A New Force at a New Frontier
Europe's Development in the Space Field in the Light of its Main Actors, Policies, Law and Activities from its Beginnings up to the Present

A comprehensive work on the European space sector.

Kevin Madders (Author)

9780521030229, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 2 November 2006

632 pages, 78 b/w illus. 17 tables
24.3 x 16.8 x 3.1 cm, 0.982 kg

'Criticisms apart, this book should find a place on the bookshelves of any serious space policy analyst, historian, or similar academic. Its collection of a large amount of material into a single volume will also make it useful for future writers on Europe's space activities, who will appreciate its comprehensive nature and its references to other works.' Mark Williamson, Earth Space Review

This is a comprehensive work on the European space sector. Written by an acknowledged expert and former space agency official, the work opens up a vital component of Europe's technostructure and the world's space programmes. Its mass of information will serve the insider as a handy reference while its themes and lively analysis will absorb the layperson and assist public judgement of European space efforts. The book first explores the Space Age's origins and Europe's response up to the 1970s. It then devotes its bulk to the scene of the 1990s by investigating the European Space Agency (ESA), Eutelsat, Arianespace, Eumetsat, ASTRA, national agencies and other bodies. How this scene works, what had been achieved, how space technology is made and used, and how policy is formed are main concerns, but of interest too are various crises, including Europe's man-in-space programme. The book identifies challenges for the space community, business and the EU, and how they may be met.

Preface
About the author
1. Introduction: space, a tale of several Europes
Part I. The Genesis of Cooperation: 2. Rockets, the Cold War and Sputnik's civilian legacy
3. Blue Streak's fate and the end of British Tripartism
4. Going from the very small to the very big: the impulse towards space research in Europe
Part II. Europe's First Space Organizations: 5. Parallel paths into space: ELDO, ESRO and their charters
6. The building of Europe's early space capacity
7. The advent of international satellite communications and Europe
8. Now let's play launcher redesign - ELDO's early tribulations and attempts at reform
9. A forum for crisis - the European space conference
10. Metamorphosis: the transformation of ESRO, ELDO's downfall and a Franco-German space pact
Part III. The European Space Agency: 11. The ESA convention and ESA's basic institutional system
12. ESA's first generation and continuation programmes
13. ESA's second generation programmes: man in space and the long-term plan
14. Infrastructure
15. Selected aspects of ESA practice
16. International cooperation
Part IV. The Wider European Space Field and its Issues: 17. The role of national space programmes
18. The operational and commercial sector
19. Issues of utilization and competition
20. La Grande Europe and space
Part V. Conclusion: 21. Synthesis and conclusions
Abbreviations
Glossary.

Subject Areas: History of science [PDX]