Transatlantic study identifies keys to sucess in international space collaborations

The findings and recommendations of a detailed study of successful and unsuccessful US-European space missions are published today (30 June 1998) in a new report US-European Collaboration in Space Science.

Based on an analysis of 13 case-study missions over more than 30 years, the report sets out basic principles to be followed in seeking to develop successful cooperative missions, including a set of template agreements that provide a step-by-step guide for cooperation - from the planning stage, through implementation to final review. It was written by a joint committee set up by the European Space Science Committee (ESSC) of the European Science Foundation (ESF) and the Space Studies Board (SSB) of the US National Research Council and is co-published by the US National Academy Press and the European Science Foundation.

Key recommendations include:

• Scientific goals and rationale - The committee reports that "international cooperation has at times been used to justify a scientific mission that may have lacked support from the scientific community at large or other factors important for successful cooperation". To avoid risking failure there is a need to establish a compelling scientific justification of a mission and its components through peer review by international experts.
  
  Regarding the planned international space station, the report calls on NASA and its partners to "unequivocally define the purpose, goals and objectives of the Space Station and the corresponding utilization programs." It argues that: "the Space Station’s role may be abundantly clear within the agencies but does not appear to have been agreed upon and clearly stated to the communities it is to serve. The definition should be stated clearly to the scientific community, to the public, and the governmental funding bodies involved."
  
• Shared objectivesmust go beyond the scientists to include engineers and others involved in a joint mission. Problems of communication or "intellectual distance" between the engineering and scientific communities can have a detrimental effect on missions, which can be exacerbated by barriers of culture, language, and agency procedures. Close interaction is particularly important at the design phase – for example, the participation of scientists in monthly engineering meetings can help to support optimal planning when compromises are needed between scientific goals and technical feasibility.
  
• Independent periodic assessmentsshould be carried out during the lifetime of each cooperative mission. An independent International Mission Review Committee (IMRC) should regularly assess the project’s scientific vitality, timeliness and operations. The IMRC should also examine whether the programme should be extended or receive further funding.
  
• Milestone and implementation agreementsshould have maximum clarity and specify the scope, expectations, and obligations of the respective agencies and relevant scientific partners. NASA and ESA should establish a clearly defined hierarchy of template agreements keyed to mutually understood mission milestones and implementation agreements.
  
• Financing international activities– In light of today’s tight budget constraints, the volatility of the US budget process, and the importance of having trustworthy agreements supporting cooperative efforts in space, the report recommends that NASA’s funding includes international budget lines "to support important peer-reviewed, moderate-scale international activities".
  

Other recommendations cover the need for having clearly defined responsibilities, effective measures
to ensure the free and open exchange of data, and the need for space agencies to advise science ministers and advisers on the implications that particular national trade, export-import, data, and intellectual property policies may have on important cooperative space programmes.

The report appears at a time when the USA and Europe have been reaping the benefits of cooperation in space science for over 30 years, enabling scientists to discover suspected massive black holes via the Hubble telescope and gain insights into the structure of the solar interior and heating mechanisms of the corona, amongst other notable achievements. However, there have never been formal guidelines for collaboration, leading to a slightly piecemeal approach and a few expensive disappointments along with the success stories.

Current budget constraints at the national level have also increased the appeal of international cooperation. However, as the authors point out, these same pressures have also led to management and structural reorganisations within space agencies that unintentionally may have created new obstacles to cooperation. For example, NASA’s shift to a "smaller, faster, cheaper" policy and an emphasis on small missions has left questions as to how international cooperation fits in. And similar questions arise concerning commercial space ventures for which there is growing interest on both sides of the Atlantic.

The Committee’s findings and recommendations have been presented to both the European Space Agency and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) at meetings earlier this month.

The study was supported by the ESF and NASA.

Ends

Copies of US-European Collaboration in Space Science (ISBN: 0-309—05984-4) are available from the European Science Foundation priced 175 FF plus p&p; tel +33 (0)3 88 76 71 25.

For further information contact :

Andrew Smith
Head of Communication and Information, ESF
+33 (0)3 88 76 71 32
typo3/esf_contacts_form.php?mail=9d9d0b5c6df7ec814b51e96529a7ce12
or

Jean-Claude Worms
Executive Secretary, European Space Science Committee
+33 (0)3 88 65 50 13

Notes for editors:

1. The European Science Foundation is the European association of 62 major national funding agencies devoted to scientific research in 21 countries. The ESF assists its member organisations in two main ways: by bringing scientists together in its scientific programmes, networks, exploratory workshops and European research conferences, to work on topics of common concern, and through the joint study of issues of strategic importance in European science policy.

2. The ESF’s European Space Science Committee acts a spokesbody on European space research issues and as a facilitator and organiser of space research programmes and policy in Europe.

For further information contact: Andrew Smith

Category: Media Centre, Press Releases 1998