Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
A very recent international collaboration was announced early in 2014 following
a UN mandate to establish a high-level group to help coordinate expertise and capa-
bilities for missions aimed at monitoring threats from near-Earth encounters of
asteroids (Yu
2013
). The need for such action was perhaps prompted in February of
2013, when a large meteor exploded high above Chelyabinsk, Russia, with 20-30
times more energy than the atomic bomb that destroyed Hiroshima.
3.2
Commercial Space Use
Space is now recognised as big business. The Space Foundation (
2013
) reports that
in 2012 the global space economy rose to $304.31 billion - an increase of 6.7%
from 2011. The majority of this increase was attributed to commercial growth,
which constitutes over 70% of the space economy. GPS devices and chipsets and
direct-to-home television are identifi ed as particularly important growth areas.
Commercial space companies are also offering space transport facilities (such as
Space Exploration Technologies Corporation - or
SpaceX
) to private sector compa-
nies for launch services into low Earth or geostationary orbits. Interest in space
tourism (personal spacefl ight for recreational, leisure or business purposes) also
appears to be growing. Companies such as
Virgin Galactic
are hoping to create an
industry offering orbital opportunities to the growing number that can afford the
$250,000 ticket (quite cheap compared with the $20-40 million or more fare charged
by Russia through
Space Adventures
for trips during the period 2001-2009).
Collaborations in space ventures have some obvious advantages. It costs around
$20,000 to launch 1 kg of something into orbit so collaborative projects in civil
space programmes can help emerging space actors access and use space.
3.3
The Military Use of Space
Space systems now play a vital role in issues of peace and war. The power of space
technology provides new ways of managing security concerns - it allows global
access, achieves a global presence and can deliver nearly ubiquitous capabilities.
The Free Dictionary defi nes space power as 'the total strength of a nation's capabili-
ties to conduct and infl uence activities to, in, through, and from space to achieve its
objectives'
7
but Marquart (
2011
) uses the more aggressive defi nition 'military assets
located at or above the Karman line used for dominance over land-based enemies'.
Space power provides opportunities to secure the peace and/or to fi ght wars. It can
also help provide transparency through global surveillance - thereby removing
uncertainties and security concerns - or it can provide opportunities for states to
locate, monitor, track and target any groups or individuals they may take an interest in.
7
Free dictionary -
http://www.thefreedictionary.com
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