Monitor

reality. By the year 2000 it will be possible to fly from New York to Tokyo in only 2 hours - if there is somewhere for the plane to land. NISC will provide Japan with the means to take advantage of forthcom- ing new technologies as well as provid- ing a facility which will place it at the forefront of space exploration, giving the country a major voice in this area. The international flavour of the pro- ject, as well as the construction and

development possibilities it extends to foreign companies, makes it an ideal symbol, not only of the coming space age, but also of the dawning of a century to be devoted to international cooperation.

Source: Yutaka Horie, The Horie Group, Yoko Tsukiji Building, 5th F loor , 2-1-17 Tsuki j i , Chuo-ku, Tokyo, Japan.

Is there anybody out there?

A colloquium took place in Monte- video, Uruguay, on 10 March 1988 with the aim of convening representa- tives of different institutions linked by a common interest in how to react in the event of contact with extraterrest- rial intelligence (ETI).

The International Community and the Determination of the Existence of E x t r a t e r r e s t r i a l I n t e l l i g e n t Life brought together internationally emi- nent Uruguayans who tried to answer the question of why intelligent life should only exist on Earth.

Most of the panelists agreed on the possibility of the existence of ETI and various aspects of the issue were dis- cussed. These included the ways through which contact with ETI could be established; the liklihood of planets similar to Earth harbouring life; and an analysis of unexplained phenomena

thought by some to be related to ETI, registered in Uruguay.

Dr Roberto Puceiro and Dr Eduar- do Gaggero, two of the country's representatives at the UN COPUOS focused on the subject from the legal point of view. The former mentioned the space law rules concerning contact with ETI and the philosophical princi- ples which could be applied in case of contact.

Dr Gaggero closed the session by emphasizing the role of Uruguay in space issues as a member of the COPUOS and the IAF. He pleaded for cooperation within the internation- al community as a basis for any future encounter with ETI.

Source: Dr E. Gaggero, Director General de Aviaci6n Civil, YI 1182 Montivideo, Uruguay.

ESA and Japan meet in Paris

The 13th meeting between the Euro- pean Space Agency (ESA) and Japan took place from 20-23 June 1988 in Paris. During the four day meeting both current space activities and fu- ture programmes were discussed.

As partners in the International Space Station, both sides expressed a desire to strengthen their cooperation in the Japanese Experiment Module

(JEM) programme and ESA's Col- umbus programme. In view of this ESA expressed its intention to estab- lish a permanent representation in Tokyo in the near future.

In the area of Earth observation, mutual interest was expressed in ex- tending the present Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on ESA access to data from the Japanese Maritime

Observation Satellite (MOS-1) to cov- er the subsequent satellite MOS-lb. An MOU for mutual access and ex- change of data from the new missions of the European Remote Sensing Satellite (E/ERS-1), and the Japanese Remote Sensing Satellite (J/ERS) was considered of great benefit to both parties.

In the field of science, regular scien- ce planning meetings are taking place between ESA and The Japanese Insti- tute of Space and Astronautical Scien- ce (ISAS), covering both astronomy and solar system projects. An ex- change of scientists between ESA and Japan has been agreed.

Cooperation on in-orbit anomalies, inter-satellite links, and data relay satellites is also broadening and satis- fac t ion was expres sed with the ongoing coopera t ion for satel l i te tracking and support given by ESA to the Japanese MOS-1 mission. This will be extended to JERS-1 and the MOS- lb missions.

New fields of cooperation were dis- cussed and covered space transporta- tion systems, including spaceplane projects, space experiments using the Space Station, and the space and ground segment development and costs of the Space Station itself.

The next meeting will be held in Japan in Spring 1989.

Source: Press and Publications Sec- tion, ESA, 8--10 Rue Mario Nikis, 75738 Paris Cedex 15, France.

Addendum The authors of the report, 'Space Phoenix', published in the May 1988 issue of Space Policy would like to add a further reference to those already cited: A and K Associates, The Feasi- bility o f Using the Shuttle External Tank as a Low Cost Warehouse- Workshop-Residence in Low Earth Orbit, August, 1984. The work re- ported here was sponsored by the Sophron Foundation and it suggests how Shuttle external tanks could be transformed into useful in-space facili- ties in a reasonable time and at a relatively low unit cost.

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