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U.S. -EUROPEAN COOPERATION IN SPACE SCIENCE 79 



1978, and 1983, and there is some consideration being given to 

 establishing standing SSB-SSC working groups in selected areas of 

 space science. 



In a separate development, at the initiative of the heads of the Euro- 

 pean Science Foundation and the National Academy of Sciences a joint 

 SSB-SSC working group on planetary exploration has been established. 

 The U.S. side of this group is composed mainly of individual scientists 

 who are closely related to NASA's Solar System Exploration 

 Committee. 



All of these developments may represent initial steps in opening up 

 the process of planning U.S. -European cooperation in space science to 

 more structured participation of nongovernment scientists. As scientific 

 competition among those working in space becomes increasingly inter- 

 national, such involvement may be required to reach agreement on how 

 to coordinate or cooperate in research on major scientific problems. 



Access for U.S. Experimenters to European Science Missions 



If Europe is to approach parity in influencing the direction of progress 

 in various areas of space science, there must also be a mutuality of op- 

 portunity for U.S. and European scientists to participate in the resulting 

 activities. NASA has from the start opened its "Announcements of Op- 

 portunity" to all free-world scientists, but ESA and individual European 

 countries have limited access to their scientific missions to European 

 scientists, at least as principal investigators. This policy may have been 

 defensible as a means of developing a European space science commu- 

 nity, but NASA is now demanding reciprocity of access. Germany has 

 already indicated its willingness to comply. For the ESA mission to 

 Halley's Comet, Giotto, 9 of the 10 experiments have U.S. 

 coinvestigators (a total of 33 individuals); ESA has agreed in principle to 

 open up its future missions to U.S. principal investigators, and a 

 NASA/ESA committee is now studying how best to implement that 

 agreement. 



Increasing Militarization of Space Activities 



Space technology had its origin in military missile and satellite pro- 

 grams, and there has been continuing attention to ensuring that the in- 

 ternational programs of NASA do not provide access to militarily sensi- 

 tive technology. Now the major U.S. launch system is the space shuttle, 

 which is a national capability used for NASA, DOD, and non-U. S. mis- 

 sions. In this context, "classified operations will be a necessity and are 



