Conference 7.286::space

732.0. "International Civil Space Agency" by 43945::COCKBURN (Craig Cockburn) Fri May 31 1991 06:13

This article was posted to USENET recently - perhaps people here will 
find it interesting

Craig

Article 5244 of soc.culture.british:
From: [email protected]
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: International Civil Space Agency? 1993


******************************************************************************
*  An International Civil Space Agency By 1993, An Idea Whose Time Has Come! *
******************************************************************************
* Posted by United Space Federation, Inc. a Not-For-Profit Corporation with  *
* its international headquarters based in Ithaca, New York. USA.  This is a  *
* outline of the organizations agenda, the proposed structure for phase      *
* three of the organization, and the proposed phase three charter for the    *
* organization. The United Space Federation, Inc. was Founded in 1986 in     *
* Vaginia Beach, Virgina, USA and was Incorporated in 1990 in New York State *
* as a Not-For-Profit Corporation. USF address is at the end of this posting *
******************************************************************************
* United Space Federation, Inc. Posting for 29th of May 1991, Copy Rite 1991 *
******************************************************************************

                  WHAT IS THE UNITED SPACE FEDERATION

The United Space Federation (USF) will be a non-military, non-governmental, 
international civil space agency which will promote and undertake civil space
projects and missions for industry, commerce and science, for exclusively 
peacefulpurposes.

                         FUTURE GOALS OF THE USF

1)  To create an office and staff to handle administrative matters. 
This office will evolve in time into the international headquarters of the USF.

2)  To create the Space Planning Commission (SPC) and the Space Regulation 
Commission (SRC) " explained in more detail further on in this posting ".  
These two commissions will propose, debate, and plan international space 
projects and draft and enforce international space law documents.  The SPC 
and SRC will mandate all USF operations.

3)  To create the Elected Board of Directors, the executive body of the USF, 
which will implement the programs approved by the SRC.  

4)  To achieve direct communications with the United Nations and, therefore, 
the international community, in order to gain critical insight into world
events that may affect USF operations or agreements, and to allow non-member 
nations an alternate, neutral forum in which to communicate with the USF.

                           FUTURE PROJECTS OF THE USF

1)  To build an international headquarters to conduct all USF administration, 
operations, and planning and to accommodate the personnel and diplomats of 
the SRC, SPC, EBOD and the VIP's participating in international conferences, 
lectures and debates related to USF operations or other space-related topics.

2)  To build a central space operations and research complex to support USF 
projects.

3)  To create an international commission and support facility for monitoring 
weather, atmospheric conditions, and oceanography, in order to improve global 
capabilities in these fields, and to permit international cooperative study.   

4)  To create a network of orbital refueling, staging and supply facilities to 
support USF operations and to provide emergency and rescue capabilities in 
support of manned space missions and facilities, not only for the USF, but also 
for other space agencies around the globe.  

5)  To plan, establish, and operate an international earth moon base for 
industrial and scientific purposes.  This moon base would support future 
international space projects, research, spacecraft refueling and resupply, and 
space resources retrieval and processing.  The base will be instrumental in 
supporting the construction of large space structures and space craft for 
exploration of the solar system and future international space projects as 
needed.  The USF will create and operate a communications center and 
navigation beacons to support operations and transportation to and from the 
moon.

6)  The USF will construct and support a lunar optical/radio observatory for 
international use.

7)  To undertake manned missions to Mars and to establish a base on Mars 
similar in form and purpose to the above-mentioned moon base.  Eventually, 
additional bases and even industrial facilities may be established for 
exploring and charting Martian terrain and identifying and retrieving natural
resources.  The base will support future international space projects as needed

8)  To promote, build, operate, and support at least one of a special kind of 
manned spacecraft called "solar cruisers" to explore the solar system.  These 
solar cruisers will accomodate a crew of roughly 10-20 people, made up of 
scientists and engineers from varying specialities and backgrounds and a 
permanent USF crew assigned to the cruiser.  The cruiser will use liquid fuels 
for orbital operations, fission or fusion fuels for interplanetary operations,
and electric propulsion for maneuvering.  The solar cruiser will be constructed 
to provide both gravity and non-gravity working and living space for the crew.  
The solar cruiser must be able to operate for roughly three years independently 
and five years with resupply of food and life supporting elements.  The craft
in its entirety will be reusable upon completion of each mission, after being 
reconditioned in earth or moon orbit and then resupplied for the next mission.

9)  To support and undertake other, more ambitious, civil space projects, both 
manned and unmanned, in accordance with the charter, as the need arises and 
the technology becomes available.


                 Organizational Chart USF Phase 3
         

              A     B     C     D     E     F     G
              I     I     I     I     I     I     I
              I     I     I     I     I     I     I
              ----------ADMINASTRATION HQ----------
                               I
              BOR--------------I----------------IST
                               I
                    FPPT------EBOD------PCT
                               I
                               I
                               I
              -SPC----------------------------SRC----SPSC
              I                                I
              I--SSC                           I--SCOR
              I--SIC                           I--COSPAR
              I--SAC                           I--ISLARC
              I--STC                           I--Sec. Gen U.N.
              I--SETI GROUP


    United Space Federation, Inc.  Phase 3 Organizational Structure


           SPACE REGULATION COMMISSION (SRC) GROUP DESCRIPTIONS

The SRC is made up of SCOR, COSPAR, ISLARC and the 
Secretary General of the United Nations.  The purpose of the 
SRC is to create, draft, debate, enact, and enforce all United 
Space Federation international programs, projects and  
missions, and their related, agreements,  policies,  guidelines,  
and laws, in cooperation with  recommendations made by 
the SPC and EBOD.  

                   SPACE COUNCIL OF REPRESENTATIVES(SCOR) 

Every country participating in the USF its projects, programs 
or missions may send one representative to represent the 
space related national interests of that country.  This 
representative will have Diplomatic status and must provide 
their own support staff.  The purpose of this council is to 
create, draft and enact, uniform international policies and 
procedures; to stimulate, peaceful, coopertive, civil space 
projects and missions, through international mediation and 
debate.   SCOR will be involved in all SRC activities, and is 
empowered to aprove or disaprove all USF programs, 
projects or missions in cooperation with the 
recommendations made by the SPC, COSPAR, ISLARC, the 
EBOD and the Secratery General of the U.N..    

               COUCIL OF SPACE AGENCY REPRESENTATIVES (COSPAR)

High level administrators, scientists, and engineers from the 
many space agencies and organizations from around the 
world, will participate on this council to coordinate all large 
USF projects and missions, through interagency cooperation, 
planning and agreement.  COSPAR shall remain in 
consaultive status with SCOR, SPC and the EBOD at all times, 
and will participate in all SRC activities.

    INTERNATIONAL SPACE LAW ADVISORY AND REVIEW COUNCIL(ISLARC)

Legal specialists from around the world will participate on 
this council in order to draft USF space law documents of a 
uniform nature, so as to be tailored to meet the many 
changing conditions and trends of the international scene. 
Inorder to  provide legal documants that are not only 
drafted by the international community, but are also  
recoginzed, understood and supported by the international 
community, as fair and meaningful space law documeents 
and agreements.  ISLARC shall remain in consaultive status 
with SCOR, SPC and EBOD, and will participate in all SRC 
activities.

               UNITED NATIONS (U.N.) SECRETARY GENERAL

The Secretary General of the United Nations will have 
honorary status with the SRC at all times.  This will provide 
an alternate and neutral form of communication with the 
world community, and provide important insight to world 
events, which could effect USF operations and agreements.

           SPACE PLANNING COMMISSION (SPC) GROUP DESCRIPTIONS

The SPC will consist of SSC, SIC, STC, SAC, and a SETI group.  
The SPC will be charged to work with the FPPT in planning 
prospective USF projects or missions, which will go before 
the SRC to be either approved or disapproved.

                      SPACE SCIENTIFIC COUNCIL (SSC)
 
The purpose of the SSC is to draft and debate potental 
international scientific projects or missions to be carried out 
by the USF, and to paticipate in SPC activities.   USF member 
countries may send one scientist each, from any field, to 
represent the scientific interests of that country.  The USA, 
USSR, and the European community may send three 
scientists each because of thier particular contributions to 
space research.  Established international scientific socities 
and groups may also send representives to participate in SSC 
activities and debates, but may not be voting members.

                    SPACE INDUSTRIAL COUNCEL (SIC)

Any member country, company or industrial facility may 
send an industrial represenitive to partisipate on this board 
to represent thier interests and  partisipation in USF projects 
or missions.  The purpose of the SIC is to combine the efforts 
of industry from around the world, in support of USF 
programs, the SIC will  participate in all SPC activities.  
Companies wishing to participate on this council, must 
maintain a representitive for at least one year.

                      SPACE TRADE COUNCIL (STC)

Any member country which is dependent on trade or 
commerce based on space technology, space research or 
space exploration related to USF projects or missions, may 
send a repesenitive to participate on this council.  The 
purpose of this council is to draft international trade 
agreements or laws which will go before the SRC for review, 
to be either approved or disiproved.  The STC will also 
paticipate in all SPC activities.
 
                     SPACE ACADEMIC COUNCIL (SAC) 
 
The purpose of SAC is to allow representives from 
universities and colleges from around the world to 
participate in USF activities and research.  SAC will 
partcipate in all SPC activities.

        SEARCH FOR EXTRATERRESTRIAL INTELLIGENCE GROUP (SETI)

Will be commissioned to draft a formal document, which will 
establish international guidelines, to deal logically with the 
possibility of other intelligent beings outside our 
solorsystem, and to deal with any future extraterrestrial 
contact or the research on this possibility, as an 
international project only.  The SETI group will be assigned 
special USF research projects to pursue ambitious SETI 
programs, and will participate in all SPC activities.

                 ELECTED BOARD OF DIRECTORS (EBOD)

Tasked with implementing all mandated projects and 
missions set forth by the SRC and the SPC, the EBOD will also 
be the head administrative body in charge of all USF 
property and personnel, and the operation of such assets.  
The EBOD will consist of 12 members: three will be elected 
and apointed from the SRC and Three from the SPC.  Three 
will be selected from outside the USF through an open 
selection and elective process based on an individuals 
personal contributions to humanity and personal merits.  
Lastly three individuals will be selected from within the USF 
based on their performance of duties and personal merits.  
One Director will be chosen to be First Director, this selectee, 
must be a USF officer serving actively with the USF at the 
time of appointment.

                 UNITED SPACE FEDERATION HEADQUARTERS

Under the direction of the EBOD, and is the main center of 
personnel and administrative activities for all USF  projects 
and missions.  SRC and SPC members will also be located 
here.

A)  USF INTERNATIONAL SPACE CREWS AND SPACE BASED PERSONNEL

B)  USF DIPLOMATIC PERSONNEL   C)  USF SCIENTIFIC TEAM
  
D)  USF INDUSTRY RELATIONS TEAM E)  USF PROJECT OBSERVERS TEAM   

F)  USF SPACE RESOURCES UTILIZATION TEAM

G)  USF TECHNICAL EVALUATION AND TROUBLE SHOOTNG TEAM


                    BOARD OF REVIEW (BOR)

The internal judicial system of the USF, its personnel and 
officers and is under the direction of the EBOD.

                INTERNAL SECURITY TEAM (IST)

Under the direction of the EBOD and BOR to maintain 
personnel files and to oversee general security of all USF 
facilities, property and projects. 

              FUTURE PROJECTS PLANNING TEAM (FPPT)

The FPPT will consists of 12 appointed representatives 
which are appointed the task of communicating with the SPC 
in order to draft proposed ideas for beneficial future 
international space projects and missions, which will be 
forwarded to the SRC for debate and consideration, for 
potential USF projects or missions.

                   PROJECTS COMPLIANCE TEAM (PCT)

The PCT will consists of 12 appoointed representatives 
which are appointed the task of working directly with the 
SRC and EBOD to insure all USF projects are being conducted 
in a proper and timely manner as mandated by the SRC, and 
to inform the SRC and EBOD of any problems, discrepancies, 
or delays in reference to mandeted USF
projects or missions.
              
                      (PROPOSED PHASE THREE)
                  UNITED SPACE FEDERATION CHARTER

     The United Space Federation's goal is to serve the nations and peoples
of Earth, equally and without bias, in a crucial way, by combining the
aspirations, and resources of the nations of Earth through cooperation, to
implement ambitious, non-military, non-governmental civil space projects,
ventures and missions, for the benefit of, and stimulation of, increased
activities in, industry,commerce and science, which would not have been
feasible for individual nations or organizations.   USF member nations agree
to insure, that such cooperative activities will be for  exclusively peaceful
purposes. Our dream is to carry the precious and wonderful miracle of human
life outward and onward to new frontiers and worlds, and hopefully, to abandon
the heritage of war, and to tap the vast resources and raw materials which
await us in space.  All personnel of the United Space Federation will be
selected according to their belief in this vision and goal and will ensur 
that it is preserved in all aspects of United Space Federation undertakings.
All personnel of the United Space Federation must take the oath of universal 
acceptance to serve the higher interests of humanity in the performance of
their duties.  The United Space Federation will maintain a neutral 
international status at all times.  Personnel of the United Space Federation
will not, under any circumstances, carry any form of weapon designed to take
a human life.  Should hostile forces attempt to sieze United 
Space Federation property, it will be destroyed, or otherwise rendered useless, 
so that it may not be used for other than peaceful purposes.    This policy 
will render such an act futile, regardless of the source of the anxieties 
surrounding the facilities, property, and personnel of the United Space 
Federation.  Furthermore, such an attempt will be considered an act of war 
against the member nations of the USF and the international community .  The 
United Space Federation will consist of three main bodies:  the Space 
Regulation Commission (SRC), the Space Planning Commission (SPC), and the 
Elected Board of Directors (EBOD).  The SRC will consist of the following:  
the Space Council of Representatives (SCOR), the Council of Space Agency 
Representatives (COSPAR), and the International Space Law Advisory and 
Review Council (ISLARC).  The Secretary General of the United Nations will 
have honorary status on the SRC.  The SPC will consist of the following:  the 
Space Scientific Council (SSC), the Space Industrial Council (SIC), the Space 
Trade Council (STC), the Space Academic Council (SAC), and a SETI group 
(Search for Extraterrestial Intelligence).  The Elected Board of Directors will 
consist of twelve members:  three appointed by the SRC, three appointed by the 
SPC, three selected from open elections outside the United Space Federation 
based on the merits of their service to humanity, and three selected from 
within the officer core of the USF based on their performance and personal 
merits.  A board member will be designated First Director.  This member must 
be an active USF officer, or have served as an active officer in the past for
at least four consecutive years and been released honorably.  The SPC and SRC 
will, through international mediation and agreement, draft all USF projects 
according to the provisions of this charter.  They are subject to final 
approval by the SRC, and, when approved, the EBOD will carry them out.  All 
USF officers and personnel will be charged with carrying out these agreements,
and defending the ideals in this charter.  Future amendments and articles 
added to this charter must be approved by a majority vote of the SRC and  
upheld by the EBOD.


                         UNITED SPACE FEDERATION, INC.
                          International Headquarters
                                 P.O. Box 4722
                         Ithaca, New York  14852-4722
                        In the United States of America

                                 USF E-MAIL
                             [email protected]
                           [email protected]
                         [email protected]
                             [email protected]
                             I I I I I I I I I I
                              I I I I I I I I I   
                               I I I I I I I I 
                                I I I I I I I 
                                 I I I I I I 
                                  I I I I I 
                                   I I I I
                                    I I I 
                                     I I
                                      I
                                      I
                                      I
                                      I
                An International Civil Space Agency By 1993
                         An Idea Whose Time Has Come!
                         
                 Thank you for your time and support, Godspeed!
                                    Sincerely,
                                    Rick R. Dobson

****************************************************************************
* May 23rd  1991       Posted by: Rick R. Dobson                           *
*                                 Executive Director                       *
*                                 United Space Federation, Inc.            *
****************************************************************************

    Re .0
    
    The USF sounds like a good idea, a bit too idealized but nice anyway.
    
    It does have some problems, like connecting it up to the UN will be
    difficult, and persuading countries to fund it, etc.  Just look at the 
    UN itself, after all these years it still isn't much more then a debating
    society.
    
    And tying its hands with things like, ~No USF person will carry arms
    designated to kill~  and  ~If attacked will blow ourselfs up~, doesn't
    help either. Just imagine all that a terrorist group would have to do
    disable a base would be to attack it, the USF people would do the rest
    by blowing themselves up. Thus not only killing themselves and the
    terrorist as well (maybe) but also destroying everything they worked
    for and paid for on that base.
    
    Some questions:
    
    o  Does anybody really intend to do this, or is it just a nice paper ?
    
    o  If this is for real, what kind of popular and political support 
       does the USF have ?
    
    o  Who are the founders ?  
       (A couple of si-fi writers, or somebody people will listen too ?)
    
    Gil

    .0 sounds a bit like the Star Trek United Federation of Planets, except
    that it is Earth-based.
    
    I suspect that it would gain more world-wide appeal if it was based
    somewhere other than in the US, and had a title whose initials did not
    include the letters "US". Seriously, the US is probably not perceived
    by the people of the world as being the cosmopolitan,
    internationally-minded country that it seems to see itself as. (I'm not
    US-bashing, just presenting my own observations on the matter).
    
    Apart from this, it sounds a fine idea. Unfortunately, the world's
    politicians seem to be getting MORE out of touch with the people these
    days, rather than less so. It would need major political support to get
    such an organisation off the ground (excuse the pun).
    
    Dave Hazel
    
    P.S. will the solar system exploration thing be called "Enterprise"? It
    has a five-year mission, I see.

    Contrast the USF with the Space Studies Institute of Princeton:
    
    - both are private and privately-funded
    - both are directed towards living in space and exploring the
    solar system.
    - SSI has existed for many years, USF exists only as an
    organization chart.
    - SSI is concentrating on do-able research, E.g. construction with 
    lunar soils, searching for near-Earth asteroids.  USF's projects are
    tens of billions of dollars away.
    - SSI has already demonstrated hardware such as a mass-driver. 
    USF has no visible plans to build anything, except maybe a
    headquarters building.  Their long-term goals are interesting,
    but are obviously decades away.
    
    I know where I'm sending my checks.  
    
    /jlr

    This looks like the best place to put this.
    
    In this week's edition of The Economist, there is an article on page 15
    about the world's space programs. The article puts forward an
    interesting viewpoint, which is basically this. All of the world's
    space programmes to date, with the exception of that of ESA, are funded
    as central government agencies within their own countries. All of them,
    including ESA, rely on government contributions to fund them, and most
    appear to have gotten themselves into a problem with having committed
    themselves to large, expensive programmes of dubious real value.
    
    Why not, the article argues, put all of the world's space programmes
    together, and have a single, worldwide Space Agency, funded by all
    nations, and devoted to the _human_ (as opposed to the American, or
    Russian, or European, or Japanese...) exploration of space. This would
    make the expensive programmes suddenly affordable on a global scale,
    and allow a truly international effort to be made for space
    exploration. The opportunity would exist for any organisation with an
    interest in space to play a part, regardless of which country it was
    in.
    
    I wondered what others think of this idea. Ignoring issues of national
    pride or rivalry, are there any reasons why a single, global space
    programme would be a bad thing? Who should organise such a thing? (The
    United Nations springs to mind in answer to this question).
    
    
    Dave Hazel

  Up until lately, the defense agencies of the major nations have contributed
funding to their nation space programs and along with the money has come
pressure to restrict access to the equipment to "secure" personal. In spite of
this there has been some cooperation with NATO nations sending people up on
both the Shuttle and to MIR. 

  Now that the world seems like a more friendly place to live (for now anyway)
there's a good chance that a lot of this will change. In fact I wonder if part
of the plan of firing Truly is that Bush is going to dump the Freedom space
station (or delay it far into the next century) and announce a joint Shuttle/MIR
program? That would save money and for research using mostly existing equipment.

  As for private funding, I think that's a long way off. Most private investors
want to see a return on their investment and that's not likely with today's
technology.

  George

    A world space program would be a good thing if was a real program
    and not something in name only. (like the United Nations)
    
    Having said that, I got to say that I don't see it happening anytime
    soon. First you couldn't get everybody to agree to do it, like you say
    security and other such non-sense would get in the way. Second if you
    get everyone to agree to do it, the details (goals, funding, work) would 
    surelly kill any hopes of a real and agressive program.
    
    Its sad but the world nations are incapable of this kind of cooperation,
    I mean the economic GATT agrement has been booged down for the longest
    time, and that is something that brings a much more immediate and clear
    benefit. If the world nations can't agree to trade, I don't see them
    agreeing to explore space either.
    
    Gil

    I'm afraid I agree with Gil. Right now, the largest worldwide body is
    the UN, and many countries (like the U.S.) cannot be prevailed upon to
    pay their dues.
    
     Although, the Agency might have some leverage: no dues, no satellite
    launches.
    
    Gregg

    Actually, I suspect that things like GATT fail for precisely the reason
    that there is so much to gain for each side. Everyone wants to stack
    things in favour of their own way of operating: the US likes to pretend
    it doesn't like subsidies, while Europe is quite open about them.
    
    Space, on the other hand, does not have any really obvious benefits to
    the masses (which is why national space programmes are so hard to
    fund). This means that there are fewer "big money" boys trying to put
    the boot in, and hence more chance of the result being constructive. I
    think its apparent lack of immediate gain is what would improve its
    chances over something like GATT.
    
    As an example of how this kind of situation can work, look at the
    international Red Cross/Red Crescent. It manages to achieve worldwide
    support, despite there being no obvious financial gain for any one
    nation which supports it. There are many worldwide organisations in the
    sciences; science is very international in its outlook.
    
    
    Dave Hazel

I suppose we can also look at ESA as a more limited version of a worldwide
space agency.

Burns

    Yeah but the ESA is within the context of the ECC. They are pretty
    close in comparison to the rest of the countries of the world.
    
    
    	However, we may just find ourselves joining the ESA if we don't get
    off the stick.
    
    Gregg

    Re. .10:
    
    ESA is NOT within the EEC. The countries which comprise ESA are not all
    in the EEC (eg. Sweden), though I agree that many are.
    
    Canada has some kind of loose association with ESA. I think it's called
    something like "observer nation" status, though it's a while since I
    worked in the space industry. If Canada has such status, I'm sure that
    ESA would allow other nations to join. The only caveat that I am aware
    of is that ESA is prevented by its charter from having anything to do
    with military applications for space technology. This fact almost
    caused a rift between them and NASA over the Space Station project,
    because the US contribution was going to have semi-military
    applications.
    
    
    Dave Hazel

    Dave, 
    
    I realize the eec and esa are distinct. But the fact that Germany,
    italy, and France are in both has a lot of influence, no?
    
    Gregg

    It is true that Germany, France and (to a lesser extent) Italy have a
    lot of influence (eg. the only valid alternate to English in ESA is
    French). However, so has the United States, even though it is not a
    member. Progress on the Columbus project (the ESA contribution to the
    Space Station) was almost brought to a halt by NASA's insistence that
    it had to be a permanent part of the space station. The fact that ESA
    wanted it to be able to dock with the space station, but be free-flying
    did not suit them.
    
    No, ESA is a truly international organisation, even though its name
    contains the word "European".
    
    
    Dave Hazel

    
    Now for the incredibly obvious ... of course ESA is international
    even though it contains the word "European".  Europe consists of
    numerous nations, not a single country.  Hence, it IS international!
    
    ;-)
    
    Chris

    Instead of international he probably meant inter-continental.....
    

    Probably comes from living in a country which takes the name of an
    entire continent for itself...