In 1958, the United Nations (UN) formally recognised a new potential for international cooperation by establishing an ad hoc Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS). A year later the Committee became a permanent body, and by 1983 membership had expanded to 53 states, with more than half of the members coming from the developing world. In 1970, COPUOS established the UN Progamme on Space Applications in order to strengthen cooperation in space science and technology between non-industrialised and industrialised countries. In the last few years, the UN and its COPUOS have paid increasing attention to education and research in space science and technology, including basic space science.
In 1991 the UN, in cooperation with ESA, initiated the organisation of annual Workshops in Basic Space Science for developing countries. These Workshops are designed to be held in one of the following major regions: Asia and the Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, Western Asia, and Europe. Accordingly, Basic Space Science Workshops have already been held in India (1991), Costa Rica and Colombia (1992), and Nigeria (1993). The fourth Workshop was held from 27 June to 1 July 1994 at the Cairo University, in Egypt, for Western Asia (see note 1) .
Note 1.
The 1991 Workshop in India was organised in cooperation with the Government of India, hosted by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), and sponsored by ISRO, ESA and the UN. The 1992 Workshop in Costa Rica and Colombia was organised in cooperation with the Governments of Costa Rica and Colombia, and hosted by the University of Costa Rica in San Jose and the International Center for Physics (CIF) and the University of los Andes in Bogota. That Workshop was sponsored by ESA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), The Planetary Society (TPS) and the UN. The 1993 Workshop in Nigeria was organised in cooperation with the National Agency for Scientific and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) of the Government of Nigeria, and was hosted by the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ile. It was sponsored by ESA, the German Space Agency (DARA), the International Center for Theoretical Physics, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Nigerian Telecommunications PLC (NITEL), TPS and the UN.
The title of the Workshops intentionally includes the term 'Basic Space Science' to reflect the fact that in many non-industrialised countries astronomical, planetological and astrophysical research is precarious, while more application-oriented fields of space science and technology are fairly well developed and provide opportunities to accommodate astronomical research projects.
The four Workshops were attended by 300 invited participants from 50 countries and 15 national and international organisations. The scientific programme included 160 presentations addressing topics in international cooperation in basic space science, space-science education, space-science policy, solar-terrestrial interaction, cosmology, planetary science, ground-based and space-based observatories, and space astronomy, astrophysics and cosmology. The scientific programme of the Workshops is developed by the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs, ESA, TPS, and the host institution. The selection of topics depends on the interests of the local organisers, with a strategic combination of the above-mentioned topics.
The UN/ESA Workshops provide an excellent opportunity for scientists from non-industrialised countries to both present the results of their research work to the international scientific community and familiarise themselves with the most recent results in their fields. Proceedings containing scientific papers, papers addressing the status of current and future basic space-science projects, as well as recommendations and observations emanating from the Workshops are published.
The traditional problems of basic science (including isolation, brain drain, lack of financial resources, ever-increasing gap with respect to industrialised countries, lack of scientific tradition, and weak infrastructure) in non-industrialised countries remain a major cause of concern. Interestingly, there are new developments that may change the situation, and these developments deserve serious consideration. The most important facts that have brought some hope for the improvement of the situation of science in non-industrialised countries are: first, local governments are understanding the need to recognise the intrinsic value of basic space science and its importance as an essential component without which the economy cannot grow; secondly, there is a new trend in the scientific community to develop large international facilities, which may make use of the climatological and geographic attributes of non-industrialised countries; thirdly, the revolution in electronic communications allows close contact between scientists and permits access to remote databases and computer power from any part of the world. This technology helps ameliorate the isolation factor in unprecedented ways. Lastly, global problems (i.e. environment) and the consciousness that their solution must be global in nature has led to the inclusion of non-industrialised countries in the science policies of the industrialised countries.
The loss of researchers from non-industrialised countries via a 'brain drain' is a serious problem that must be addressed. To reverse this process, efforts must be made to promote awareness in non-industrialised countries of the importance of space science and to ensure that space scientists have the basic resources necessary for their work. International efforts to ensure that scientists in non-industrialised countries have adequate communication links to the international scientific community, adequate access to the technical literature, more opportunities to participate in international meetings, access to data and data-processing facilities, and opportunities to participate in the planning, design and use of space observatories, research programs and space missions, all help reduce the feeling that scientists in non-industrialised countries have to move abroad in order to produce good scientific work. The UN/ESA Workshops have been organised to address these problems and to help identify solutions.
The objective of these Workshops is to strengthen basic space science in non-industrialised countries by addressing ways and means by which the following goals can be accomplished: to make scientists aware of current and future scientific and technical aspects of basic space science, to enhance scientific cooperation between developing countries, to explore avenues of education, training and research in space-science subjects for the benefit of developing countries, to create an international core group of scientists that will pursue the objectives of the Workshop, to provide access to the most recent advances for scientists from non-industrialised countries, to identify avenues that will facilitate scientific cooperation, to create a forum for the discussion of problems and the formulation of policies and recommendations.
The development of basic science in non-industrialised countries is a key factor for the economic prosperity of those countries. Scientific research is now being recognised by the governments of non-industrialised countries as an essential ingredient to guarantee economic growth through the establishment of a strong infrastructure for the assimilation and use of high technologies. In the context of these Workshops, 'Basic Space Sciences' have been defined as:
Basic space science is closely associated with the economic development of a country. Examples of space-technology applications for the benefit of non-industrialised countries are already very well known remote sensing, telecommunications, monitoring of natural resources, environment and weather conditions, etc. All of these applications have a direct influence on the economy. The importance of developing basic space science has certainly been recognised in those countries that have sponsored the UN/ESA Workshops, i.e. India, Costa Rica, Colombia, Nigeria, and Egypt.
Many non-industrialised countries have developed some infrastructure for the management of remote-sensing and telecommunications services. However, these are just two of many end products offered by space technology. It is important to develop basic space science in order to take full advantage of space technologies. Without indigenous capabilities, the rapid growth of these technologies rapidly renders the acquired infrastructure obsolete and prolongs the dependence on the industrialised countries. This fact has traditionally been ignored by policy makers and local governments.
A trickle-down effect is produced when highly qualified scientists are present to construct the required infrastructure by training other scientists, engineers, technicians, and students. The buying of packaged ready-to-use technology has failed as a model for technology transfer, with the expected increase in knowledge not materialising. On the contrary, an increase in dependence on the industrialised countries has been noted, and the accumulation of costly and often obsolete equipment has been the end result.
A vital part of the Workshops are the Working Group Sessions, which provide participants with a forum in which observations and recommendations for developing basic space science in all its aspects, through regional and international cooperation, are made. Scientists from different non-industrialised countries have a surprisingly large number of in common. Discussions between them have stimulated an exchange of ideas which, when combined with the diversity of experiences, provides a rich and favorable environment for the creation of new collaborative initiatives. By opening the floor to the scientists, these meetings become an ideal forum where key issues that are impeding progress can be identified and proposals formulated. The content of these discussions and the proposals that may come out will be collected in a set of Recommendations that will form part of UN General Assembly document that will be used to lobby governments and funding agencies.
In addition to the direct benefits of an international scientific conference, the UN/ESA Workshops have generated a number of other supplementary activities such as: the donation of 30 personal computers by ESA to non-industrialised countries, the donation of professional astronomical telescopes by the Japanese government (under Japan's Cultural Grant Aid scheme), as well as the donation of educational space-science material by TPS and NASA/JPL. An important aspect of the recent Workshop in Cairo was the agreement to upgrade the Kotamia Observatory facilities and the intention to make this instrument available as a regional facility to the scientists from the Western Asian region.
Recommendations common to all three Workshops are as follows. It is recommended to build first-rate educational and research capabilities for internationally recognised scientific research, by ensuring availability at national level of existing basic space-science data archives. The participants recognised that the continual progress in basic space science and technology makes the free and efficient flow of ideas and concepts a necessity, and therefore urged Member States to plan and implement local electronic communications at least at, or preferably above, the basic e-mail network level. Access to remote computing power and databases immediately opens up a whole new world of research opportunities to scientists in any research opportunities to region of the world.
Another important recommendation that has come out of the UN/ESA meetings is the need to explore the great scientific potential of some non-industrialised countries due to their special attributes (i.e. climate, geography, bio-diversity, etc.), which put them in a privileged position for the development of certain fields of scientific research: geomagnetism studies, electrojet currents, galactic mapping, solar photometry, astrometry and environmental projects such as ozone mapping.
The recognition of the particular scientific potential of specific regions is not new. The Chacaltaya cosmic-ray station in Bolivia and the European Southern Observatory in Chile are well-known examples of those types of activities that can act as catalyst in the scientific development of non-industrialised countries. However, the development of such international facilities needs coordination, and discussions about future facilities of this type have taken place in the UN/ESA Workshops. Colombia, for example, has started the establishment of a radio-observatory in collaboration with the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory that will take advantage of its equatorial location, in combination with the presence of high-altitude peaks, in order to construct maps of diffuse galactic radio emission. A proposal for an interAfrican astronomical observatory and science park on Gamsberg mountain in Namibia, which offers a high proportion of cloudless nights, a dark sky, excellent atmospheric transparency, and low humidity, has also been discussed. In March 1992, site-selection feasibility studies were initiated in Nsukka, Nigeria, for a computerised optical telescope for detailed solar seismology studies. This project is a collaborative effort by the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and the Zetetic Institute, Arizona, USA. Another project that originated in the Workshops is the installation of an Internet node in Nigeria, with TPS support.
One of the most important messages to come out of these Workshops is that we can all share the excitement of the new discoveries. Theories of the cosmos and the position of humanity and the Earth within the Universe have always been central to our cultural beliefs and values. However, the concept of economic development has generally focussed on technology and applications, rather than on science and research. As a result, development programmes have not paid sufficient attention to promoting scientific research and international cooperation in science. In the long term, scientific research is essential to the intellectual, spiritual, social and economic vitality of society. We must not only find technical solutions to the problems we understand, but we must also find new ways of understanding our world. Knowledge about nature and the cosmos is a cultural heritage that belongs to humanity as a whole and should enrich all cultures regardless of their geographical location, race, politics or economic standing. In this respect, space is a common link that can unite us all!
Figure 1. World network of national hosts of the IUE Data Archival System (ULDA/USSP). This ESA-developed system has given many Developing Countries, including those still with limited communications infrastructures, direct access to data from the Agency's International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE) satellite
Figure 2. A United Nations computer engineer, Mr Abraham Edathanal, surrounded in his Vienna office by 30 surplus PCs donated by ESA/ESOC. After a thorough checkout in Vienna, the PCs were shipped by the UN to needy research institutes in Cuba, Ghana, Honduras, Nigeria, Peru and Sri Lanka
Figure 3. The Kotamia Observatory in the Egyptian desert south of Cairo. The Egyptian Ministry of Education's plans for upgrading its 74-inch Cassegrain telescope and opening it as a regional facility represent an important step for the development of the Basic Space Sciences - in this case astronomy - for the western Asian countries
ESA Bulletin Nr. 81.