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Monitor Dutch report on space and defence The Netherlands Advisory Council on Peace and Security released a report on the use of outer space for purposes of security policy on 24 June 1987. The report charts the developments in the use of outer space for security policy purposes and analyses the different phases of this process. Attention is focused in particular on the military space programmes of the U S A and the USSR, and the limited Western European initiatives in this area are reviewed. The possible effects of the increasing use of outer space for security policy purposes, and in particular the impact on the security of Western Europe, are analysed with the aid of several scenarios. Their distinguishing criterion is the extent to which the present strategic nuclear balance in vulnerability (as regards societies) and invulnerability (of nuclear arsenals) is maintained or, on the contrary, supplemented or even replaced by a defence system against ballistic missiles, part of which would be located in outer space. Four scenarios are presented, and the stabilizing and destabilizing aspects are discussed. The r e p o r t finds that if the present strategic nuclear balance is preserved, the use of outer space for security policy can have a stabilizing effect in certain respects, (observation, early warning, communications) but is potentially destabilizing in others (navigation, Asat). Second, the effect of supplementing this strategic nuclear balance with a limited number of systems for 'point defence' (the number to be mutually agreed on in advance), would be stabilizing rather than destabilizing. Third, a switch to a strategic balance based primarily on defensive principles would probably produce a destabilizing effect, particularly if the transition is unregulated and involves competition between the different parties. Conflict prevention would in principle no longer be based on the threat of mutual destruction in the event of an attack, but on more traditional deterrence by means of
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' d e n i a l ' (albeit with u l t r a m o d e r n means). In this new situation, strategic stability would primarily be a function of the perception of the invulnerability of the other party. This stability could, however, be undermined by a combined development of effective nonballistic nuclear weapons (such as cruise missiles) and of defensive capabilities. The report also believes that as the two superpowers make themselves increasingly invulnerable to one another Western Europe will become relatively more vulnerable. An increasingly unequal division of risk within the Atlantic alliance could bring pressure to bear on the link between US and Western European security. This predicted effect prompted the Advisory Council to advise the Dutch government to take an active part in discussions on the issue of strategic defence. It was considered extremely important that Western Europe speak with a single voice and campaign for the preservation and strengthening of the A B M treaty in its traditional, restrictive interpretation and for a use of outer space that does not undermine the present strategic nuclear balance.
Cool on strategic defence Western Europe is also recommended to distance itself from the interpretation of the concept of strategic defence which claims that defensive systems can be as effective in preventing war and aggression as the present system of nuclear deterrence. To the extent that developments in practice tend towards 'point defence', Western Europe's efforts should be directed at ensuring that this is introduced after consultations between East and West and that the number of such systems is limited. In this context the Advisory Council considered an extension of the American SDI project to Europe, eg, in the form of a plea for the defence of Western Europe against ballistic missiles (ATBM), to be undesirable.
There would only be grounds to reconsider this position if it became clear that strategic defence was to become the dominant pattern in EastWest relations and Western Europe was becoming relatively more vulnerable. The Advisory Council was not opposed to a second approach to A T B M which aims to stand up to an increase in the threat posed by the USSR to miltary and strategic installations in Western Europe, provided there is convincing evidence of such a t h r e a t . Both active and passive counter-measures could then be considered, with arms control negotiations playing a supplementary role. In order to prevent the Alliance debate on the need for an A T B M defence of Western Europe becoming unduly dominated by the American SDI project, the Advisory Council recommended that the E u r o p e a n N A T O m e m b e r s assume responsibility for this air defence project in its various political and military aspects.
Common capability A second project recommended in the context of possible role specialization between the Western European and North American allies was the development of a common Western European observation and identification capability, using satellites for the p u r p o s e of m o n i t o r i n g r e l a t i v e strengths and verifying compliance with arms control (particularly of conventional arms) and security and confidence building measures in Europe. Political and psychological factors and the expected increase in the importance of the balance of conventional forces in Europe militate in favour of this. The Netherlands should raise the idea of working towards such a satellite system in the short term, the report says, eg, within the circle of states that makes up the Western European Union. The Advisory Council had a number of suggestions as to the technical and institutional form which such a Western European satellite might take. The system might be developed by a consortium from the different
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participating countries, possibly under the auspices of ESA. Control and coordination of the system might be in the hands of a steering group consisting of representitives of the participating countries who could take decisions by qualified majority. The Advisory Council believed that a separate Western European satellite observation capability would enhance the quality and balance of opinion forming within the Alliance, that it might be a catalyst for closer, practical security cooperation among the European N A T O countries and that it might increase public support for Atlantic security policy. Therefore, the Netherlands should, in relation to this satellite system, encourage cooperation in applied scientific research, possibly in conjuction with other Western European countries, eg, by setting up a Western European centre for verification technology. The Advisory Council realised that a Western European satellite observation capability of the type proposed would have far-reaching political and
military implications and that the cost aspects need to be thoroughly examined in the light of security policy priorities. Nevertheless, it was convinced that this is one of the ways of putting Europe's identity across more effectively within the Atlantic alliance. The report concludes with a number of considerations and suggestions for statutory regulations to increase stability and arms control, and calls for a Western European voice in this matter. Particular reference is made to the link between vertical and horizontal nuclear arms control and to the legitimate claim of a country such as the Netherlands to some say in the interpretation of the A B M treaty. Drawing on a legal analysis (included as an appendix to the report) it argues in favour of continuing to apply a restrictive interpretation of that treaty. The report has been adopted unanimously. Source: Advisory Council on Peace
petitive environment, future success in space will come only when industry and government collaborate on the three 'Ps' - policy, pump-priming and patience. Government is the key.' Donley next argued for a partnership of the US public and private sectors and outlined the necessary roles of industry, government and the university community in such an alliance. His recommendations included the following: •
•
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and Security, PO Box 20061, 2 500 EB, The Hague, Netherlands.
•
US government and space: call for a new role The emergent global economy has damaged the USA's leadership in space development, requiring new national policy direction and 'pumppriming' by the government, according to Edward Donley, Chairman of the Business-Higher Education Forum. Speaking before the N A S A Space Station C o m m e r c i a l Users Workshop in November 1987, and somewhat anticipating the February 1988 anouncement of a new US space policy, he called for greater industry, government and university cooperation to spur technology transfer from space-based ventures. Donley said: 'the time has come to view space through a new national lens. It is not just the next f r o n t i e r . . . i t is t h e n e x t c o m p e t i t i v e arena.' He continued by saying that 'there
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was considerable potential for nonaerospace companies to grow and prosper from space technology - as well as to help strengthen the USA's competitive posture', acknowledging that current operating conditions were very different from when the space programme began 30 years ago. Noting that technology transfer from space development has had a farreaching impact on industrial and consumer markets, Donley said, 'it is important to remember that government was always in the lead - with both policy and pocketbook'. Donley also pointed out that 'the operating environment of US business is very different from that which exists in other industrial nations'. He added, 'American business is not so much risk-averse as it is oriented to shortterm results. Given the global com-
•
•
a company must have a sustainable, longer-term commitment to space research programmes . . . and this commitment must span the senior management group and permeate through the organization. a company must possess an exceptional c a p a c i t y to inn o v a t e . . . a n d be quick to recognize potential uses of space activities that take advantage of its current skills base. a company must approach commercial space development with a pioneering and entrepreneurial spirit - and a degree of faith that the pursuit will lead to new, profitable activities. government must establish consistent and enduring policies that are at once coherent, but separately targeted to the growing needs of military, scientific and commercial space programmes. government must encourage joint ventures and other consortiumtype arrangements and foster private sector investment in space. educationalinstitutions must continue to establish centres dedicated to developing b e d r o c k space-related science, technologies and business skills - and to expand their roles in basic research and collaborative technology development.
Saluting N A S A ' s efforts to understand the opportunities for further commercial development of space and to define the potential commercial applications of the Space Station, Donley encouraged 'all visionary private sector organizations to examine the space potential for expanding existing products and services. Most of
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all, I look to federal government policymakers to increase - even in these deficit-plagued times - the funding for space.' Under Donley's chairmanship, the Business-Higher Education Forum issued a major report in 1986 recommending a series of public and private sector initiatives aimed at increasing US competitiveness through commercial development of space Source: Business-Higher Education Forum, 1 Dupont Circle, Suite 800, Washington, DC 20036, USA.
Tourists in space Plans are afoot to provide super-rich tourists already jaded by the Far East and African safaris with the ultimate holiday - a trip into space. Society Expeditions, a US travel company specializing in adventure holidays to remote parts of the globe, launched Project Space Voyage in 1985 with the goal of operating passenger flights by the mid-1990s. For this purpose, the company plans to use a single stage to orbit vehicle designed by Max Hunter II, former chief strategic planner of Lockheed Rocket and Space Company. It is hoped that a full scale mock-up of the vehicle will be built in two years. Should the project get off the ground, passengers can expect to spend three days in orbit observing Earth and space, learning about their spacecraft and making astronomical observations, and, possibly, taking part in a rendezvous with the Space Station. Despite the uncertain nature of the venture, Society Expeditions has already received 10 000 enquiries from over 40 countries and about 250 people have firmly signed up for a place in space - at a cost per person of $52 000. But potential passengers must not only be wealthy, they will need to pass physical and psychological examinations to ensure their suitability for space flight. Beach bums need not apply. Source: Twickers World, 22 Church Street, Twickenham TW1 3NW, UK.
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Two new contracts for Alcatel Espace The French company Alcatel Espace was awarded two contracts in January 1988 for the Topex/Poseidon and SPOT 3 programmes respectively. The first contract, worth FF126 m, will involve Alcatel in the supply of a Poseidon experimental radar altimeter by the French national space agency (CNES). The Poseidon altimeter is to be mounted on the Fairchild MMS platform to form the Topex satellite. In addition to this radar altimeter, France is supplying the launcher and a localizing system. The Topex/Poseidon programme will enable the fine topography of the ocean surface to be deduced from distance measurements between the satellite and the surface of the sea. An analysis of these measurements will make it possible to determine sea-current patterns, detect subsea mountains, refine the gravitational field at the surface of the sea and sttrdy sea-swell propogation characteristics. This task can be completed in a few m o n t h s by a s a t e l l i t e w h e r e a s oceanography vessels would need several decades to do the job. The results obtained will be all the more valuable in that this altimeter will be accurate to within one centimetre. The radar altimeter developed by Alcatel Espace is designed to be carried on board future observation platforms. The performance characteris-
tics of the instrument, coupled with its low weight and small size, rank it as the most advanced of the new generation space radar altimeters. It is scheduled for delivery during the second half of 1990 and the satellite is expected to be placed in orbit in October 1991 and by the Ariane 42 P launcher. The second contract concerns SPOT 3's payload electronic subsystems. The French Council of Ministers decided some time ago to pursue the SPOT remote sensing programme by implementing the SPOT 3 satellite and initiating conceptual studies of SPOT 4. This has now found concrete expression in the signing of a FF93 m contract between Alcatel and Matra (prime contractor for the satellite). In the case of SPOT 3, which is a recurrent model of the SPOT 1 and 2 satellites, Alcatel is prime contractor and responsible for integration of the HRV (high-resolution-visible) imaging instrument's electronics package, of the payload telemetry subsystem and of the housekeeping telemetry/ command subsystem. This means that the company is responsible for all the payload's electronic subsystems. It also implements the S-band transponders for the platform. Source: Alcatel CIT, 26 Avenue J-F Champollion, Boite Postale 1187, 31037 Toulouse Cedex, France.
Lords support for greater UK space role The UK must play an effective part in the exploration and exploitation of space and must be seen to do so, according to the House of Lords Select Committee on Science and Technology, which published its second report on UK space policy on 26 January 1988. ~ But the government's policy will not achieve this, it
concludes. National spending on space should be around £200 million a year after five years. 'The Government, with its stated intention of keeping the space budget fixed at about £112 million, has got the level wrong. This level of spending gets the worst of all worlds - too much for real savings, too little for lasting achievements. If the
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Monitor budget is to stay at this figure, the United Kingdom might as well bow out of space now." The committee supports UK membership of the European Space Agency and praises the Agency's work. However, it believes so high a proportion of national effort goes into ESA programmes that the UK is not able to get the full benefit of its subscription. Within a decade the target for spending on domestic and bilateral programmes outside ESA should be equality with spending through ESA. Satellite programmes with commercial potential, for instance, should be moved outside ESA.
Government should speak The report finds that the UK needs a positive space policy, clearly stated by the government and backed by a national space plan. The government's silence for a year while it hesitated over the British National Space Centre's (BNSC) draft space plan was misleading and contributed to the atmosphere of damaging uncertainty which prevailed during 1987. The committee agrees that Europe and the UK should accept the USA's invitation to join the Space Station. Most attractively this invitation offers Europe 'the opportunity of direct experience of man in space without the trouble and expense of providing a means to get him there'. But the committee's preference for UK space policy now is unmanned, not manned, spaceflight. 'For the foreseeable future space could offer enough opportunity to telecontrolled craft to make the involvement of man an expensive as well as a hazardous diversion'. The Committee 'are opposed to putting Europeans into space independently of the Americans'. If the USA, for whatever reason, sees advantage in delaying its space station programme, the UK should urge it to do so, says the committee. The committee supports the government in having nothing to do with the French spaceplane Hermes, for technical and cost reasons. But it urges the government to keep a foothold in launcher development by support of Ariane 5. If the proof of concept stage
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shows that the future of Britain's Hotol is promising, the committee favours pressing ahead with it as an international collaborative venture. The UK should have a settled policy to develop Earth observation, particularly using radar. The government should examine the options for a British remote sensing satellite programme, with the emphasis on civil satellites good enough to be used for military purposes. The BNSC should be strengthened,
preferably becoming a free standing space agency within the Civil Service, with its own vote and a responsible minister in the Department of Trade and Industry. ~The summary of the committee's conclusions and recommendations appears in Documentation in this issue.
Source: House of Lords, London SW1A 0PW, UK.
Beggs joins Spacehab James M. Beggs, former NASA Administrator, became Chairman of the Board of Directors of Spacehab, Inc, a Washington, DC corporation developing manned modules for the Space Shuttle, on February 5 1988. 'We're very honored and excited to have Jim Beggs join our management team,' said Spacehab's President, Richard Jacobson. 'As NASA Administrator for over four years, he provided strong leadership to NASA in the efforts to keep the United States at the forefront of world science and technology in space and in opening the way for private enterprise to participate in the exploitation of the new frontier of space. He has an intimate knowledge of the congressional, aerospace and international communities which will be of great value in helping us move the Spacehab module program forward." Beggs stated that he was delighted to be joining Spacehab at a critical juncture in the US space programme. 'We have an enormous backlog of experiments waiting to fly,' he said, 'and we have a Space Station develop-
ment program ahead of us. Spacehab can be of great value in both areas.' Beggs was nominated by President Reagan on 1 June 1981 to become A d m i n i s t r a t o r for N A S A . While A d m i n i s t r a t o r at N A S A , Beggs fought long and hard to gain Congressional and White House support for the Space Station programme which culminated in President Reagan's directive to NASA in his 5 January 1984 State of the Union Message to 'develop a permanently manned Space Station within a decade'. Jacobson reported that Spacehab's technical progress is excellent, and management has made several proposals to N A S A for a series of Spacehab module flights on the Space Shuttle, ranging from fully commercial to fully dedicated US government missions. Spacehab is also in discussion with NASA about a new Memorandum of Agreement, manifesting opportunities and technical issues.
Source: Spacehab, Inc, 600 Maryland Avenue, SW, Suite 201-W, Washington, DC 20024, USA.
AIAA report warns of liability risks A commercially viable space transportation industry is essential to a successful and competitive US space industry; but it could be jeopardized by excessively high insurance premiums, according to a report published by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) in January 1988.
US Commercial Space Transportation: Risk Allocation and Insurance points out that space transportation involves the potential for significant risks of damage to property and injury to people. And although a significant portion of these risks should be insurable at reasonable cost, the so-called maximum possible launch incident
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Monitor could result in third-party liability claims, as well as damage to government property, well in excess of available insurance capacity. The assumption by the US commercial space industry of such an uninsurable maximum possible liability exposure constitutes a potentially disabling financial burden. To foster and encourage a US commercial space transportation industry that can be effectively competitive with European and other non-US launch service providers, it is necessary to develop a commerciallytolerable approach to the allocation of these launch operations' liability risks. The solution recommended in the report would allocate these liability risks on the basis of those that are commercially insurable at reasonable premiums, as determined by governmental authority, and those in excess of such insurance capacity.
The level of reasonably available commercial insurance would be prescribed by the government, taking into account applicable risk factors, and paid for by the commercial sector with the government as a cost-free named beneficiary. The excess-of-insurance liability risks would be assumed or contained by the US government, either through indemnity, a cap on liability or some combination of government provided insurance of last resort and indemnity or cap on liability in excess of the insured risk. Such a distribution of launch liability risks is essential to encourage and promote a vigorous and competitive commercial space transportation industry, particularly in the initial phase of its efforts to regain US leadership in space transportation. Source: A I A A , 370 L'Enfant Promenade, SW, Washington, DC 20024, USA.
Space shots •
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Eumetsat's 5th Council meeting Eumetsat held its 5th Council meeting from 16-17 September 1987 in Darmstadt, West Germany, where the organization has its headquarters. The Council reviewed the launch schedule for its first satellite programme, the Meteosat Operational Programme. P2, a prototype satellite, was to be launched on an Ariane 4 in early 1988 in accordance with the Arianespace launch manifest. M O P - l , the first of a series of three operational satellites will follow in September 1988, MOP-2 in 1990 and MOP-3 at a date to be decided. The end of the first Meteosat Operational Programme is scheduled for around 1995. It was decided to start preparations for a follow-up to the programme, since the construction phase for a new advanced satellite takes five years. The Council also decided to consider the development and operation of the second Meteosat generation as an issue of utmost priority. It agreed in p r i n c i p l e that E u m e t s a t s h o u l d cooperate with the European Space Agency in this field in order to define requirements. Eumetsat's director, John Morgan, was requested to submit a detailed programme proposal by 1989.
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The council took the following additional decisions: •
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Endorsement of the Eumetsat Long-Term Plan as a basic document for reference and guidance for all future activities. D e v e l o p m e n t of a combined compression/encryption system for disseminated Meteosat imagery. Approval of a draft agreement with Meteocast, a European consortium. The agreement contains a licence to use Meteosat imagery for a TV weather channel. It will be the first contract with a private company to use Meteosat images against payment of a licence fee. The contract anticipates to some extent the Eumetsat policy on distribution and charging. This policy is still under consideration and was to be reviewed by the Council at its next meeting. Approval to grant Austria observer status at the Eumetsat Council. Austria is the only major West European state that is not yet a member of Eumetsat.
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A new course on the law of outer space was established in January 1988 within the law faculty of the University of Toulouse, France. The town itself is an important centre for the activities of SPOTImage and the CNES. Two directories have recently been published with the aim of providing information for the space industry and increasing awareness of its activities. Space Business Directory lists thousands of companies worldwide under categories such as finance and investments, launch services, communications, insurance, ground support services and consultants. Longman's Space Industry International contains information on the space programmes of a b o u t 40 c o u n t r i e s together with a comprehensive listing of major companies involved in space. Sources: Aero Space Communications Network, Houston, TX 77058, USA; Longman, Harlow, UK. The US-based market researchers, International Resource Development, have published a report on the future of satellite communications, which examines both the supply and demand sides of the market. The report makes clear that substantial opportunities are available, particularly in the area of buying up unwanted satellite assets with which to offer profitable services. Source: IRD, New Canaan, CT 06840, USA. The experimental Olympus satellite, due for launch in 1989, is to be used for an AIDS project which will link Guy's Hospital and Birbeck College in London with various research institutes across Europe. The idea is to facilitate the rapid assembly of knowledge of the disease on a European basis. The AIDS project is believed to herald the first use of a direct broadcast satellite by e d u c a t i o n a l i n s t i t u t i o n s .
Source: Eumetsat, Am Elfengrund 45,
Source: The Financial
6100 Darmstadt, FRG.
London, UK.
Times,
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' d e n i a l ' (albeit with u l t r a m o d e r n means). In this new situation, strategic stability would primarily be a function of the perception of the invulnerability of the other party. This stability could, however, be undermined by a combined development of effective nonballistic nuclear weapons (such as cruise missiles) and of defensive capabilities. The report also believes that as the two superpowers make themselves increasingly invulnerable to one another Western Europe will become relatively more vulnerable. An increasingly unequal division of risk within the Atlantic alliance could bring pressure to bear on the link between US and Western European security. This predicted effect prompted the Advisory Council to advise the Dutch government to take an active part in discussions on the issue of strategic defence. It was considered extremely important that Western Europe speak with a single voice and campaign for the preservation and strengthening of the A B M treaty in its traditional, restrictive interpretation and for a use of outer space that does not undermine the present strategic nuclear balance.
Cool on strategic defence Western Europe is also recommended to distance itself from the interpretation of the concept of strategic defence which claims that defensive systems can be as effective in preventing war and aggression as the present system of nuclear deterrence. To the extent that developments in practice tend towards 'point defence', Western Europe's efforts should be directed at ensuring that this is introduced after consultations between East and West and that the number of such systems is limited. In this context the Advisory Council considered an extension of the American SDI project to Europe, eg, in the form of a plea for the defence of Western Europe against ballistic missiles (ATBM), to be undesirable.
There would only be grounds to reconsider this position if it became clear that strategic defence was to become the dominant pattern in EastWest relations and Western Europe was becoming relatively more vulnerable. The Advisory Council was not opposed to a second approach to A T B M which aims to stand up to an increase in the threat posed by the USSR to miltary and strategic installations in Western Europe, provided there is convincing evidence of such a t h r e a t . Both active and passive counter-measures could then be considered, with arms control negotiations playing a supplementary role. In order to prevent the Alliance debate on the need for an A T B M defence of Western Europe becoming unduly dominated by the American SDI project, the Advisory Council recommended that the E u r o p e a n N A T O m e m b e r s assume responsibility for this air defence project in its various political and military aspects.
Common capability A second project recommended in the context of possible role specialization between the Western European and North American allies was the development of a common Western European observation and identification capability, using satellites for the p u r p o s e of m o n i t o r i n g r e l a t i v e strengths and verifying compliance with arms control (particularly of conventional arms) and security and confidence building measures in Europe. Political and psychological factors and the expected increase in the importance of the balance of conventional forces in Europe militate in favour of this. The Netherlands should raise the idea of working towards such a satellite system in the short term, the report says, eg, within the circle of states that makes up the Western European Union. The Advisory Council had a number of suggestions as to the technical and institutional form which such a Western European satellite might take. The system might be developed by a consortium from the different
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participating countries, possibly under the auspices of ESA. Control and coordination of the system might be in the hands of a steering group consisting of representitives of the participating countries who could take decisions by qualified majority. The Advisory Council believed that a separate Western European satellite observation capability would enhance the quality and balance of opinion forming within the Alliance, that it might be a catalyst for closer, practical security cooperation among the European N A T O countries and that it might increase public support for Atlantic security policy. Therefore, the Netherlands should, in relation to this satellite system, encourage cooperation in applied scientific research, possibly in conjuction with other Western European countries, eg, by setting up a Western European centre for verification technology. The Advisory Council realised that a Western European satellite observation capability of the type proposed would have far-reaching political and
military implications and that the cost aspects need to be thoroughly examined in the light of security policy priorities. Nevertheless, it was convinced that this is one of the ways of putting Europe's identity across more effectively within the Atlantic alliance. The report concludes with a number of considerations and suggestions for statutory regulations to increase stability and arms control, and calls for a Western European voice in this matter. Particular reference is made to the link between vertical and horizontal nuclear arms control and to the legitimate claim of a country such as the Netherlands to some say in the interpretation of the A B M treaty. Drawing on a legal analysis (included as an appendix to the report) it argues in favour of continuing to apply a restrictive interpretation of that treaty. The report has been adopted unanimously. Source: Advisory Council on Peace
petitive environment, future success in space will come only when industry and government collaborate on the three 'Ps' - policy, pump-priming and patience. Government is the key.' Donley next argued for a partnership of the US public and private sectors and outlined the necessary roles of industry, government and the university community in such an alliance. His recommendations included the following: •
•
•
and Security, PO Box 20061, 2 500 EB, The Hague, Netherlands.
•
US government and space: call for a new role The emergent global economy has damaged the USA's leadership in space development, requiring new national policy direction and 'pumppriming' by the government, according to Edward Donley, Chairman of the Business-Higher Education Forum. Speaking before the N A S A Space Station C o m m e r c i a l Users Workshop in November 1987, and somewhat anticipating the February 1988 anouncement of a new US space policy, he called for greater industry, government and university cooperation to spur technology transfer from space-based ventures. Donley said: 'the time has come to view space through a new national lens. It is not just the next f r o n t i e r . . . i t is t h e n e x t c o m p e t i t i v e arena.' He continued by saying that 'there
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was considerable potential for nonaerospace companies to grow and prosper from space technology - as well as to help strengthen the USA's competitive posture', acknowledging that current operating conditions were very different from when the space programme began 30 years ago. Noting that technology transfer from space development has had a farreaching impact on industrial and consumer markets, Donley said, 'it is important to remember that government was always in the lead - with both policy and pocketbook'. Donley also pointed out that 'the operating environment of US business is very different from that which exists in other industrial nations'. He added, 'American business is not so much risk-averse as it is oriented to shortterm results. Given the global com-
•
•
a company must have a sustainable, longer-term commitment to space research programmes . . . and this commitment must span the senior management group and permeate through the organization. a company must possess an exceptional c a p a c i t y to inn o v a t e . . . a n d be quick to recognize potential uses of space activities that take advantage of its current skills base. a company must approach commercial space development with a pioneering and entrepreneurial spirit - and a degree of faith that the pursuit will lead to new, profitable activities. government must establish consistent and enduring policies that are at once coherent, but separately targeted to the growing needs of military, scientific and commercial space programmes. government must encourage joint ventures and other consortiumtype arrangements and foster private sector investment in space. educationalinstitutions must continue to establish centres dedicated to developing b e d r o c k space-related science, technologies and business skills - and to expand their roles in basic research and collaborative technology development.
Saluting N A S A ' s efforts to understand the opportunities for further commercial development of space and to define the potential commercial applications of the Space Station, Donley encouraged 'all visionary private sector organizations to examine the space potential for expanding existing products and services. Most of
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all, I look to federal government policymakers to increase - even in these deficit-plagued times - the funding for space.' Under Donley's chairmanship, the Business-Higher Education Forum issued a major report in 1986 recommending a series of public and private sector initiatives aimed at increasing US competitiveness through commercial development of space Source: Business-Higher Education Forum, 1 Dupont Circle, Suite 800, Washington, DC 20036, USA.
Tourists in space Plans are afoot to provide super-rich tourists already jaded by the Far East and African safaris with the ultimate holiday - a trip into space. Society Expeditions, a US travel company specializing in adventure holidays to remote parts of the globe, launched Project Space Voyage in 1985 with the goal of operating passenger flights by the mid-1990s. For this purpose, the company plans to use a single stage to orbit vehicle designed by Max Hunter II, former chief strategic planner of Lockheed Rocket and Space Company. It is hoped that a full scale mock-up of the vehicle will be built in two years. Should the project get off the ground, passengers can expect to spend three days in orbit observing Earth and space, learning about their spacecraft and making astronomical observations, and, possibly, taking part in a rendezvous with the Space Station. Despite the uncertain nature of the venture, Society Expeditions has already received 10 000 enquiries from over 40 countries and about 250 people have firmly signed up for a place in space - at a cost per person of $52 000. But potential passengers must not only be wealthy, they will need to pass physical and psychological examinations to ensure their suitability for space flight. Beach bums need not apply. Source: Twickers World, 22 Church Street, Twickenham TW1 3NW, UK.
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Two new contracts for Alcatel Espace The French company Alcatel Espace was awarded two contracts in January 1988 for the Topex/Poseidon and SPOT 3 programmes respectively. The first contract, worth FF126 m, will involve Alcatel in the supply of a Poseidon experimental radar altimeter by the French national space agency (CNES). The Poseidon altimeter is to be mounted on the Fairchild MMS platform to form the Topex satellite. In addition to this radar altimeter, France is supplying the launcher and a localizing system. The Topex/Poseidon programme will enable the fine topography of the ocean surface to be deduced from distance measurements between the satellite and the surface of the sea. An analysis of these measurements will make it possible to determine sea-current patterns, detect subsea mountains, refine the gravitational field at the surface of the sea and sttrdy sea-swell propogation characteristics. This task can be completed in a few m o n t h s by a s a t e l l i t e w h e r e a s oceanography vessels would need several decades to do the job. The results obtained will be all the more valuable in that this altimeter will be accurate to within one centimetre. The radar altimeter developed by Alcatel Espace is designed to be carried on board future observation platforms. The performance characteris-
tics of the instrument, coupled with its low weight and small size, rank it as the most advanced of the new generation space radar altimeters. It is scheduled for delivery during the second half of 1990 and the satellite is expected to be placed in orbit in October 1991 and by the Ariane 42 P launcher. The second contract concerns SPOT 3's payload electronic subsystems. The French Council of Ministers decided some time ago to pursue the SPOT remote sensing programme by implementing the SPOT 3 satellite and initiating conceptual studies of SPOT 4. This has now found concrete expression in the signing of a FF93 m contract between Alcatel and Matra (prime contractor for the satellite). In the case of SPOT 3, which is a recurrent model of the SPOT 1 and 2 satellites, Alcatel is prime contractor and responsible for integration of the HRV (high-resolution-visible) imaging instrument's electronics package, of the payload telemetry subsystem and of the housekeeping telemetry/ command subsystem. This means that the company is responsible for all the payload's electronic subsystems. It also implements the S-band transponders for the platform. Source: Alcatel CIT, 26 Avenue J-F Champollion, Boite Postale 1187, 31037 Toulouse Cedex, France.
Lords support for greater UK space role The UK must play an effective part in the exploration and exploitation of space and must be seen to do so, according to the House of Lords Select Committee on Science and Technology, which published its second report on UK space policy on 26 January 1988. ~ But the government's policy will not achieve this, it
concludes. National spending on space should be around £200 million a year after five years. 'The Government, with its stated intention of keeping the space budget fixed at about £112 million, has got the level wrong. This level of spending gets the worst of all worlds - too much for real savings, too little for lasting achievements. If the
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Monitor budget is to stay at this figure, the United Kingdom might as well bow out of space now." The committee supports UK membership of the European Space Agency and praises the Agency's work. However, it believes so high a proportion of national effort goes into ESA programmes that the UK is not able to get the full benefit of its subscription. Within a decade the target for spending on domestic and bilateral programmes outside ESA should be equality with spending through ESA. Satellite programmes with commercial potential, for instance, should be moved outside ESA.
Government should speak The report finds that the UK needs a positive space policy, clearly stated by the government and backed by a national space plan. The government's silence for a year while it hesitated over the British National Space Centre's (BNSC) draft space plan was misleading and contributed to the atmosphere of damaging uncertainty which prevailed during 1987. The committee agrees that Europe and the UK should accept the USA's invitation to join the Space Station. Most attractively this invitation offers Europe 'the opportunity of direct experience of man in space without the trouble and expense of providing a means to get him there'. But the committee's preference for UK space policy now is unmanned, not manned, spaceflight. 'For the foreseeable future space could offer enough opportunity to telecontrolled craft to make the involvement of man an expensive as well as a hazardous diversion'. The Committee 'are opposed to putting Europeans into space independently of the Americans'. If the USA, for whatever reason, sees advantage in delaying its space station programme, the UK should urge it to do so, says the committee. The committee supports the government in having nothing to do with the French spaceplane Hermes, for technical and cost reasons. But it urges the government to keep a foothold in launcher development by support of Ariane 5. If the proof of concept stage
SPACE POLICY May 1988
shows that the future of Britain's Hotol is promising, the committee favours pressing ahead with it as an international collaborative venture. The UK should have a settled policy to develop Earth observation, particularly using radar. The government should examine the options for a British remote sensing satellite programme, with the emphasis on civil satellites good enough to be used for military purposes. The BNSC should be strengthened,
preferably becoming a free standing space agency within the Civil Service, with its own vote and a responsible minister in the Department of Trade and Industry. ~The summary of the committee's conclusions and recommendations appears in Documentation in this issue.
Source: House of Lords, London SW1A 0PW, UK.
Beggs joins Spacehab James M. Beggs, former NASA Administrator, became Chairman of the Board of Directors of Spacehab, Inc, a Washington, DC corporation developing manned modules for the Space Shuttle, on February 5 1988. 'We're very honored and excited to have Jim Beggs join our management team,' said Spacehab's President, Richard Jacobson. 'As NASA Administrator for over four years, he provided strong leadership to NASA in the efforts to keep the United States at the forefront of world science and technology in space and in opening the way for private enterprise to participate in the exploitation of the new frontier of space. He has an intimate knowledge of the congressional, aerospace and international communities which will be of great value in helping us move the Spacehab module program forward." Beggs stated that he was delighted to be joining Spacehab at a critical juncture in the US space programme. 'We have an enormous backlog of experiments waiting to fly,' he said, 'and we have a Space Station develop-
ment program ahead of us. Spacehab can be of great value in both areas.' Beggs was nominated by President Reagan on 1 June 1981 to become A d m i n i s t r a t o r for N A S A . While A d m i n i s t r a t o r at N A S A , Beggs fought long and hard to gain Congressional and White House support for the Space Station programme which culminated in President Reagan's directive to NASA in his 5 January 1984 State of the Union Message to 'develop a permanently manned Space Station within a decade'. Jacobson reported that Spacehab's technical progress is excellent, and management has made several proposals to N A S A for a series of Spacehab module flights on the Space Shuttle, ranging from fully commercial to fully dedicated US government missions. Spacehab is also in discussion with NASA about a new Memorandum of Agreement, manifesting opportunities and technical issues.
Source: Spacehab, Inc, 600 Maryland Avenue, SW, Suite 201-W, Washington, DC 20024, USA.
AIAA report warns of liability risks A commercially viable space transportation industry is essential to a successful and competitive US space industry; but it could be jeopardized by excessively high insurance premiums, according to a report published by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) in January 1988.
US Commercial Space Transportation: Risk Allocation and Insurance points out that space transportation involves the potential for significant risks of damage to property and injury to people. And although a significant portion of these risks should be insurable at reasonable cost, the so-called maximum possible launch incident
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Monitor could result in third-party liability claims, as well as damage to government property, well in excess of available insurance capacity. The assumption by the US commercial space industry of such an uninsurable maximum possible liability exposure constitutes a potentially disabling financial burden. To foster and encourage a US commercial space transportation industry that can be effectively competitive with European and other non-US launch service providers, it is necessary to develop a commerciallytolerable approach to the allocation of these launch operations' liability risks. The solution recommended in the report would allocate these liability risks on the basis of those that are commercially insurable at reasonable premiums, as determined by governmental authority, and those in excess of such insurance capacity.
The level of reasonably available commercial insurance would be prescribed by the government, taking into account applicable risk factors, and paid for by the commercial sector with the government as a cost-free named beneficiary. The excess-of-insurance liability risks would be assumed or contained by the US government, either through indemnity, a cap on liability or some combination of government provided insurance of last resort and indemnity or cap on liability in excess of the insured risk. Such a distribution of launch liability risks is essential to encourage and promote a vigorous and competitive commercial space transportation industry, particularly in the initial phase of its efforts to regain US leadership in space transportation. Source: A I A A , 370 L'Enfant Promenade, SW, Washington, DC 20024, USA.
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Eumetsat's 5th Council meeting Eumetsat held its 5th Council meeting from 16-17 September 1987 in Darmstadt, West Germany, where the organization has its headquarters. The Council reviewed the launch schedule for its first satellite programme, the Meteosat Operational Programme. P2, a prototype satellite, was to be launched on an Ariane 4 in early 1988 in accordance with the Arianespace launch manifest. M O P - l , the first of a series of three operational satellites will follow in September 1988, MOP-2 in 1990 and MOP-3 at a date to be decided. The end of the first Meteosat Operational Programme is scheduled for around 1995. It was decided to start preparations for a follow-up to the programme, since the construction phase for a new advanced satellite takes five years. The Council also decided to consider the development and operation of the second Meteosat generation as an issue of utmost priority. It agreed in p r i n c i p l e that E u m e t s a t s h o u l d cooperate with the European Space Agency in this field in order to define requirements. Eumetsat's director, John Morgan, was requested to submit a detailed programme proposal by 1989.
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The council took the following additional decisions: •
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Endorsement of the Eumetsat Long-Term Plan as a basic document for reference and guidance for all future activities. D e v e l o p m e n t of a combined compression/encryption system for disseminated Meteosat imagery. Approval of a draft agreement with Meteocast, a European consortium. The agreement contains a licence to use Meteosat imagery for a TV weather channel. It will be the first contract with a private company to use Meteosat images against payment of a licence fee. The contract anticipates to some extent the Eumetsat policy on distribution and charging. This policy is still under consideration and was to be reviewed by the Council at its next meeting. Approval to grant Austria observer status at the Eumetsat Council. Austria is the only major West European state that is not yet a member of Eumetsat.
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A new course on the law of outer space was established in January 1988 within the law faculty of the University of Toulouse, France. The town itself is an important centre for the activities of SPOTImage and the CNES. Two directories have recently been published with the aim of providing information for the space industry and increasing awareness of its activities. Space Business Directory lists thousands of companies worldwide under categories such as finance and investments, launch services, communications, insurance, ground support services and consultants. Longman's Space Industry International contains information on the space programmes of a b o u t 40 c o u n t r i e s together with a comprehensive listing of major companies involved in space. Sources: Aero Space Communications Network, Houston, TX 77058, USA; Longman, Harlow, UK. The US-based market researchers, International Resource Development, have published a report on the future of satellite communications, which examines both the supply and demand sides of the market. The report makes clear that substantial opportunities are available, particularly in the area of buying up unwanted satellite assets with which to offer profitable services. Source: IRD, New Canaan, CT 06840, USA. The experimental Olympus satellite, due for launch in 1989, is to be used for an AIDS project which will link Guy's Hospital and Birbeck College in London with various research institutes across Europe. The idea is to facilitate the rapid assembly of knowledge of the disease on a European basis. The AIDS project is believed to herald the first use of a direct broadcast satellite by e d u c a t i o n a l i n s t i t u t i o n s .
Source: Eumetsat, Am Elfengrund 45,
Source: The Financial
6100 Darmstadt, FRG.
London, UK.
Times,
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