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      • Advancing International Cooperation
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Projects: International Year of Astronomy 2009

Advancing International Cooperation

The International Year of Astronomy provides an opportunity to highlight the cultural shift that has taken place in planetary exploration over the past two decades.  The frontier days of space exploration, once a battle for bragging rights between two superpowers, are history.  Although national pride is still unquestionably an important reason that governments fund missions, space exploration is an increasingly international activity.  Many of the next steps in the exploration of our neighborhood in the solar system are so challenging that they seem daunting without the commitment and cooperation of many (if not all) of Earth's spacefaring nations.  Establishing a permanent presence on the Moon -- advancing the scientific study of the mini-solar systems and ocean-filled moons of Jupiter, Saturn, and beyond -- returning scientifically useful samples of rocks from the surface of Mars -- extending the presence of humans beyond Earth orbit to the Moon, asteroids, and Mars -- all of these will require billions of dollars and the kind of effort that only seems to be sustainable when departments of state, not just space agencies, commit to working together toward common goals. 

As an organization with international membership, The Planetary Society is positioned to speak for the interests of the world's public in advocating for progress on international missions.  For just one example, we are watching closely the selection, planned for January, of the next flagship mission to Jupiter or Saturn, a project that will likely involve NASA and ESA collaboration.  Efforts within NASA to start the next outer planets mission have so far fizzled; it appears that, as happened with Cassini-Huygens, high-level cooperation between NASA and ESA will be required to get this new mission started.  Past experience would also indicate that constant vigilance of and support by the taxpayers of America and Europe will be necessary to see this next mission through to its launch.  The Planetary Society will seek to inform the public about the mission development process, and incite public outcry if that development seems to be faltering.

But space exploration is now more than just NASA, ESA, and Russia.  More and more nations are seeking to participate in the exploration of the solar system, particularly our nearest neighbor, the Moon.  Japan, China, India, the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Russia are all now planning or operating missions at the Moon, a confluence of effort that inspired The Planetary Society to declare the "International Lunar Decade" beginning with the launch of Japan's Kaguya orbiter in 2007, and continuing with the launches of China's Chang'e 1 and India's Chandrayaan-1 in 2008.  We hope that the International Lunar Decade will serve as a framework for cooperation among the international organizations and nations conducting lunar missions, and also that it will provide a mechanism for scientists and engineers from developing nations and other countries not directly involved in space missions to participate in science programs or smaller engineering developments.

To further advance international cooperation, The Planetary Society is supporting the development of the Global Exploration Strategy.  Fourteen space agencies (including ESA, NASA, and the agencies of Italy, the UK, France, China, Canada, Australia, Germany, India, Japan, South Korea, the Ukraine, and Russia) have signed on to the first Global Exploration Strategy document, published by ESA in 2007.  It presents a broad global consensus and concise rationale for human exploration of the solar system, beginning with our nearest neighbor, the Moon.  We hope that by the end of the International Lunar Decade, humans will have returned to the Moon and begun looking outward, to asteroids or Mars.