Demography of European Space Science: Results from a ESSC/ESF Study

摘要

On 10 April 2002, ESA's Directorate of the Science Programme (D/SCI) invited the ESSC-ESF to carry out a study on 'Space Science Demography in Europe': status, perspectives, proposals. This request was triggered by a letter from Prof. R. Bonnet to Prof. D. Southwood, raising the worrying situation of the space science community in France and, more specifically, to the aging and retirement of a whole generation of scientists that was actively involved in the first 40 years of space research. CNES had addressed the fact that the expertise and know-how that this generation developed, in terms of instrument design and development, seemed in particular not to have been transferred to the new generation of young scientists, and several possible reasons were invoked for that. The concept of this study was presented by ESA's Director of Science to the delegations of ESA's Science Programme Committee (SPC), whose reactions were in favour of such an initiative, and who accepted thereby to support the search for available national statistical elements required to conduct such a study. The study started from a statistical analysis, ESA Member State by Member State, of the age distribution of space scientists, broadly categorised by skills (academic level, project management level, etc), with a major concern being the age distribution of instrument builders, as well as their countries of origin. The analysis clearly evidenced the fact that we are facing in Europe a very diverse situation. Different countries show different problems, which can lead to the conclusion that there are different perspectives in the short, medium and long term ranges. However one main element emerges clearly namely the sharp decrease of the under 25 year old population in the space science workforce. This is possibly linked but only in part to the decrease of interest of young people in scientific studies. These findings constitute a base for recommendations to be developed, and in our view, actions should now be taken, both at national level, and at ESA or European level, in order to prevent the possible shrinking of the scientist/engineer pipeline. As examples of the various available tools, one can list recommendations to Ministries of Research, advocating for workforce mobility among Member States with differing situations, or stressing the need to concentrate efforts at undergraduate level.