ROOM
3
Foreword
The road not taken
- a political and
commercial crossroads
Clive Simpson
Managing Editor
Igor Ashurbeyli
Editor-in-chief
S
o often the choices of today - whether
relating to general politics or space policy
- affect the future of tomorrow. All decisions
have repercussions and if ever there was a
moment in time when this was so, it is now.
In 2016, the electorates of the United States and
the United Kingdom both made choices that are
charting new pathways into unknown territory for
their respective countries.
Whilst the national space policies of the
Trump administration are being defined in detail
commercial space presses ahead regardless. And for
the UK - Europe’s third biggest space player - the
future has suddenly become harder to predict.
In his opinion piece ‘Could Brexit blow a hole
in UK’s space ambitions?’ (p. 98), Dr Mike Leggett
suggests Britain leaving the EU might have
unanticipated effects on the long-established
cooperation of the UK and Europe in space.
The long lead times associated with developing
space missions and technology often puts them
at odds with the short-terminism of politics. And
yet today we are witnessing a rapid expansion of
technology and ambitions.
Regardless of the political landscape, the cosmic
tide is being turned by a new wave of commercialism
driven by the NewSpace generation of space
companies and entrepreneurs.
Swift progress towards deployment of large
satellite constellations (‘Mega challenges for mega
constellations’ by Holger Krag, p. 16 and ‘Urgent
action needed to keep satellites safe in orbit’ by Mark
A. Skinner, p. 22) point to serious issues in the space
environment - not just for the future but for now.
As Dylan Taylor writes in ‘Space economics -
industry trends and space investing’ (p. 75), new
business models and capital sources are also
changing the fundamental economics of space.
We are, indeed, at a crossroads and ‘The Road Not
Taken’, a poem by US writer Robert Frost, serves as
an apt reminder. It ends with the words, ‘Two roads
diverged in a wood, and I took the one less travelled
by, and that has made all the difference’.
Other articles in this issue also reflect this. In
‘Spaceplane rationale - a new way of thinking’ (p. 60)
David Ashford argues that a choice made by NASA
four decades ago probably led to a very different
future for the global launcher industry.
As the world moves toward a new reality, we
urgently need to establish viable and effective laws
capable of addressing new and very different kinds
of space applications and use.
ROOM
is delighted to be at the vanguard of this
movement, highlighting some of the many questions
that the evolving political and space landscape is
throwing to the fore.
Not the least of these is the search for a new
system of space governance - a globally agreed
system of laws and codes of conduct for the benefit
of all humanity, not just those with the power and
might to muscle their way to the front.
On the face of it the subject is dry and meticulous
but outdated legal regimes can no longer be ignored.
Nowhere is change and adaptation needed more
than in the realm of space law and governance.
The articles in our special Space Security report
(p. 28) are all based on a new study contributed to by
more than 80 lawyers and space professionals from
around the world.
Important choices and decisions lie ahead, not
only for our national and global politicians but
also for those at the heart of the international
space community.
In the words of Frost, we once again approach
a crossroads of choices. Does humanity take the
well-trodden path of least resistance or do we head
intelligently and wisely into a brave new world of
cooperation and togetherness - and go daringly and
boldly into the future?
Clive Simpson
Managing Editor,
ROOM - The Space Journal
Does humanity
take the well-
trodden path
or do we head
intelligently
and wisely
into a brave
new world of
cooperation and
togetherness?
