Space Policy最新文献

The UN launched in 2015 17 Sustainable Development Goals as part of their 2030 agenda which covered almost every aspect of human civilization on Earth. Outer Space, however, was omitted from the considerations. There hence have already been a couple of suggestions of an 18th SDG related to Space. The paper will discuss the history and motivations of these suggestions, compare the conceptual frameworks provided, and attempts at exploring the structure of the SDGs and such a potential SDG in particular, as well as the challenges that come with that concept. Comparisons are made to the UN Space2030 agenda.

Of all the planets in our solar system, Mars is most likely to have evidence of life, whether past or extant and preserve the environments in which such life may have formed and lived. However, human exploration poses risks to possible evidence of life on Mars and its pristine palaeoenvironments. Similar sites of scientific interest on Earth have suffered significant damage. We risk the same for Mars without legal or normative frameworks to protect such sites. In this paper, we analyse threats to Mars and explore gaps that need addressing, drawing from examples on Earth and from legal regimes.

Large-scale, long-term scientific and technological programs face many hurdles and barriers on the way from initiation to completion. This is especially true for huge-multi-billion space endeavors, such as Artemis, NASA's Moon to Mars venture. Such programs traverse a number of presidencies and congresses. Among the most critical factors in program success or failure is the performance of NASA Administrators. While typically in office only part of the time the program endures, their tenures can be pivotal. Consider the case of James Bridenstine who served in the tumultuous time of Donald Trump. His record illuminates how a NASA Administrator with a political style can maneuver to a program's advantage, often in spite of environmental turmoil. While the full story of Artemis is yet to be written, it seems clear that Bridenstine, overall, left the program with a more secure political momentum than when he arrived. While he could not achieve all he wished, especially internally, he set Artemis on a sufficiently sound trajectory that his successor, under a different president of the opposite party, could maintain and build on Bridenstine's legacy. This positive hand-off was largely unanticipated since Bridenstine came to office with low expectations. His actions to secure the Moon to Mars program thus merits reflection.

In an age of proliferating satellite constellations and congested Earth orbits, what is the status and value of dark and quiet skies? Satellite mega-constellations such as Starlink are illuminating the night sky with unnatural light and making astronomical observations—both professional and recreational—increasingly difficult. Radio frequency interference (RFI) from these constellations also adds obtrusive “noise,” impacting sensitive astronomical observations in the radio portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. Scientists predict that the growing commercial space sector will add more than 100,000 satellites to Earth's orbit by the end of the decade, raising concerns from numerous scientists as to the future of dark skies. Astronomy, in particular, is inevitably affected by the impending disappearance of dark and quiet skies, which are necessary conditions for many aspects of scientific research. This topic has also gained attention, at both the international level and national level, within the United States. Nonetheless, contributions to the conversation of mitigating light/noise pollution predominantly focus on the likely adverse effects of artificial sky brightening from satellites. A holistic discussion is also warranted on the benefits of existing night skies and their significance for society.

This paper addresses the positive value of dark skies and the significance of protecting astronomy through current governing and analogous frameworks. First, this paper evaluates dark skies’ application under existing international and national law and policy, highlighting lacunae in governance and outlining convoluted issues for Earth-based science (astronomy) versus the lawful use of space (satellites). U.S. space law is used as a case study given the extensive history of the United States in space, comprehensive U.S. space political infrastructures, and the burgeoning domestic satellite mega-constellation industry. Second, relevant ethical values are identified to clarify inherent moral considerations that can guide policymaking and serve to establish practical measures and approaches to balance the conflicting interests of astronomers and satellite operators. Significantly, this paper contributes to the topic by explaining how the advent of technological change creates new conflicts on Earth and expounds on how and why these issues are lacking or are inadequate under current international frameworks. Moreover, this work explores key ethical values on this topic for informing public policy on dark and quiet skies and highlights some mechanisms for resolving these conflicts. In conclusion, the recession of dark skies is already occurring, and the likely impacts require transparency, good will, and interdisciplinary compromise between scientists, policymakers, and the space industry.

The core argument of this paper is that a new stage of a rather complex co-existence and co-evolution of space organizations is being entered with the emergence of public-private collaborative organizations driven by digitalization, sustainability and safety. Contrary to expectations of some fifteen years ago and except for a few notable cases in space communications, the New Space economy is seeing the formation of a new public and semi-public “era” of orbital space economy and in-orbit servicing in association with diversified funding schemes and a niche sector of new technological and business innovations in a global system of increasing fragmented production. These innovations relate to environmental and safety concerns, cost reductions, shorter life cycles, as well as a bolder market approach to non-space sectors. The emerging organizations address global challenges and are gradually engaging an increasing number of business firms and startups, together with research and technology organizations. They clearly gain from the New Space, but are mostly driven and funded by diversified funding schemes, with space entrepreneurship and equity investors balanced by an increasingly relevant role of public funding driven by digitalization, sustainability and safety, together with emerging public and semi-public goods.

The Space Transportation System Committee of the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS) of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has been continuously formulating medium-to long-term strategies in the field of space transportation systems under the Inter-University Research Institute System of ISAS since FY2018. This committee is considering the role of ISAS in cooperation with the organization-wide activities of JAXA to formulate strategies in the field of space transportation systems. Among its previous achievements, the committee assembled a strategic target and scenario for the space transportation system research field at the end of FY2018 and has been continuously revising it. Based on the formulated mission scenario, the committee identified three priority areas related to system technologies that must be tackled. These are a “reusable orbit transportation system” aimed for highly frequent mass transportation from Earth to low Earth orbits, “deep space interorbital transportation system” aimed for a marked improvement in space science and exploration missions in terms of frequency and flexibility, and “small flying test bed system” for flight demonstrations, which is indispensable in the research and development of space transportation systems. In this paper, the authors summarize the medium-to long-term strategies and their concrete implementation measures over the next two decades.