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80 SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL COOPERATION 



bound to lead to a more restrictive atmosphere, less conducive to inter- 

 national cooperation; tending to lead in the same direction ... are 

 developments in detector technology and in active atmospheric- 

 magnetospheric experimentation. "^° 



It is well beyond the scope of this paper to discuss the increasing mili- 

 tary interest in various uses of space technology, but if the DOD budget 

 for space, which is already larger than NASA's, continues to grow, 

 there is likely to be an impact on international space activity. One 

 possibility is increased international cooperation on defense applica- 

 tions of space among the United States and its NATO allies. Other areas 

 of scientific collaboration have been able to coexist with military in- 

 terest in the same scientific area and its underpinning technologies, and 

 this duality has been present in space from the beginning; nevertheless, 

 the changing context of space activity must be of concern to those in- 

 terested in promoting open international cooperation in space science. 

 In particular, several members of ESA are neutral states that could ob- 

 ject to being involved in cooperative activities with the United States 

 which had any hint of military overtones. 



Impact of Space Shuttle on Scientific Cooperation 



The space shuttle is an extremely capable launch system and short- 

 term orbital platform. It offers scientists a much different environment 

 than previously available in which to design and operate their ex- 

 periments; there is even the chance to accompany them into orbit. 

 Europe has recognized the shuttle's potential and is designing systems 

 for its own and cooperative space activities which can only be used with 

 the shuttle. These include Spacelab, of course, and an ESA-developed 

 unmanned free-flying platform called Eureca, scheduled for a 1987 

 launch. As the shuttle, Spacelab, and other systems become more 

 familiar to scientists, there will emerge innovative ways to take advan- 

 tage of these new capabilities. 



However, U.S. and European scientists will also share a common 

 problem as they plan their missions for the Space Transportation 

 System; because it is a manned system, the requirements for qualifying 

 payloads to go aboard it and for supporting those payloads with 

 documentation are both demanding and expensive, especially in com- 

 parison to similar requirements for unmanned launches. When Euro- 

 pean scientists began to plan for the use of Spacelab, for example, they 

 "were really shocked by the requirements for testing and documenta- 

 tion and the associated cost of those requirements. "^^ Europe is continu- 

 ing to find it difficult to afford to use elements of the Spacelab system for 



