Outer Space: A Techno-Scientific Realm Calling for More Social Studies

• In Event: Science, Technology and Society in Outer Space - I

Abstract

The space age just turned 60 years old and we are celebrating this 50 years from its greatest achievement: humankind setting foot on the moon. The space age opened up a new physical and conceptual domain where humankind has been deploying its ingenuity, its quest for scientific knowledge and its display of technological power as well as the politics and relations common to all organised groups and among themselves.
Few social and non-technical disciplines were called upon addressing these new activities, their organisation and the impact on relations among nations, in particular law and gave birth to a flourishing new fields: space law.
As time went by political scientists, historians and sociologists started analysing this new object of human interactions. Then came the economists and the artists up to anthropologists, and writers.
As a result of technological progress we have witnessed the so called democratisation of space, that is the process by which the number of players, their nature and drivers have evolved and multiplied over the last 20 years.


The projection of humankind in space, whether by further exploiting its vantage point to better serve terrestrial needs or to expand the sphere of human activities beyond Earth’s orbit, will continue. This will encompass technical and scientific challenges and rewards.


It will also however call for an increased attention by social scientists and sts scholar to appraise, describe and understand the actors, drivers and mechanisms at play in why and how humans are turning into a spacefaring civilization.


The paper will provide a space affairs insider account of its evolution throughout the space age and will make the case for a enhanced involvement of sts and social sciences in space matters.
Furthermore the paper, through addressing space as a diplomatic tool, will try and provide a reviewed account of the history of competition and cooperation among space fairing Nations in the first 30 years often in a mismatch with the mainstream diplomatic trend.

Author

• Piero Messina, European Space Agency