solar System. And that technology would be used to eventually escape our system. Once we escape our system and start reproducing, our survival is almost guaranteed. With this in mind, I think it is certainly a good idea that we are thinking of ways to survive on Mars.