Space and Nationalism

1
Space and Nationalism

• Exploration seems to be usually coupled to
  Nationalism
• Many land explorers searched out new frontiers
  for the glory and power of their countries (often
  sponsors)
• Also a profit motive - the search for treasure.
• Space exploration is no exception
• All new developments have been seen as glorifying
  the country of origin (also sponsors)
• Space exploitation does not have only a strong
  nationalist connotation
• Profits for the commercial branch
• Secrecy for the Defense branch
• But enough knowledge available to spur an arms
  race.
• Historically the race to demonstrate orbital
  capability was extremely nationalistic
• To the extent that it shaped US
  science/technology policy
• Also the teaching of mathematics, science and
  engineering in schools and universities was
  impacted

2
The Early Days

• As a result of the capture of people and hardware
  from the German V2 project after WW II the USA
  and the Soviet Union were the only two countries
  that had developed the capability to place
  spacecraft in earth orbit.
• Both countries were working on weapons with
  greater range and lift capabilities than the V2.
• Finally the Russian rocket R7 succeeded in
  placing Sputnik-1 in LEO in October 1957
• This was followed about one month later by
  Sputnik-2 which included a dog (Laika) to study
  the effect of space flight on a living organism.
• On the science and engineering front the US was
  chagrined by these two events as an affront to
  its national pride as a leader in technology.
• This was tempered somewhat by the worldwide
  general public being aghast at the fate of Laika.
• Between these events the honor of the country had
  been challenged and the government swung into
  action

3
Explorer - 1

• Explorer-1 satellite with booster rocket attached
• Discovered radiation belts with Van Allens
  experiment
• Von Braun was responsible for the launch rocket

Explorer - 1
William Pickering
James Van Allen
Wernher von Braun
4
Enter the Europeans -1

• In the 1950s time frame in the post WW II
  recovery period no single European country could
  support more than a sounding rocket space
  program.
• However the corporate and nationalism forces
  pressed for Europe to enter the space development
  arena in competition with the USA and USSR.
• Several countries banded together in the early
  1960s and set up the European Space Research
  Organization (ESRO) which later evolved into the
  European Space Agency (ESA)

5
Enter the Europeans -2

• ESA maintains an industrial arm originally called
  the European Launcher Development Organization
  (ELDO) which has developed the Ariane rocket
• Launch site in Kourou, French Guiana
• Now up to Ariane-5 with a planned capacity of 12
  tonnes to geosynchronous orbit.
• A total of 140 Ariane launches had been made by
  the end of 2000
• ESRO/ESA has launched many scientific satellites,
  often on US rockets, ranging from early aeronomy
  satellites to sophisticated satellites to make
  astrophysical measurements.
• As a secondary objective the requirement to let
  contracts to European companies has helped
  develop space related industry in Europe.

6
ESA

• Member countries contribute annual fees from
  national taxes
• In return ESA
• Shares its organizational centers between
  contributing countries
• Issues industrial contracts in proportion to
  amounts contributed by member countries

7
ESA Member Countries

• The 10 founding members of ESA included the
  largest Western European countries
• France
• Germany
• Italy
• Spain
• UK
• Together with
• Belgium
• Denmark
• Netherlands
• Sweden
• Switzerland.
• Five others joined later
• Ireland, Austria, Norway, Finland and Portugal
• Canada is a Cooperating State

8
ESA Administrative Centers

• Headquarters
• Paris, France
• Technology Center (ESTEC)
• Noordwijk, Netherlands
• Research Institute (ESRIN)
• Frascati, Italy
• Control Center (ESOC)
• Darmstadt, Germany
• Astronaut Center (EAC)
• Cologne, Germany
• Spaceport
• Kourou, French Guiana
• Some recent examples of ESA science projects
  follow

9
ESA/Ulysses
Showing trajectory around the sun including times
when the solar poles are scanned.
10
ESA/Ulysses Result

• Note solar wind minimum at the solar equator
  (ecliptic plane)
• Also change of direction of magnetic field
  between N. and S. hemispheres

11
ESA/SOHO - 1

• SOlar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO)
• Located at one of the Lagrangian points between
  earth and sun

12
ESA/SOHO - 2

• Artists impression of SOHO located between the
  earth and the sun
• Provides constant monitoring of solar activity
  and an advanced warning of increased solar
  activity.

13
Proliferation to Other Countries

• In the 70s and 80s other countries joined the
  space club
• Japan developed both launchers and satellites
• China did likewise
• India has an active space research organization
• Many other countries developed access to space
  through purchases of commercial satellites and
  launchers.

14
The Cold War

• The cold war between the USA and USSR was a major
  driver in the development of space technology and
  instrumentation.
• Being a cold war the nationalism was extreme in
  order to try to emphasize where each country was
  ahead of the other.
• Some of the satellites did allow science
  experiments in the payload and proved valuable
  assets for space science.
• Spin off from the technology and actual data now
  released have been positive aspects of the
  enormous amount of money put into the space
  branch of the cold war.

15
Star Wars

• The culmination of the competition to dominate in
  space systems was the Strategic Defense
  Organization or SDI (commonly called Star
  Wars).
• The project to spot and destroy incoming, armed
  ballistic missiles diminished at the end of the
  cold war, but was retained under a newly named
  organization (Ballistic Missile Defense
  Organization (BMDO))
• There is still concern about the threat of
  isolated attacks from terrorist groups
• Research on detection techniques and destruction
  of the attacking weapons is still supported by
  the DoD.
• There are many skeptical of the realistic chances
  of the planned protection schemes.

16
The Race to the Moon

• The USA and USSR were in intense competition to
  land people on the moon.
• However, fairly early on the USSR realized it did
  not have the resources to place people on the
  moon.
• They were very active in producing lunar landers
  and orbiters throughout the Apollo missions.
• This national competitiveness was a contributing
  factor to the speed of the evolution of the
  missions of manned spacecraft to the moon.
• USSR attempted to have the last word by sending
  Luna-16 to the moon in 1970 to collect and return
  lunar soil samples automatically.
• They used it to make the point that it my not be
  necessary to include the expenses of manned
  flight to study the composition of planet
  surfaces.

17
Manned Space Flight

• The race to get the first person in space was
  again a very intensive nationalistic competition
  between the USA and USSR
• USSR won when Yuri Gagarin first orbited the
  earth in Vostok-1 in 1961
• He was followed by Titov in Vostok-2 in 1961who
  was the first person to spend an entire day in
  space.
• The USA followed in 1962 with its first orbital
  flight by John Glenn when he orbited the earth in
  1962 in Mercury-6
• The USSR then placed the first woman in orbit in
  1963 when Valentina Tereshkova flew in Vostok-6.
• These pioneering manned flights were followed by
  many others in both the USA and USSR culminating
  in the Skylab, Mir and Space Shuttle flights.
• Having people in space was and continues to be a
  matter of national pride

18
The Race to the Planets

• Both the USA and USSR were also very competitive
  in exploring the solar system planets.
• Both countries had extensive programs of
  planetary flybys, orbiters and landers.
• As with the lunar projects, the competition
  helped keep the resources flowing in both
  countries and speed up this aspect of space
  exploration.

19
The Space Station Saga - 1

• The USA had been planning a space station for
  many years
• Mir provided the stimulus to move along more
  rapidly to develop a national facility.
• The original design was described as a Cadillac
  solution and kept escalating in the estimated
  total cost every year.
• Finally congress said enough and NASA was sent
  back to the drawing board to come up with a less
  expensive solution.
• Smarting from this and the ongoing success of the
  then new Mir resulted in a very rapid redesign to
  meet the cost constraints placed on it by
  congress.
• Part of the cost saving came from sharing of
  components of the Space Station with other
  countries to develop the International Space
  Station (ISS) (C.f. the formation of ESA)
• Russia was invited in as a major contributor to
  both build and launch parts of the station.

20
The Space Station Saga - 2

• The reasons for the Russian involvement were
  complex and not wholly economic.
• After the end of the cold war there was an effort
  to prevent their science and technology going to
  countries which were or could become enemies of
  the USA.
• One way of achieving this was to include the
  Russians in the Space Station team
• Congress was wary of this because of the
  possibilities of delays caused by the state of
  the Russian economy driving up the US internal
  costs
• This indeed happened and the cost problem was
  compounded by the USA having to transfer funds to
  Russia to speed up completion of their unit

21
The Space Station Saga - 3

• The current status is that after a late delivery
  of the Russian Zarya other modules are being
  added including the first of the large solar cell
  arrays.
• The first long duration crew arrived in Dec 2000,
  and have just returned to earth in the Space
  Shuttle after four months on board ISS.
• A second 3-person crew is now on board, and the
  ISS has entered its continually populated phase
• The crew size will remain at three until a new,
  larger escape craft is attached to the ISS.
• The addition of the US Unity module will allow
  early science experiments to be started once the
  equipment is ferried to ISS.

22
Issues

• Nationalism is a powerful force to accomplish
  goals.
• Good or bad?
• Is international collaboration a better strategy?
• Pro
• May contribute to world peace.
• Best experts in each country can participate.
• Taxpayers feel better about diverting some funds
  to other areas.
• Con
• Joint decisions often influenced by nationalism.
• Language barrier.
• Mixed engineering units and standards.