Russia/ESA cooperation agreement

[Stargazer]

http://www.spacedaily.com/2005/050118091720.soael0tw.html

 

To share information, knowledge and launch pads, Russia and ESA will sign a space agreement soon. I think this is a wise move, and it's exactly what we need, more and better international cooperation. Hopefully we will learn a thing or two about that, since it seems like a difficult thing.

[CHADS]

Nasa spent over a billion dollers researching and developing the ultimate wrighting tool .... one that could write under water , at extreme tempratures and in zero gravity ... after hundreds of exhaustive efforts the came up with it .. The ultimate pen ... the russian scientific community had also created such a remarkable tool and had been using it for many years .... they called it a pencil.

[alexander]

well for their defense, they did have to come up with a chemical formula for a pensil that will write under water as far as i know it doesnt use much graphite and is a pain to erase...

Plus i think that this will hopefully work out, there are brite scientists on both sides, maybe they will come up with a different propulsion system for space vehicles, well aside from solar sail project...

 

here's another link for more interesting info about the merger, sort of:

http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD/MGArticle/RTD_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1031780346164

[BlameTheEx]

Russia and Europe sounds like a winning combination. The russians must be well sick of american protectionism by now. The ISS might have been promoted as an international effort, but I suspect the truth is that America intended to strip Russia of innovative ideas, develop them in america, and leave the carcass of the Russian space industry to rot. The commercial failure (and sadly the catastrophic failure in 2 cases) of the shuttle ruined that plan for now, but I don't doubt for one second that America's intentions have changed.

 

A European/Russian alliance is likely to be a commercial success because russian technology is cheaper. They have the rockets. They have the ion drives. Europe has money, and a free hand to buy anything from Russia. We have every reason to be true friends to the russian space industry because one day it will be OUR industry. The EEC is expanding eastwards. I see the day coming when Russia will join. Right now all that stops it from applying is it's poverty. We can't afford to pay the sort of money needed to solve it's problems, but we can at least give it a chance to market what it has.

[Stargazer]

A while back there actually was some talk about Russia being interested in joining ESA, and I think it would be great. They have plenty of experience and engineers and scientists. I say, team up with ESA and join the Aurora Programme as well.

[Catalyst]

I've always found it ironic, that the devastatingly divisive events of the WWII and the subsequent cold war, when combined with the technology developed to bring death, destruction and nuclear weapons to any part of the Earth, created a moon landing and a handshake in space (The Soyuz-Apollo Test Project). It seems like science fiction, these two deadly adversaries engaging in peaceful grandstanding. And both treated the other with respect when the race was 'won'. The level of trust and intimacy required to pull off the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project must certainly have fostered trust in other relations between the two countries. From that alone it should be evident, the pacifying and unifying effect that exploring space has on humanity. But we have also the ISS, another science fiction dream made reality. When before has 15 countries come together with such a monumental goal? When else has so many nations cooperated together and achieved something so historic? The only other comparable achievement is the Large Hadron Collider. So we have ample evidence that space exploration enables international cooperation, at least in this one area. Which means it's possible for international cooperation in other areas.

 

But what is it about space that allows such behavior? Many factors must certainly contribute to it. International relations are, after all, a complex thing. And space exploration is a complex thing. If any progress is to be made at all in either field, you have to know what's going on, you have to know the truth. So is there anything in space exploration that requires a dedication to the truth? Well, rockets do. You can't mess with the truth much, with rockets. Things explode. Heck, things explode even if you do nothing to deliberately distort the truth. You also can't decide what reality is when it comes to physics. Orbital mechanics is orbital mechanics, regardless of what you want orbital mechanics to be. The universe tells us what is possible through the language of physics, and we have to just shut up and go with it. There is, of course, a really useful method of of discovering the truth. We call it science. The exploration of space is dedicated to expanding our scientific knowledge, the only way we can get to space is through the application of our scientific knowledge. Science is the dedicated pursuit of the truth. The truth is an important thing to know in all areas of international cooperation.

 

The cost of exploration is high. No single country could have realistically built the ISS. No single country will likely be able to reach Mars alone, and certainly no single nation will be able to establish a long term human base there. If we, as a species, are to seriously explore space we must do it as one race, if for no other reason than the cost. But a life lived is more than the money spent. It's the knowledge gained, the experiences one has. It is the perspectives acquired. There is a fairly famous photograph of the Earth, rising over the rugged terrain of the Moon. There is another photo, this time of the Earth and the Moon together. And there is yet another photo where the Earth is little more than a pale blue blip on a camera sensor. The exploration of space engenders a world view of ourselves. This is evident by the formal agreements. The space treaty of 1968 cemented the idea that space is the province of Humanity, much as an earlier document from 1959 did for Antarctica. It is also evident from the world wide reaction to the moon landing. When you watch news footage from that time, almost everyone, regardless of nationality, says that 'we landed on the Moon'. That moments is seen as a human achievement. As well it should be.

 

No matter how much we disagree with ourselves, we are all fellow sojourners on this planet. Whenever a member of our species leaves our atmosphere they become, regardless of nationality, an ambassador for Humanity. Exploring space brings this fact into sharp relief. Exploring space requires a knowledge of the truth. Science is the dedicated pursuit of the truth. Science in general fosters a cooperative mindset, with an open and encompassing world view. Space exploration provides a global perspective, and the knowledge we need to manage our Earth and our activities on it. This pact between Russia and Europe is further evidence that exploring space encourages peaceful relations, demands international cooperation, and is helping to unify us as one people.

 

'The world is my country, science my religion' - Christiaan Huygens