IMPLEMENTING INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION IN SPACE EXPLORATION

摘要

At a workshop held in April 2005 at the International Space University in Strasbourg, France, experts sought to tailor an international coordination mechanism that would achieve the classical benefits of international cooperation for the unique venture of space exploration The mechanism they developed provides a permanent forum for those with vested interests in exploration (currently space agencies in key space-faring nations) to exchange information about national plans and activities so as to build confidence in one another's programs, and to the extent they choose, to develop beneficial interdependencies. The product of the coordination effort would be a Consolidated International Exploration Roadmap that would both inform and reflect national program decisions. The coordination mechanism would simultaneously involve, but in less central roles, other important interested parties (industry, the science community, other countries without current exploration programs), whose advice is important to the development of a Consolidated Roadmap. Recognizing that the stakeholders in exploration will almost certainly evolve over time, the mechanism also presents the flexibility to accommodate new players (for example, companies and countries without investments in exploration as of yet) in more central roles as they become stakeholders with vested interests in exploration.