2004 Space Report: Environment and Strategy for Space Research at NATO's Research and Technology Organisation (RTO) (Compte rendu Espace 2004 : Environnement et strategie de la recherche spatiale de l'Organisation pour la recherche et la technologie de l'OTAN)

摘要

This report describes the motivation for and a strategy to enhance the NATO Research and Technology Organization's (RTO) current space research effort to reflect NATO's growing military dependence on space systems. Such systems and services provided by these systems are critical elements of military operations and are vulnerable to disturbance by adversaries and environmental effects. Data from these systems should be more fully exploited. A quantitative analysis of work related to space in the NATO RTO showed that during the period of 1998-2004, 5% of the research pursued in the NATO RTO has been clearly focused on space applications. The environment and barriers for space research were considered. Space capability is considered of high importance to meeting the civil and military goals of the European Union (EU). The US is challenged with maintaining superior space capability and international cooperation to meet future needs. A national trend towards 'requirements based research' rather than 'open-ended basic research' leads to a cost vs. return perspective that limits researcher participation in RTO forums. Organizational barriers to more focused attention on space research include lack of sufficient space expertise representation on panels, the military sensitivity of space, current panel work loads and the need for specific technical recommendations from peers. A strategy for enhancing space research in the RTO is to create a limited-life Space Advisory Group (SAG) composed of Space Expert Consultants who are panel members with appropriate expertise and additional expertise from the nations. A request for formalization RTO Space Advisory Group is being sought from the RTB. The formation of a Space Advisory Group is recommended to provide an organizational mechanism for the RTO to enhance space research activities.