International Space Station: New Uses in Marketplace of Ideas

摘要

Education and public outreach are recognized functions of the International Space Station (ISS). In this paper let us consider how those functions may be enhanced as ISS becomes fully operational and can support new uses and new users. We shall focus on the International Space University (ISU) as the primary vehicle for a future advanced education program using ISS, extending the achievements of present outreach efforts. In 1987 the founders of ISU visualized a three-step process: first, peripatetic ten-week summer sessions; second, a year-round Master of Space Studies curriculum at a central campus; and third, a campus off-Earth. Their goal was to build a worldwide network or leaders whose shared, intense educational experience would raise lasting friendships. The first two steps have now been splendidly achieved, with 1350 ISU alumni already making their mark in space enterprises. Not only was ISU an idea whose time had come; the felicitous growth of the Internet greatly aided it in building an intercultural academic community that now includes 25 affiliate universities in 14 countries. Arthur C. Clarke, ISU's Chancellor, regards ISU as a modern analogue of the great unviersities of the renaissance and enlightenment, when transocean voyaging coincided with an outburst of new institutions and ideas. Permanently occupied space stations in low Earth orbit can be thought of as the coastal trading vessels of a future where people regard ventures farther into space as a practical reality. The commercial success of space fiction entertainments shows that the public is ready to believe in such a future.