THE first casualty of the international space station will be space research, scientists told the French government last week. The warning, from the French Academy of Sciences, came as ministers from the European Space Agency鈥檚 member states prepared to meet this week to decide on priorities for the next century.
The driving force behind the space station is not scientific but political, says the academy鈥檚 space research committee. It fears that Europe鈥檚 participation in the station could force ESA and France to cut their budgets for other space science programmes, such as Earth observation.
Jacques Blamont, an academy member and adviser to the French Space Agency (CNES), says Europe should scrap its planned contribution to the American-led space station. It is of no scientific interest, he claims, except perhaps for studies on human physiology in space. The project 鈥渋s rejected by scientific communities all over the world鈥�, he says.
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The academy is not alone in its criticisms. Fran莽ois Becker, chairman of the European Science Foundation鈥檚 space science committee, fears that astronauts moving around on board could wreck materials scientists鈥� microgravity experiments. For Earth observation, he says, 鈥渂etter measurements could be made elsewhere鈥�.
Louis Lanzerotti of AT&T Bell Laboratories in Murray Hill, New Jersey, and vice-president of the International Committee on Space Research, is not totally opposed to the station, but agrees that it is not ideal. 鈥淢any if not most scientific missions that would be contemplated could be accomplished with sophisticated robotics,鈥� he says. But ESA remains adamant that the station will provide a platform for top quality science. 鈥淚t won鈥檛 be an empty can,鈥� a spokesman said last week.
ESA member nations have been embroiled in debate for months over Europe鈥檚 contribution to the space station. It takes the form of a space laboratory called the Columbus Orbiting Facility, which will be attached to the main station, and the Automated Transfer Vehicle, which will ferry freight into space.
快猫短视频s are not the only people complaining. Unions representing staff at the CNES wrote to President Jacques Chirac warning of 鈥済rave consequences鈥� for the country鈥檚 space programme if money is diverted to ESA for the space station. The letter was signed by 1200 CNES employees.