Haritina’s presentation covered the institutionalisation of space research and its role in the international security environment and the case study ASA. It covered the Applied Security Research Project Massey University, Centre for Defence and Security Studies and the New Zealand astrobiology network AZAN.

 

The three questions of astrobiology covered:
1) What is life?

2) Are we alone?

3) What is the future of humankind?

Her first question was by Everett Dolman, Astropolitik, 2002. "Human civilisation cannot be expected to simply emerge in space”.
The next question was "what is space about"?

 

This covered three further questions;
1) How did we manage to create a civilian space research industry?
2) How can we support the further development of it?
3) Why is that important?

 

The next point raised was Why is there (civilian) space research?

 

2 reasons we still have space activities;
1) the institution (had a legal base, NASA was the Ministry for space)
2) the commercial advantages (space spin-offs).

Unofficial research questions
1) back to the Moon
2) NASA-a manager of the progress.

 

First Came the War. A little bit of history (how did we get there)-to space?
Rockets (nuclear power), can go to space/same technology.
Systems thinking, engineering or (especially atomic weapons)/space travel.
Leadership .Von Braun and Korolev. (Leonardo da Vinci, Jules Verne and others).
Reason Espionage and Cold War

 

Milestones-the Road to the Moon: Phobos and Diemos
1946 March,Rand
1946 April, Rand's full report with the instructions on satellites
1957 October, Sputnik
1958 October 1,NASA act-technology and civilian governmental agency and decoy for  DOD,s space programme.

 

NASA’s war inheritance,
technology
personnel
tacit information.

 

Apollo program 1961-1972
I do not believe that this generation of Americans is willing to resign itself to going to bed each night by the light of the Communist Moon. President Johnson

 

Then came the Satellites. Space technology that changed the course of history. President Johnson told a gathering in 1967 "I wouldn't want to be quoted on this.... we've spent $35 or $40 billion on the space program. And if nothing else had come along out of it except the knowledge that we gained from space photography, it would be worth 10 times what the whole program has cost. Because tonight we know how many missiles the enemy has and, it turned out, our guesses were way off. We were doing things we didn't need to do. We were building things we didn't need to build. We were harbouring fears we didn't need to harbour." (Heppenheimer 1998)

 

The expiration of outer space shall be the province of all mankind.... 1967 Outer Space Treaty.

 

Then came the treaties. UN-Space Treaty.
A. Countries created organisations that would deal with space affairs. Organisational theory-organisation the way to get things done.

 

 

 

Ed Hamilton

Club Reporter