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1.3 40th Anniversary of FinnishMembership of COSPAR
1.3 40 th ANNIVERSARY OF FINNISH MEMBERSHIP OF COSPAR Finland joined COSPAR on 2 June 1964. Exactly 40 years later, the Finnish National Committee of COSPAR organized a symposium to celebrate this event at the historical House of the Estates in Helsinki.
served as the Director of the ESA Science Programme. In 1987, during his time at ESA, Finland became an associate member of ESA and then in 1995 a full member. It turned out to be quite important that Finland became a full member of ESA and thus a member of the ESA Science Programme Committee, as it made it possible for Finland to join immediately the
R.M. Bonnet (President of COSPAR), H.Koskinen (Chairman of the Finnish National Committee for COSPAR and National Representative to COSPAR) and and P. Talas in relaxed discussion after the celebratory symposium. (Photo: Eija Vallinheimo) Symposium participants at the House of the Estates. The house was the meeting place for the commoner estates in the Finnish assembly of the representatives of the estates of the Grand Duchy of Finland of the Russian Empire between 1891 and 1907. (Photo: Matias Takala)
About 80 invited guests attended the symposium, including several veterans of Finnish participation in COSPAR such as Academician Pekka Jauho, Professor Martti Tiuri and Professor Juhani Oksman. The meeting was opened by the Director General of the Finnish Meteorological Institute, Professor Petteri Taalas, who hosted the celebration, after which the Chairman of the Finnish Space Committee, Mr Time Kekkonen, expressed the pleasure of the Finnish COSPAR community and of the 40-year old National Committee in having Professor Roger-Maurice Bonnet, the President of COSPAR, as the main speaker at the celebration. His presentation (see below) was entitled 'COSPAR and Finland: Raising Space Science to the Highest Levels'. Professor Bonnet made several very interesting observations about the growth of the Finnish space activities from their quite modest level in mid-1960s throughout the long period that he
Cluster and SOHO missions with a significant scientific impact. Today, Finnish scientists and industry are participating in practically all the current and future ESA science missions. Professor Bonnet pointed to the importance of the fact that Finland lies below the auroral zone thus making it possible for Finnish space research to make a major contribution to solarterrestrial physics. Furthermore, the large land area surrounded by very sensitive seas makes the remote sensing of the Earth another key element in Finnish space strategy. In fact, more than 60% of Finnish ESA contributions in 2004 are going to the Science and Earth Observation Programmes.
The second presentation was given by Professor Martti Tiuri who was one of the first Finnish space scientists in the modern meaning of the word. His doctoral thesis in 1960 was entitled 'Investigation of radio reflections from satellite-produced ion trails'. He became a member of the Finnish National Committee of COSPAR in 1964 and acted as its chairman for 20 years from 1969 to 1989. From the very beginning, the National Committee led the
efforts to bring Finnish space research onto the international stage and up to an international level. Professor Tiuri related an interesting episode of the opinion expressed by the Minister of Education in 1973 according to which Finland had sufficient resources to undertake reasonable scientific research, as the country was not wasting money on space research or other 'boastful' research. Instead, the Minister considered that resources should be used for research on democracy, equality, health and living conditions. Finally, in the mid1980s, modern space research started its rapid growth in Finland and one of the landmark events was the XXVII COSPAR Scientific Assembly in Espoo, Finland, where Professpr Tiuri acted as the chairman of the Organizing Committee. After more than 45 years of active participation in Finnish space activities, Martti Tiuri is continuing to fight for a better future for Finnish space research. His vision is that, some day, Finland will apportion stable resources for space research as a part of the country's strategic research programme. At the end of the symposium, a 365-page volume on the history of space research in Finland from the 19th century to the present was made public. The book has been written by a professional historian, Dr Ilkka Seppinen, who worked on the project for some 3 years. The book is in Finnish with the title Suomalaisen Avaruustutkimuksen Historia. As the book will contribute to the ESA history project, it is being edited and translated into English ready for publication in 2005.
and various commissions over the years. In the history of COSPAR, such a celebration is a very rare event; to my knowledge, this is probably the first of its kind, and Finland should be congratulated for having thought of it and having organized it. The association of Finland with COSPAR reached a visible climax in 1988 at the time of the COSPAR Scientific Assembly at Espoo. Neither I, nor any of the scientists who were present there, will ever forget that very successful Assembly. The meeting took place during an unusually hot summer in Finland. There were 1291 participants from 39 different countries with a huge delegation from the USA (433 US participants were present). The meeting was opened by Prime Minister Harri Holkeri who, I understand, is now nominated by the United Nations as the head of the UN-led Kosovo administration. A forty years celebration is certainly an opportunity to remember the past. But it is also an opportunity to look to the future, having drawn the lessons of what happened during these 40 years. I will try not to take too much of your time today recalling the history of the successful relationship between Finland and COSPAR. Rather, I would like to position myself both as a distant and as a direct witness, having seen the development of the Finnish involvement in ESA while I was serving as Director of the Science Programme there and, also more recently, in my present capacity as President of COSPAR.
COSPAR AND FINLAND: RAISING SPACE SCIENCE TO THE HIGHEST LEVELS
COSPAR is an international scientific organization currently with 43 different member countries involved in its activities. It has played a singularly important role, particularly in its earlier days, in promoting peaceful cooperation between nations and their peoples. This is very clear because science and space science, in particular, are intrinsically of an international nature, and all scientists in the world should be, and more and more are, involved in the development of space missions and in the analysis of their data.
[R.M. Bonnet, COSPAR President, International Space Science Institute, 6 Hallerstrasse, 3012 Bern CH] Mr Minister, Dear Professor Tiuri, Dear Risto and Hannu, Ladies and Gentlemen, It is a great honour for me to be here today to help celebrate the 40 years of the association of Finland with COSPAR. I am happy convey to you the pleasure of the COSPAR family and of its Secretariat, as well as my own, to see the keen interest that Finland has in COSPAR, having witnessed the very active participation of this country and of its space scientists in COSPAR and its assemblies
When COSPAR was conceived, the main concern was to create a platform, or forum, to allow scientists from the West and those from the Soviet Union to present and exchange information and to discuss their
]0
results among themselves. The early days of COSPAR were obviously especially busy with all the new results coming in from the spectacular Soviet and American missions. Those were exciting times, with new discoveries coming every time a satellite or a rocket was successfully launched. Finland could not be left out of that momentous trend! In these circumstances, the Finnish National Committee of COSPAR played an unusually important role for such a committee, in promoting the development of a real space research capacity in Finland and in setting priorities. It has helped maintain, at a very high level, the interest of the scientific community, keeping it constantly abreast of the developments in space science in the world at large and, particularly, in neighbouring countries. It has offered a platform for the discussion of ideas that, later on, made it fairly straightforward for Finland to join the rest of its European partners in ESA. In that sense, COSPAR, through the Finnish National Committee, has been an important element in that process, and as the new president of COSPAR, I am proud to see that COSPAR has had such an important role in fostering the development of space research in the whole world. This is certainly very encouraging at this very moment when, at the turn of the 21 st century, some question rather critically the role that COSPAR should play in the new context following the fall of the Berlin wall - a Committee which is so markedly different from the one which saw the beginnings of the space era after the launch of Sputnik 1. Finland has a particularly interesting and unique position, both geographically and scientifically. Its location, north of 60 ° and close to the auroral zone, has for long inspired a profound curiosity among her scientists wanting to observe the sky and the northern lights, in particular, and geomagnetism in general. The interest of Finland in space-related science can be traced back to some 150 years ago when the astronomical and magnetic observatories were established in Helsinki. Therefore, it is not too surprising that Finland played an active role in the International Polar Years of 1882-1883 and 1932-1933 as well, of course, in the International Geophysical Year (1957-1958) which marked the real start of the space era. It should not be forgotten that as, early as 1946, a Finnish astronomer, Yrj5 Vaisala, had proposed
the use of artificial satellites of the Earth for geodetic measurements. Today, this interest is still very strong and places Finnish scientists at the top of the league for terrestrial sciences and research in geomagnetism and related phenomena. Another aspect of Finland's interesting geographical position is its unique situation not always so comfortable historically - close to Russia (and the former USSR) with which it shares its eastern border: the two have a long history of a kind of 'hate-and-love' character. Finland also has common borders with Sweden to the west, and Norway to the north. Indeed, very early in the space era, Finnish scientists developed excellent relations with their Swedish, Russian and Norwegian colleagues. All these nations have played a crucial role in the development of space research in the Nordic part of Europe, with Finland perhaps more than any other country being well positioned to develop a strong spirit of international cooperation. This explains the early involvement of Finland in COSPAR, long before it developed a substantial space capacity and eventually (re-)joined the European Space Agency. Paradoxically, in fact, that excellent circumstance (Finland's membership of COSPAR) did not particularly favour its early involvement in the European Space Research Organization (ESRO), the forerunner of ESA, since it was only in 1987 that Finland joined ESA as an associate member and only in 1995 that it became full member. That development was also accompanied by the signing of an agreement on scientific cooperation with the Soviet Union in 1987. Before that, the first Director General of ESA (Roy Gibson), having surveyed Finnish capabilities, recommended that Finland should organize a major international meeting in order to promote the country's interest in the field. As early as 1984, this idea was discussed with Z. Niemirowicz, the then General Secretary of COSPAR, and an official invitation was sent from Finland to COSPAR in 1986 which led to the organization of the Scientific Assembly in Espoo in 1988. The Scientific Assembly in Espoo and the agreement of Finland to join ESA as an associate member and to be a full member of its Science Programme Committee are nearly
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scientists to become acquainted with their Russian counterparts early on in the development of space hardware and, when the COSPAR had its Scientific Assembly in Espoo, quite a lot of international connections had been established already. The first hardware projects, including Phobos, Interball and other astronomy missions, were started in 1985, some 19 years ago, so that by the time of the Espoo meeting, both Phobos 1 and 2 had been launched.
contemporaneous, and it is not really clear which one preceded the other. It is clear, however, that they are linked and both are the outcome of a long preparatory process. Both the Finnish scientific community and Finnish industry were keen not to be left out of the projects that ESA was starting both in its science and in its applications programmes and so they were actively pursuing an involvement in ESA. These early hesitations were obviously in quite strong contrast to the willingness of the many 'actors' - several of them are here today to see Finland involved in ESA's scientific research programmes. Professor Tiuri, in particular, played a key role in the development of the space programme in Finland. His efforts, in the end, as we know, were thankfully crowned with success.
A posteriori, it would have been a real pity not to have included Finland in ESA's scientific programmes, given the remarkable success of this involvement. That participation, I was told by many of my friends and former advisors when I was at ESA, was strongly facilitated by the ESA decision to select the SOHO and Cluster projects as the first Cornerstones of its Horizon 2000 programme. Finnish scientists had a keen interest in both projects and a considerable expertise in the respective scientific fields of these two missions, namely in solar and heliospheric physics with respect to S O H O , and magnetospheric physics for Cluster.
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The reasons for the apparent lack of enthusiasm for the active involvement of Finland in ESA can be linked, as far as I can judge, to the somewhat strong reservations of the government, mostly based on economic considerations. Space was considered as being too expensive and there was a lack of political support in general. It appears quite clear that the priority given to space applications in Finland eventually convinced the political circles of the depth of Finnish interests in space and, later on, led to the decision to join ESA. Finland was associated with EUMETSAT as early as 1983, i.e., four years before its association with ESA. The creation of TEKES (the National Technology Agency of Finland) in 1983 also helped to foster an interest in the technical character of space activities and of the value of science in pushing technology ahead. I could say that Finland re-joined the space club ... the "Finnish way": by being pragmatic and practical, realistic and prudent, but also determined and very serious! These qualities are reflected in every area of the Finnish involvement in the space programme and, in particular, in ESA.
Today, all of the ESA scientific missions, whether already in operation or in preparation, have Finnish participation of one kind or another, be it in the purely scientific domain or in that of Earth sciences. I counted nearly 60 Finnish scientists involved in the building of hardware or exploitation of data, not counting those involved through guest investigators' programmes which amount to some 40 individuals. This is an incontrovertible fact and it testifies to the remarkable capacity of this country of only 5.2 million, to dominate and master every field of science and of technology. Even more impressive is its capacity in educating individuals to a high level so that they apparently have no difficulty in getting positions outside their home country. In ESA, we have benefited substantially from that capacity and wisdom and we are particularly grateful to Risto Pellinen who, after many years as Chairman of the Solar System Working Group is now chairing the prestigious Science Programme Committee.
In science, there is nothing more valuable than the contacts established between the scientists and, if there is one COSPAR vocation to be retained in the future, it is truly the capability it offers for fostering contacts and international cooperation. Certainly, the contacts established between the scientists in Finland and Russia made it possible for Finnish
I would like to devote the second part of this talk in reviewing the future of space and the role that Finland might play in that context.
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humans on the Moon within 20 years and on Mars within 30 or so. The difficulties of such paramount ambitions are neither few nor small, particularly in the technological, programmatic and physiological areas. They do present, however, a strong incentive for engaging in new studies and new developments, be they of a scientific or technological nature. They can be expected to give birth to a series of robotic missions to the red planet, but also to Venus and, possibly, to the moons of Jupiter and Saturn. We can expect that they will depend strongly on the scientific community and lead to substantial scientific benefits.
The situation today has very little in common with the conditions that obtained when space research started nearly 50 years ago and out of which the concept of COSPAR emerged. The Soviet programme and its generous offers of cooperation have vanished. Today cooperating with the Russians means that you have to pay. This is a new fact. Often, even if that condition is accepted, the projects and the missions are just not there! The world balance between the East and the West that prevailed in the 1960s and 1970s has vanished. Today there is only one side of the coin, only one leader and this is the United States with NASA contributing more by itself to the space sciences than all the other space-faring nations of the world put together.
However, if one thinks further ahead, for example, to the exploration of the solar system beyond the orbit of Jupiter, a zone where it seems unthinkable today to send human beings, new energy and power systems are necessary that only the Americans today possess or are thinking of developing, such as the Radio-isotope Thermo Generators (RTG). To my knowledge, no such developments are envisaged elsewhere, neither in Japan nor in Europe. In these circumstances, the solar system beyond the orbit of Jupiter will be and, for a long time, will remain 'Terra Americana' and all planetary scientists in the world interested in such ambitious goals will have to engage in cooperative programmes with US scientists.
Table 1: Comparison between the main space science budgets for 2004 (millions of Euros), NASA 3332 ESA 370 JAXA
475 just for Mars exploration ca. 500 including all national budgets
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Furthermore, the nature of space missions is changing. In astronomy, the race for bigger telescopes is ongoing. This trend is unavoidable in order to collect more photons and get higher sensitivity and higher resolving power. However, the growing size of future missions will naturally be limited by the capacity and dimensions of the launchers. These will naturally become more expensive and will require more and more international cooperation for their development, if for no other reason than to share their growing cost. ESA and NASA are already implementing that scenario for future telescopes such as the JWST and maybe the Darwin-'l'PF missions. At the same time, they will produce more data and, therefore, will also require more scientists to analyse and interpret these data.
All that should naturally lead to the conception and conclusion of more international cooperation agreements. Unfortunately, and maybe as a natural consequence of their unique leadership position, the spirit of international cooperation seems to be fading away at NASA. This is not fully satisfactory and one is inclined to hope that new visions and new actors will soon emerge, enter the scene and take on the relay! Who might they be? The European Commission is keen to play a major role in orienting the space policy of Europe. Together with ESA, it has prepared both green and white papers on European space policy. This gives me, in passing, the opportunity, once again, to thank my Finnish friends, and R. Pellinen in particular, for the role they have played in the preparation of the green paper.
In the field of planetary exploration, two phenomena ought to be noticed. First, we can expect acceleration in the development of that activity - i n which Finland is very much involved today - as a result of the declared ambitions of the Americans and of the Europeans to land
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Now, China has entered the camp of the most beneficial role to ensure the future of the super space powers by launching its own these activities for the benefit of all nations in 'taikonaut' in 2003 and, not the less impressive, the usual peaceful way that has characterized by launching on 30 December, the Double Star COSPAR since its beginnings. Consequently, mission, developed in less than 2 years. This just after the Paris meeting, I have organized a mission is working extremely well as well as two-day 'brain storming' meeting out of which, I complementing the Cluster mission. These are expect, this new role for COSPAR will emerge. remarkable successes. India is also following a Before concluding, let me address a similar track, and Brazil is showing strong intentions of becoming a visible player in the topic of great personal interest, not only as space age. In that context, one thing appears President of COSPAR and former ESA Science clear to me. This potential new competition will Director, but also as a solar physicist. This is an renew interest in space exploration, at the same area in which I see that Finland, through all its time as the need for more cooperation in the past expertise and experience and its own domain of data analysis appears to be more vision of space as a benefit to society, could and more pressing. The scheme 'competition- play a leading role. This is the growing interest cooperation' that characterized the early stages appearing in all space-faring nations and of the space era will mark, in an even more agencies for understanding and, possibly, contrasted way, the new emerging era that will forecasting the effects of the relations between involve much more than in the past, particularly our Sun and our home planet, an activity often in engaging the goodwill and participation of all mentioned under the somewhat confusing the scientists of the entire world. This prognosis appellation of 'space weather'. should be good for both Finland and COSPAR because of their common vocation in handling The remarkable success of the SOHO space research through international cooper- and Cluster missions and of the Solar Terrestrial Physics Cornerstone of ESA's ation. Horizon 2000 programme, integrated within the Finland, for its part, not only takes part International Solar Terrestrial Programme in all scientific ESA programmes and projects, involving ESA, NASA, Japan, Russia and but also cooperates through bilateral agree- several others, offers a clear demonstration of ments with individual member states and, more the crucial role of international cooperation in a importantly for that which I have discussed domain where all the capabilities and facilities here, it has managed to maintain a strong developed in the world can yield much more by involvement in American missions and a good way of scientific achievements and benefits cooperative working spirit with American than if they were each handled individually. scientists. Therefore, Finland should be one of the key partners in all future international plans In the space weather domain, we find another opportunity for cooperation and for new space research activities coordination. NASA has formulated its 'Living This context is also good for COSPAR With a Star' (LWS) programme that includes a which offers the proper framework for fairly large number of its own solar, heliospheric discussing future cooperative plans involving all and terrestrial missions. Four years ago, ESA in the nations of the world. Next Jul_Ythin Paris, on the framework of the IACG proposed that the the occasion of the next ( 3 5 ) Scientific LWS programme be internationalized, making it Assembly, meetings of a series of panels have the ILWS which would add, to the original LWS, been scheduled, which will involve a large the capacity of all similar missions developed in number of very active space personalities and Europe, Japan, Russia and, maybe, China and will address, in particular, the future of space, of other countries. Unfortunately, for reasons that international and of European cooperation, the are not fully clear to me, this process of future of humans in space, and the role of internationalization seems to be rather slow and space in monitoring global changes. this is of major concern because coordination at an earlier stage is much more efficient than Furthermore, it is now time to review when it comes at the end - when all the the future role of COSPAR and identify the missions have been developed already. areas in which COSPAR is best suited to play
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Finland has long since gained a unique expertise in this field and for the reasons already mentioned, it has unique capabilities that could make it possible for her to play a key role in this programme and in its internationalization. COSPAR offers all its experience and its willingness to help to make sure that the ILWS will start soon and that it will involve the largest number of scientists on the broadest possible basis. ILWS is clearly an activity in which Finland and COSPAR could join hands and take a leading role in ensuring that this initiative be conducted to its required success. In conclusion, I would like to stress the point that Finland has gained a remarkably good momentum in space research. It is important to safeguard this development. Certainly, in all agencies and even in the European Commission, there is a danger today that applications programmes are becoming too popular among the politicians and that basic science will get less support. It should be clear to all, however, that without basic science, there will be no applications of science. In many areas, particularly in Earth and solar sciences including meteorology and climatology, there is still a strong need for more science. There is also, as I have emphasized, a strong need for more international cooperation. I hope Finland will seize these opportunities and, together with COSPAR, will take the lead in a visionary way in the ambition of understanding space, the Sun, the planets and the Earth for the noble goal of initiating the 21 st century under the auspices of humanism, development and education. Professor Hannu Koskinen (Chairman of the Finnish National Committee of COSPAR) expressed the gratitude of the Finnish space community for Professor Bonnet's kind and encouraging words.
1.4 Scientific Commission and Panel Updates In future issues, we hope to expand this new section to include updates on the activities of the Scientific Commissions and Panels of COSPAR. Specifically, this is a section that will include contributions from the chairs of the Scientific Commissions and specialist Panels.
Panel on Space Weather [Alain Hilgers, The Netherlands]
The first European Space Weather Week, a meeting to review the science and applications of space weather with a strong focus on the transition from science to applications and involving bvarious European agencies will be held at ESTEC (Noordwijk, The Netherlands) from 29 November to 3 December 2004. The agencies involved are: ESA, E-Star (ESF) and the Eurpean Commission through its COST 724 and COST 271 programmes. The meeting will also explore community development, emerging markets and education, aiming towards the organization of a sustainable space weather activity in Europe. Panel on Planetary Protection [Gerhard Kminek (ESA) & John Rummel (USA)]
Since 2002, the European Space Agency (ESA) has initiated a number of Mars mission studies in the framework of the Aurora Exploration Programme. Each of these studies has addressed missions that have to implement planetary protection requirements to some degree. In order to advise the ESA executive and the Exploration Programme Advisory Committee (EPAC) on aspects of planetary protection, ESA has formed two working groups of external experts: the Planetary Protection Working Group (PPWG), focused on scientific issues of planetary protection, and the Ethical Working Group (EWG), focused on the ethical aspects of planetary protection and exobiology. In addition, a working paper on legal issues pertaining to planetary protection and astrobiology has been completed. A planetary protection support programme with two components was started in 2003: training of personnel who deal with planetary protection either from a management or engineering point of view, and development of the appropriate technologies and procedures to implement planetary protection requirements. ESA Mars Sample Return Studies In the framework of developing enabling technologies for the ESA exploration programme, planetary protection was identified as a critical generic technology. Two specific studies have already been initiated: one to determine the microbial diversity in spacecraft
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served as the Director of the ESA Science Programme. In 1987, during his time at ESA, Finland became an associate member of ESA and then in 1995 a full member. It turned out to be quite important that Finland became a full member of ESA and thus a member of the ESA Science Programme Committee, as it made it possible for Finland to join immediately the
R.M. Bonnet (President of COSPAR), H.Koskinen (Chairman of the Finnish National Committee for COSPAR and National Representative to COSPAR) and and P. Talas in relaxed discussion after the celebratory symposium. (Photo: Eija Vallinheimo) Symposium participants at the House of the Estates. The house was the meeting place for the commoner estates in the Finnish assembly of the representatives of the estates of the Grand Duchy of Finland of the Russian Empire between 1891 and 1907. (Photo: Matias Takala)
About 80 invited guests attended the symposium, including several veterans of Finnish participation in COSPAR such as Academician Pekka Jauho, Professor Martti Tiuri and Professor Juhani Oksman. The meeting was opened by the Director General of the Finnish Meteorological Institute, Professor Petteri Taalas, who hosted the celebration, after which the Chairman of the Finnish Space Committee, Mr Time Kekkonen, expressed the pleasure of the Finnish COSPAR community and of the 40-year old National Committee in having Professor Roger-Maurice Bonnet, the President of COSPAR, as the main speaker at the celebration. His presentation (see below) was entitled 'COSPAR and Finland: Raising Space Science to the Highest Levels'. Professor Bonnet made several very interesting observations about the growth of the Finnish space activities from their quite modest level in mid-1960s throughout the long period that he
Cluster and SOHO missions with a significant scientific impact. Today, Finnish scientists and industry are participating in practically all the current and future ESA science missions. Professor Bonnet pointed to the importance of the fact that Finland lies below the auroral zone thus making it possible for Finnish space research to make a major contribution to solarterrestrial physics. Furthermore, the large land area surrounded by very sensitive seas makes the remote sensing of the Earth another key element in Finnish space strategy. In fact, more than 60% of Finnish ESA contributions in 2004 are going to the Science and Earth Observation Programmes.
The second presentation was given by Professor Martti Tiuri who was one of the first Finnish space scientists in the modern meaning of the word. His doctoral thesis in 1960 was entitled 'Investigation of radio reflections from satellite-produced ion trails'. He became a member of the Finnish National Committee of COSPAR in 1964 and acted as its chairman for 20 years from 1969 to 1989. From the very beginning, the National Committee led the
efforts to bring Finnish space research onto the international stage and up to an international level. Professor Tiuri related an interesting episode of the opinion expressed by the Minister of Education in 1973 according to which Finland had sufficient resources to undertake reasonable scientific research, as the country was not wasting money on space research or other 'boastful' research. Instead, the Minister considered that resources should be used for research on democracy, equality, health and living conditions. Finally, in the mid1980s, modern space research started its rapid growth in Finland and one of the landmark events was the XXVII COSPAR Scientific Assembly in Espoo, Finland, where Professpr Tiuri acted as the chairman of the Organizing Committee. After more than 45 years of active participation in Finnish space activities, Martti Tiuri is continuing to fight for a better future for Finnish space research. His vision is that, some day, Finland will apportion stable resources for space research as a part of the country's strategic research programme. At the end of the symposium, a 365-page volume on the history of space research in Finland from the 19th century to the present was made public. The book has been written by a professional historian, Dr Ilkka Seppinen, who worked on the project for some 3 years. The book is in Finnish with the title Suomalaisen Avaruustutkimuksen Historia. As the book will contribute to the ESA history project, it is being edited and translated into English ready for publication in 2005.
and various commissions over the years. In the history of COSPAR, such a celebration is a very rare event; to my knowledge, this is probably the first of its kind, and Finland should be congratulated for having thought of it and having organized it. The association of Finland with COSPAR reached a visible climax in 1988 at the time of the COSPAR Scientific Assembly at Espoo. Neither I, nor any of the scientists who were present there, will ever forget that very successful Assembly. The meeting took place during an unusually hot summer in Finland. There were 1291 participants from 39 different countries with a huge delegation from the USA (433 US participants were present). The meeting was opened by Prime Minister Harri Holkeri who, I understand, is now nominated by the United Nations as the head of the UN-led Kosovo administration. A forty years celebration is certainly an opportunity to remember the past. But it is also an opportunity to look to the future, having drawn the lessons of what happened during these 40 years. I will try not to take too much of your time today recalling the history of the successful relationship between Finland and COSPAR. Rather, I would like to position myself both as a distant and as a direct witness, having seen the development of the Finnish involvement in ESA while I was serving as Director of the Science Programme there and, also more recently, in my present capacity as President of COSPAR.
COSPAR AND FINLAND: RAISING SPACE SCIENCE TO THE HIGHEST LEVELS
COSPAR is an international scientific organization currently with 43 different member countries involved in its activities. It has played a singularly important role, particularly in its earlier days, in promoting peaceful cooperation between nations and their peoples. This is very clear because science and space science, in particular, are intrinsically of an international nature, and all scientists in the world should be, and more and more are, involved in the development of space missions and in the analysis of their data.
[R.M. Bonnet, COSPAR President, International Space Science Institute, 6 Hallerstrasse, 3012 Bern CH] Mr Minister, Dear Professor Tiuri, Dear Risto and Hannu, Ladies and Gentlemen, It is a great honour for me to be here today to help celebrate the 40 years of the association of Finland with COSPAR. I am happy convey to you the pleasure of the COSPAR family and of its Secretariat, as well as my own, to see the keen interest that Finland has in COSPAR, having witnessed the very active participation of this country and of its space scientists in COSPAR and its assemblies
When COSPAR was conceived, the main concern was to create a platform, or forum, to allow scientists from the West and those from the Soviet Union to present and exchange information and to discuss their
]0
results among themselves. The early days of COSPAR were obviously especially busy with all the new results coming in from the spectacular Soviet and American missions. Those were exciting times, with new discoveries coming every time a satellite or a rocket was successfully launched. Finland could not be left out of that momentous trend! In these circumstances, the Finnish National Committee of COSPAR played an unusually important role for such a committee, in promoting the development of a real space research capacity in Finland and in setting priorities. It has helped maintain, at a very high level, the interest of the scientific community, keeping it constantly abreast of the developments in space science in the world at large and, particularly, in neighbouring countries. It has offered a platform for the discussion of ideas that, later on, made it fairly straightforward for Finland to join the rest of its European partners in ESA. In that sense, COSPAR, through the Finnish National Committee, has been an important element in that process, and as the new president of COSPAR, I am proud to see that COSPAR has had such an important role in fostering the development of space research in the whole world. This is certainly very encouraging at this very moment when, at the turn of the 21 st century, some question rather critically the role that COSPAR should play in the new context following the fall of the Berlin wall - a Committee which is so markedly different from the one which saw the beginnings of the space era after the launch of Sputnik 1. Finland has a particularly interesting and unique position, both geographically and scientifically. Its location, north of 60 ° and close to the auroral zone, has for long inspired a profound curiosity among her scientists wanting to observe the sky and the northern lights, in particular, and geomagnetism in general. The interest of Finland in space-related science can be traced back to some 150 years ago when the astronomical and magnetic observatories were established in Helsinki. Therefore, it is not too surprising that Finland played an active role in the International Polar Years of 1882-1883 and 1932-1933 as well, of course, in the International Geophysical Year (1957-1958) which marked the real start of the space era. It should not be forgotten that as, early as 1946, a Finnish astronomer, Yrj5 Vaisala, had proposed
the use of artificial satellites of the Earth for geodetic measurements. Today, this interest is still very strong and places Finnish scientists at the top of the league for terrestrial sciences and research in geomagnetism and related phenomena. Another aspect of Finland's interesting geographical position is its unique situation not always so comfortable historically - close to Russia (and the former USSR) with which it shares its eastern border: the two have a long history of a kind of 'hate-and-love' character. Finland also has common borders with Sweden to the west, and Norway to the north. Indeed, very early in the space era, Finnish scientists developed excellent relations with their Swedish, Russian and Norwegian colleagues. All these nations have played a crucial role in the development of space research in the Nordic part of Europe, with Finland perhaps more than any other country being well positioned to develop a strong spirit of international cooperation. This explains the early involvement of Finland in COSPAR, long before it developed a substantial space capacity and eventually (re-)joined the European Space Agency. Paradoxically, in fact, that excellent circumstance (Finland's membership of COSPAR) did not particularly favour its early involvement in the European Space Research Organization (ESRO), the forerunner of ESA, since it was only in 1987 that Finland joined ESA as an associate member and only in 1995 that it became full member. That development was also accompanied by the signing of an agreement on scientific cooperation with the Soviet Union in 1987. Before that, the first Director General of ESA (Roy Gibson), having surveyed Finnish capabilities, recommended that Finland should organize a major international meeting in order to promote the country's interest in the field. As early as 1984, this idea was discussed with Z. Niemirowicz, the then General Secretary of COSPAR, and an official invitation was sent from Finland to COSPAR in 1986 which led to the organization of the Scientific Assembly in Espoo in 1988. The Scientific Assembly in Espoo and the agreement of Finland to join ESA as an associate member and to be a full member of its Science Programme Committee are nearly
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scientists to become acquainted with their Russian counterparts early on in the development of space hardware and, when the COSPAR had its Scientific Assembly in Espoo, quite a lot of international connections had been established already. The first hardware projects, including Phobos, Interball and other astronomy missions, were started in 1985, some 19 years ago, so that by the time of the Espoo meeting, both Phobos 1 and 2 had been launched.
contemporaneous, and it is not really clear which one preceded the other. It is clear, however, that they are linked and both are the outcome of a long preparatory process. Both the Finnish scientific community and Finnish industry were keen not to be left out of the projects that ESA was starting both in its science and in its applications programmes and so they were actively pursuing an involvement in ESA. These early hesitations were obviously in quite strong contrast to the willingness of the many 'actors' - several of them are here today to see Finland involved in ESA's scientific research programmes. Professor Tiuri, in particular, played a key role in the development of the space programme in Finland. His efforts, in the end, as we know, were thankfully crowned with success.
A posteriori, it would have been a real pity not to have included Finland in ESA's scientific programmes, given the remarkable success of this involvement. That participation, I was told by many of my friends and former advisors when I was at ESA, was strongly facilitated by the ESA decision to select the SOHO and Cluster projects as the first Cornerstones of its Horizon 2000 programme. Finnish scientists had a keen interest in both projects and a considerable expertise in the respective scientific fields of these two missions, namely in solar and heliospheric physics with respect to S O H O , and magnetospheric physics for Cluster.
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The reasons for the apparent lack of enthusiasm for the active involvement of Finland in ESA can be linked, as far as I can judge, to the somewhat strong reservations of the government, mostly based on economic considerations. Space was considered as being too expensive and there was a lack of political support in general. It appears quite clear that the priority given to space applications in Finland eventually convinced the political circles of the depth of Finnish interests in space and, later on, led to the decision to join ESA. Finland was associated with EUMETSAT as early as 1983, i.e., four years before its association with ESA. The creation of TEKES (the National Technology Agency of Finland) in 1983 also helped to foster an interest in the technical character of space activities and of the value of science in pushing technology ahead. I could say that Finland re-joined the space club ... the "Finnish way": by being pragmatic and practical, realistic and prudent, but also determined and very serious! These qualities are reflected in every area of the Finnish involvement in the space programme and, in particular, in ESA.
Today, all of the ESA scientific missions, whether already in operation or in preparation, have Finnish participation of one kind or another, be it in the purely scientific domain or in that of Earth sciences. I counted nearly 60 Finnish scientists involved in the building of hardware or exploitation of data, not counting those involved through guest investigators' programmes which amount to some 40 individuals. This is an incontrovertible fact and it testifies to the remarkable capacity of this country of only 5.2 million, to dominate and master every field of science and of technology. Even more impressive is its capacity in educating individuals to a high level so that they apparently have no difficulty in getting positions outside their home country. In ESA, we have benefited substantially from that capacity and wisdom and we are particularly grateful to Risto Pellinen who, after many years as Chairman of the Solar System Working Group is now chairing the prestigious Science Programme Committee.
In science, there is nothing more valuable than the contacts established between the scientists and, if there is one COSPAR vocation to be retained in the future, it is truly the capability it offers for fostering contacts and international cooperation. Certainly, the contacts established between the scientists in Finland and Russia made it possible for Finnish
I would like to devote the second part of this talk in reviewing the future of space and the role that Finland might play in that context.
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humans on the Moon within 20 years and on Mars within 30 or so. The difficulties of such paramount ambitions are neither few nor small, particularly in the technological, programmatic and physiological areas. They do present, however, a strong incentive for engaging in new studies and new developments, be they of a scientific or technological nature. They can be expected to give birth to a series of robotic missions to the red planet, but also to Venus and, possibly, to the moons of Jupiter and Saturn. We can expect that they will depend strongly on the scientific community and lead to substantial scientific benefits.
The situation today has very little in common with the conditions that obtained when space research started nearly 50 years ago and out of which the concept of COSPAR emerged. The Soviet programme and its generous offers of cooperation have vanished. Today cooperating with the Russians means that you have to pay. This is a new fact. Often, even if that condition is accepted, the projects and the missions are just not there! The world balance between the East and the West that prevailed in the 1960s and 1970s has vanished. Today there is only one side of the coin, only one leader and this is the United States with NASA contributing more by itself to the space sciences than all the other space-faring nations of the world put together.
However, if one thinks further ahead, for example, to the exploration of the solar system beyond the orbit of Jupiter, a zone where it seems unthinkable today to send human beings, new energy and power systems are necessary that only the Americans today possess or are thinking of developing, such as the Radio-isotope Thermo Generators (RTG). To my knowledge, no such developments are envisaged elsewhere, neither in Japan nor in Europe. In these circumstances, the solar system beyond the orbit of Jupiter will be and, for a long time, will remain 'Terra Americana' and all planetary scientists in the world interested in such ambitious goals will have to engage in cooperative programmes with US scientists.
Table 1: Comparison between the main space science budgets for 2004 (millions of Euros), NASA 3332 ESA 370 JAXA
475 just for Mars exploration ca. 500 including all national budgets
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Furthermore, the nature of space missions is changing. In astronomy, the race for bigger telescopes is ongoing. This trend is unavoidable in order to collect more photons and get higher sensitivity and higher resolving power. However, the growing size of future missions will naturally be limited by the capacity and dimensions of the launchers. These will naturally become more expensive and will require more and more international cooperation for their development, if for no other reason than to share their growing cost. ESA and NASA are already implementing that scenario for future telescopes such as the JWST and maybe the Darwin-'l'PF missions. At the same time, they will produce more data and, therefore, will also require more scientists to analyse and interpret these data.
All that should naturally lead to the conception and conclusion of more international cooperation agreements. Unfortunately, and maybe as a natural consequence of their unique leadership position, the spirit of international cooperation seems to be fading away at NASA. This is not fully satisfactory and one is inclined to hope that new visions and new actors will soon emerge, enter the scene and take on the relay! Who might they be? The European Commission is keen to play a major role in orienting the space policy of Europe. Together with ESA, it has prepared both green and white papers on European space policy. This gives me, in passing, the opportunity, once again, to thank my Finnish friends, and R. Pellinen in particular, for the role they have played in the preparation of the green paper.
In the field of planetary exploration, two phenomena ought to be noticed. First, we can expect acceleration in the development of that activity - i n which Finland is very much involved today - as a result of the declared ambitions of the Americans and of the Europeans to land
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Now, China has entered the camp of the most beneficial role to ensure the future of the super space powers by launching its own these activities for the benefit of all nations in 'taikonaut' in 2003 and, not the less impressive, the usual peaceful way that has characterized by launching on 30 December, the Double Star COSPAR since its beginnings. Consequently, mission, developed in less than 2 years. This just after the Paris meeting, I have organized a mission is working extremely well as well as two-day 'brain storming' meeting out of which, I complementing the Cluster mission. These are expect, this new role for COSPAR will emerge. remarkable successes. India is also following a Before concluding, let me address a similar track, and Brazil is showing strong intentions of becoming a visible player in the topic of great personal interest, not only as space age. In that context, one thing appears President of COSPAR and former ESA Science clear to me. This potential new competition will Director, but also as a solar physicist. This is an renew interest in space exploration, at the same area in which I see that Finland, through all its time as the need for more cooperation in the past expertise and experience and its own domain of data analysis appears to be more vision of space as a benefit to society, could and more pressing. The scheme 'competition- play a leading role. This is the growing interest cooperation' that characterized the early stages appearing in all space-faring nations and of the space era will mark, in an even more agencies for understanding and, possibly, contrasted way, the new emerging era that will forecasting the effects of the relations between involve much more than in the past, particularly our Sun and our home planet, an activity often in engaging the goodwill and participation of all mentioned under the somewhat confusing the scientists of the entire world. This prognosis appellation of 'space weather'. should be good for both Finland and COSPAR because of their common vocation in handling The remarkable success of the SOHO space research through international cooper- and Cluster missions and of the Solar Terrestrial Physics Cornerstone of ESA's ation. Horizon 2000 programme, integrated within the Finland, for its part, not only takes part International Solar Terrestrial Programme in all scientific ESA programmes and projects, involving ESA, NASA, Japan, Russia and but also cooperates through bilateral agree- several others, offers a clear demonstration of ments with individual member states and, more the crucial role of international cooperation in a importantly for that which I have discussed domain where all the capabilities and facilities here, it has managed to maintain a strong developed in the world can yield much more by involvement in American missions and a good way of scientific achievements and benefits cooperative working spirit with American than if they were each handled individually. scientists. Therefore, Finland should be one of the key partners in all future international plans In the space weather domain, we find another opportunity for cooperation and for new space research activities coordination. NASA has formulated its 'Living This context is also good for COSPAR With a Star' (LWS) programme that includes a which offers the proper framework for fairly large number of its own solar, heliospheric discussing future cooperative plans involving all and terrestrial missions. Four years ago, ESA in the nations of the world. Next Jul_Ythin Paris, on the framework of the IACG proposed that the the occasion of the next ( 3 5 ) Scientific LWS programme be internationalized, making it Assembly, meetings of a series of panels have the ILWS which would add, to the original LWS, been scheduled, which will involve a large the capacity of all similar missions developed in number of very active space personalities and Europe, Japan, Russia and, maybe, China and will address, in particular, the future of space, of other countries. Unfortunately, for reasons that international and of European cooperation, the are not fully clear to me, this process of future of humans in space, and the role of internationalization seems to be rather slow and space in monitoring global changes. this is of major concern because coordination at an earlier stage is much more efficient than Furthermore, it is now time to review when it comes at the end - when all the the future role of COSPAR and identify the missions have been developed already. areas in which COSPAR is best suited to play
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Finland has long since gained a unique expertise in this field and for the reasons already mentioned, it has unique capabilities that could make it possible for her to play a key role in this programme and in its internationalization. COSPAR offers all its experience and its willingness to help to make sure that the ILWS will start soon and that it will involve the largest number of scientists on the broadest possible basis. ILWS is clearly an activity in which Finland and COSPAR could join hands and take a leading role in ensuring that this initiative be conducted to its required success. In conclusion, I would like to stress the point that Finland has gained a remarkably good momentum in space research. It is important to safeguard this development. Certainly, in all agencies and even in the European Commission, there is a danger today that applications programmes are becoming too popular among the politicians and that basic science will get less support. It should be clear to all, however, that without basic science, there will be no applications of science. In many areas, particularly in Earth and solar sciences including meteorology and climatology, there is still a strong need for more science. There is also, as I have emphasized, a strong need for more international cooperation. I hope Finland will seize these opportunities and, together with COSPAR, will take the lead in a visionary way in the ambition of understanding space, the Sun, the planets and the Earth for the noble goal of initiating the 21 st century under the auspices of humanism, development and education. Professor Hannu Koskinen (Chairman of the Finnish National Committee of COSPAR) expressed the gratitude of the Finnish space community for Professor Bonnet's kind and encouraging words.
1.4 Scientific Commission and Panel Updates In future issues, we hope to expand this new section to include updates on the activities of the Scientific Commissions and Panels of COSPAR. Specifically, this is a section that will include contributions from the chairs of the Scientific Commissions and specialist Panels.
Panel on Space Weather [Alain Hilgers, The Netherlands]
The first European Space Weather Week, a meeting to review the science and applications of space weather with a strong focus on the transition from science to applications and involving bvarious European agencies will be held at ESTEC (Noordwijk, The Netherlands) from 29 November to 3 December 2004. The agencies involved are: ESA, E-Star (ESF) and the Eurpean Commission through its COST 724 and COST 271 programmes. The meeting will also explore community development, emerging markets and education, aiming towards the organization of a sustainable space weather activity in Europe. Panel on Planetary Protection [Gerhard Kminek (ESA) & John Rummel (USA)]
Since 2002, the European Space Agency (ESA) has initiated a number of Mars mission studies in the framework of the Aurora Exploration Programme. Each of these studies has addressed missions that have to implement planetary protection requirements to some degree. In order to advise the ESA executive and the Exploration Programme Advisory Committee (EPAC) on aspects of planetary protection, ESA has formed two working groups of external experts: the Planetary Protection Working Group (PPWG), focused on scientific issues of planetary protection, and the Ethical Working Group (EWG), focused on the ethical aspects of planetary protection and exobiology. In addition, a working paper on legal issues pertaining to planetary protection and astrobiology has been completed. A planetary protection support programme with two components was started in 2003: training of personnel who deal with planetary protection either from a management or engineering point of view, and development of the appropriate technologies and procedures to implement planetary protection requirements. ESA Mars Sample Return Studies In the framework of developing enabling technologies for the ESA exploration programme, planetary protection was identified as a critical generic technology. Two specific studies have already been initiated: one to determine the microbial diversity in spacecraft
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