|
Posted by baalke on December 5, 2006, 1:38 pm
Please log in for more thread options
For Immediate Release: December 4, 2006
Contact:
Susan Lendroth
1-626-793-5100 ext. 237
susan.lendroth@planetary.org.
Foundation Joins Planetary Society Call for An International Lunar
Decade
The Secure World Foundation has joined forces with The Planetary
Society
in calling for an International Lunar Decade to begin in 2007. The
International Lunar Decade, following in the tradition of years of
focused
scientific research, such as the International Geophysical Year, will
create a global space agency framework. The Secure World Foundation
has
committed $66,000 to enhance the work The Planetary Society is doing
with
other international organizations to create the ILD. See
http://planetary.org/programs/projects/lunar_decade/ for more details.
"Many nations have set their sights on the Moon," said Louis Friedman,
Executive Director of The Planetary Society. "Such worldwide interest
calls for worldwide cooperation - an International Lunar Decade that
will
begin next year with the expected launches of Chinese and Japanese
missions, and will continue until 2019, the target date set by the U.S.
for a human return to the Moon. We are grateful to the Secure World
Foundation for their involvement."
India, the United States, Russia, and Italy are also planning lunar
missions, and the European Space Agency recently completed its SMART-1
lunar orbiter mission.
The International Lunar Exploration Working Group and the Committee on
Space Research (COSPAR) have already endorsed The Planetary Society's
call
for an International Lunar Decade, and the concept has been presented
to
the International Astronautical Federation General Assembly for
consideration.
The Society will present the ILD concept next year to the United
Nations
Committee on Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS). The Planetary
Society
is a non-governmental (NGO) consultative member of COPUOS.
"The International Lunar Decade provides an opportunity for the world
to
combine our talents and our dreams to develop cooperative, sustainable
and
secure systems for moving out into the global commons of space," said
Cynda Collins Arsenault, President of the Secure World Foundation. "We
are pleased to work with The Planetary Society, who has long recognized
the importance of this new frontier."
An International Lunar Decade will help nurture the popular vision
needed
to sustain political support in each of the spacefaring nations
planning
lunar missions and will help further both science cooperation and
mission
coordination. A cohesive framework will also enable scientists from
many
nations - in addition to those conducting missions - to gain support
for
lunar studies.
The Planetary Society and Secure World Foundation hope to provide an
opportunity for young scientists, particularly in developing countries,
to
gain more public and private support for lunar research in their
nations.
Both organizations believe that international cooperation will enhance
peaceful exploration of space.
Calling for a unified approach has precedent in the scientific
community.
Previous examples include the International Geophysical Year, the
International Polar Year, and the International Space Year. Just as
those
"years" were not always literal (some extended to twice that length),
the
proposed International Lunar Decade (ILD) is not exactly ten years.
The International Lunar Decade should begin in 2007 to coincide with a
year that marks the 50th anniversary of Sputnik and will see the
expected
launches of Japan's SELENE and China's Chang'E lunar missions. The
"decade" will end twelve years later in 2019 with a human mission to
the
Moon.
2007 is also the 40th anniversary of the Outer Space Treaty, which
called
for broad international cooperation in the scientific, as well as the
legal, aspects of the exploration and use of outer space for peaceful
purposes.
The Planetary Society, in coordination with The Planetary Society of
Japan
and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), is already helping
to
raise public awareness of Japan's SELENE mission with the "Wish Upon
the
Moon" campaign. The Society is collecting names and messages to send
to
the Moon on SELENE. Learn more about the "Wish Upon the Moon" campaign
at
http://planetary.org/selene.
-o0o-
THE PLANETARY SOCIETY:
The Planetary Society has inspired millions of people to explore other
worlds and seek other life. Today, its international membership makes
the
non-governmental Planetary Society the largest space interest group in
the
world. Carl Sagan, Bruce Murray and Louis Friedman founded The
Planetary
Society in 1980.
SECURE WORLD FOUNDATION:
The Secure World Foundation supports efforts to develop sustainable
space
governance. This will require the rule of law, reliable mechanisms of
enforcement and global systems providing the means to settle conflicts
without resorting to war.
WEBLINKS:
The Planetary Society http://planetary.org
Secure World Foundation http://www.swfound.org/
International Lunar Decade
http://planetary.org/programs/projects/lunar_decade/
Wish Upon the Moon http://planetary.org/selene
|
| Similar Threads | Posted | | Re: Call for Papers: The 2008 International Conference on Modeling, | February 17, 2008, 1:49 pm |
| Re: Call for Papers: The 2008 International Conference on Modeling, | February 20, 2008, 3:50 pm |
| Re: Call for Papers: The 2008 International Conference on Modeling, | February 21, 2008, 12:31 am |
| Re: Call for Papers: The 2008 International Conference on Modeling, | February 21, 2008, 3:17 pm |
| Re: Call for Papers: The 2008 International Conference on Modeling, | February 22, 2008, 1:45 am |
| Extended Deadline on Call for Papers: 2007 International Conference on Data Mining (DMIN'07) | March 1, 2007, 6:16 am |
| Call for Papers: The 2009 International Conference on Data Mining (DMIN'09), USA, July 13-16, 2009 | November 28, 2008, 5:29 pm |
| Last Call for Papers: 2007 International Conference on Modeling, Simulation and Visualization Methods (MSV'07), June 25-28, 2007, USA | February 15, 2007, 1:48 am |
| Call for Papers with Extended Deadline: 2007 International Conference on Scientific Computing (CSC'07), June 25-28, 2007, USA | February 28, 2007, 1:15 am |
| Planetary Society Offers $50,000 Prize for Asteroid Tagging Designs | December 13, 2006, 6:37 pm |
|
XML Sitemap