5 Organizational Plan_____________ While technological and economic feasibility studies are key factors in determining whether a scientific and/or technological project will succeed, certainly an understanding of the international, organizational, management, legal, political, and external factors is critical to a program's success or failure. This chapter address such issues as they relate to a space solar satellite system and to the International Space Power Organization (ISPO) in particular. 5.1 International Cooperation The end of the Cold War had varying effects on space programs in many nations. Both the United States and the former Soviet Union, which had been justifying their large projects in space by emphasizing the threat posed by the other, are now experiencing budgetary problems to the extent that space programs need to be justified based on other benefits. The situation in other spacefaring nations, in terms of political support and financial resources is no better than that of these two major spacefaring nations. Budgets for space are still limited, and no nation at this moment seems to have clear objectives in space. The world is progressing toward an acceptance of greater cooperation for large-scale technical and scientific programs. To expand or even to maintain the sphere of space activities, international cooperation is considered necessary by many nations. More importantly, international cooperation is considered a requirement in some areas. The recent discoveries on the effects of CO2 emission and the depletion of ozone layers has raised the level of public concern for the protection of the Earth's environment. Such protection requires cooperation among all nations of the world. Opportunities for cooperation are increasing as new opportunities exist for cooperation between the Western and the Eastern blocs. In terms of international cooperation, a space solar power program can be said to enjoy more favorable circumstances than previous international space efforts, as we will demonstrate. Nonetheless, there are still persistent obstacles. The objectives of this section are to examine the effects of current changes in the world order and to analyze the political implications on the space solar power program. This part is divided into three sections. The first section examines new factors in international space cooperation. How the current changes in the world order affected international cooperation is the subject of concern. Then some of the new objectives in space are discussed in the next section. In this section, not only positive factors for cooperation are presented but also negative factors which can prevent successful international cooperative projects. Finally, in the third section, the political implications of a cooperative space solar power program are discussed. 5.1.1 New Factors in International Space Cooperation Space policies of major spacefaring nations now seem to be at a turning point. During the last few years, there have been some radical changes and some visible consequences of the gradually accumulating small changes in the international political regime. There are at least three major changes affecting space cooperation. One is the decline of U.S. economic power and eroding U.S. technological leadership. Recently the United States is a debtor country facing “twin-deficits,” a trade deficit and a federal budget deficit. It has become difficult to justify U.S. leadership from an economic point of view. Regarding technological leadership, the United States is suffering a loss of industrial competitiveness in some high-technology industries, especially to Japan. There is much concern for the loss of technological leadership, and for the necessity of limiting technology transfer to other nations. Another change concerns the enhanced opportunity for cooperation with Russia. Due to chaotic economic situations, higher priority in Russia has been placed on accepting financial aid rather than maintaining military power. The financial problems are, indeed, so serious that even the military is struggling to secure a decent budget for itself. If an international cooperative project included some kind of financial contribution to the Russian society, the military, which has up to now been controlling the entire society, would likely be willing to participate, even if such participation required them to conduct that program from a civilian, as opposed to military, context.
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