Help from Above

11 Mar 2009

At a time of global economic recession, space programs could well enhance international cooperation, re-launch global economic growth and keep protectionism at bay.

Space programs represent a great economic opportunity in terms of job creation, skill development and enhanced competitiveness in key high-tech industrial sectors, not to mention a host of other benefits related to climate change data gathering, intelligence and recognition capabilities and national security.

Space systems and space-based technologies are a critical part of our daily life. From telecommunications to television, weather forecasting to global financial systems, most of the key services that we all take for granted in the modern world depend on space to function correctly. And in the future, space will become even more important, providing new opportunities for business and services for people. Improved positioning, timing systems and global environmental monitoring are indeed likely to provide areas for innovative companies to flourish.

Space technology has also proved to be an arena for international cooperation, both building trust and fostering healthy competition between countries. While the US remains the world’s leading space power, other nations are rapidly catching up. Europe and China, in particular, have increasingly devoted resources to developing space programs of their own. They are also the space powers that have engaged in and benefited from cooperation on space initiatives.

Toward a European space program

In Europe, an autonomous space program, including a flourishing aerospace industry, is believed to be a key element for enabling the European Union (EU) to realize its political and economic ambitions, maintain its competitive position in world markets for a wide range of civil and defense products and safeguard its freedom of action in foreign and security policy. To this end, the adoption of the European Space Policy communication and its endorsement by the joint European Space Council in Spring 2007 gave Europe its first agreed space policy.

Europe has great stakes in the development of space-based technology and applications, as it is home to a large and technologically advanced aerospace industry that supplies a significant part of the world’s commercial requirements for satellite manufacture, launch and services. By maintaining global competitiveness in the aersopace sector, the EU will also help protect its socio-economic welfare position in the years to

Among the various space programs funded by the European Community budget, Galileo is the flagship. Galileo is a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) that will offer both civilian and military applications once it becomes operational (which is now expected in 2013). It is deemed to be an alternative to the dominant US Global Positioning System (GPS), though the EU and the US reached an agreement on the interoperability of the two systems in June 2004. By launching the Galileo project, the EU hopes to overcome the US monopoly of satellite technology by seizing a sizable share of the expanding global satellite market and establishing world standards for satellite navigation.

Galileo is designed to encircle the globe with 30 satellites in medium earth orbit, comprising 27 operational satellites and three reserves, plus two control centers on the ground. According to the European Commission, the estimated cost of the project would amount to 3.4 billion euros. The applications will be numerous, providing users - ranging from aircraft and shipping to cars and trekkers - with an accurate navigational fix to within a meter.

Since Galileo’s inception in March 2002, international cooperation has played an important role in the project’s development. The Europeans think in fact that space should be used to promote trade and build trust with other countries. A number of space powers have shown an interest and have been invited by the EU to join in the development of the satellite system, including Brazil, India, Israel, South Korea, and China. The latter, in particular, has quickly become the most important non-EU partner in Galileo.

Sino-European space relations

In October 2003, China committed 200 million euros (out of an estimated total cost at that time of 2.2-2.4 billion euros) to the Galileo project. Sino-European space cooperation has been praised for its potential to boost both sides’ space sectors, facilitate European business entry into the promising Chinese market and allow Chinese companies to acquire advanced space technology and know-how from Europe.

Beijing has pledged to spend 70 million euros (of which five million is an entry fee) for the first phase of implementation, including manufacturing and launch of the first four satellites and a substantial part of the ground infrastructure. By the end of 2008, around 35 million euros had been contracted to Chinese industries and research institutes for developing various applications of the Galileo system in China. At the same time, European companies have sold telecommunication satellites and other space technologies, including spatial imagery and low-resolution micro-satellites, to Beijing. Chinese officials recognize that without access to European partners and expertise, development of China’s space program would have been severely slowed.

China is widely acknowledged as one of the most prominent space-faring nations. In October 2007, Beijing launched its first lunar orbiter. Its manned space flight in September 2008 involved the country’s first ever space walk, a technological breakthrough that only the US and the former Soviet Union had previously achieved. Indeed, the Chinese manned space mission became a major political symbol of Chinese nationalism. As such, prestige is an important driver of China’s space development.

However, while symbolically important, manned flights and the lunar program are not as valuable to China as its ability to hoist satellites into orbit. With thousand of isolated rural communities characterized by low population densities and limited telecommunication infrastructure, China is poised to greatly benefit from an increased use of advanced satellite technologies. Chinese leaders point out that the various applications of remote-sensing satellites, which have been very helpful in urban development and agriculture in many countries worldwide, would be an invaluable asset to help China connect its scattered population, as well as boost economic growth.

Chinese space technology has improved dramatically in recent years. Compared to the US, however, it is not state-of-the-art, though China has succeeded in developing a space program that encompasses the full range of capabilities from satellite design to launch services. In May 2007, Beijing launched a Chinese-manufactured communications satellite into orbit on behalf of Nigeria. It was the first time China built a commercial satellite and put it into orbit for another country. In 2008 Beijing did the same for other countries, including Brazil and Venezuela.

Traditionally, Beijing has tended to build satellites on its own, but current commercial and scientific collaborations with the EU and other countries, including Russia, Brazil, India, Malaysia and South Korea, are aimed at joint research and development. For instance, cooperation with the EU and its member states has allowed China to pursue joint ventures like Galileo in the near term, with the aim to further develop indigenous capabilities in the long term.

Some countries have expressed concern that China could use foreign technology to foster the development of its own, independent, satellite navigation system. Indeed, Chinese policy makers do not hide that Sino-European space cooperation in the development of Galileo is helping China build its own satellite navigation system.

China has succeeded in developing a number of navigation satellites. Those launched so far have been employed in numerous areas, including mapping, telecommunications, water resources monitoring, traffic and transport, fishery, resource protection, forest fire fighting and national security. These satellites are part of the development of China’s own satellite navigation system: the Compass - or Beidou - system. This is set to become a global positioning system and therefore a potential challenge to the Galileo system with time. This perception of a Chinese ‘satellite challenge’ played a role in the European Space Agency’s July 2008 decision to exclude Chinese contractors from the second phase of Galileo’s implementation.

Yet, it was precisely this looming challenge from China that compelled the EU and its member states to put aside internal squabbles and put the Galileo project right, thereby demonstrating that healthy international competition spurs technological innovation and efficiency.

The EU-China push and pull on Galileo, then, shows that both healthy competition and cooperation can result from state-funded space programs and can be part of the prescription to the current global financial crisis.

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