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Systems Analysis Lecture by Alain Dupas |
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Date: December 8, 2006
Time: 1:00pm
Location: NIA, Rm 137
Additional Information: Bio | Presentation (PDF)
European Space Exploration Strategy and Plans
Dr. Alain Dupas, College de Polytechnique, Paris, France
What could and should Europe do in the framework of the forthcoming international space exploration activities, following the U.S. Vision for Space Exploration? This question will be a major item of the next ministerial meeting of the European Space Agency council, contemplated for the second half of 2008. It includes in fact different sub-questions. Should the Moon become a major goal for robotic exploration, when European scientific community clearly prefers to focus on Mars? What will happen to the International Space Station in the 2010's, after Shuttle's retirement, and how could the costly investment made by Europe (and other international partners) in the ISS be leveraged in the development of human exploration activities? Should the exclusion of Europe from the "critical" transportation path to the Moon in the NASA plan lead to an involvement in an alternative deep-space human space transportation system, such as the Russian ACTV project? Could Europe agree to develop lunar infrastructure elements in a global U.S.-led Moon strategy, when the transport and operation of these elements will depend totally on U.S. transportation system? This lecture will address these questions and consider possible scenarios for European space exploration activities in the next decades.
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