A New Force at a New Frontier: Europe's Development in the Space Field in the Light of its Main Actors, Policies, Law and Activities from its Beginnings up to the Present [Hardcover]

Kevin Madders (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 28, 1997 | ISBN-10: 0521570964 | ISBN-13: 978-0521570961

This book will provide a comprehensive source of information for space specialists and others having a close interest in European space affairs. Written by an acknowledged expert and former space agency official, the work opens up a vital component of Europe's technostructure and the world's space programs. Its mass of information will serve the insider as a handy reference while its lively analysis will assist public judgment of European space efforts. The book first explores the Space Age's origins and Europe's response up to the 1970s. It then devotes its bulk to the present scene by investigating ESA, Eutelsat, Arianespace, Eumetsat, ASTRA, national agencies and other bodies. How this scene works, what has been achieved, how space technology is made and used and how policy is formed are main concerns, but of interest too are various crises, including recently Europe's man-in-space program. The book identifies challenges for the space community, business, and the EU and how they may be met.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...for those with a genuine interest in the history of Europe's push into space, A New Force at a New Frontier will be an excellent resource." Space News

"...this book will serve mosstly as a useful reference work...." John Krige, Isis

Book Description

Ariane rockets, the Spacelab laboratory for the Shuttle, telecommunications and Earth observation satellites. These are all ways in which Europe has made its mark on the Space Age. But how did this happen? What -- or who-- is "Europe" here? How is it organised? And where is it going in a post-Maastricht, post-Cold War era? The answers amount to a story of successes and failures, and political drama. The reader enters space facilities and learns how business is done when the bills are written in millions if not billions.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 628 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press (April 28, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521570964
• ISBN-13: 978-0521570961
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 7.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,347,633 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Highly detailed ESA history, April 23, 2002

By 

Joan Roch (Montréal, Qc Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A New Force at a New Frontier: Europe's Development in the Space Field in the Light of its Main Actors, Policies, Law and Activities from its Beginnings up to the Present (Hardcover)

The European Space Agency (ESA) has been officially created in 1975, included ten countries, and was the first truly international cooperative space organization.

Twenty-five years later, with fifteen members, the Agency is still the only space agency of its kind, and has been a spectacular success: a complicated mix of technology, science, commerce and politics that lead to Giotto, Ariane, SOHO, XMM or the ISS. And the future seems even brighter, since the ESA is working on ambitious projects such as Mars and Venus Express, Darwin, BepiColombo or GalileoSat.

Twenty-five years before ESA was born, cooperation between the main European nations has been attempted, eventually leading to the creation of two organizations: one for science (ESRO), the other for rockets (ELDO). ESRO did achieve some success, but ELDO failed completely with its Europa launcher.

How did such a unpromising start led to such a promising future?

This book, "A New Force At A New Frontier", starts from the beginning of it all (Sputnik), and chronologically relates what happened, why, and how it was handled. Mainly covering political and legal aspects, this book provides the space enthusiast with a highly detailed historical account.

Very precise, complete and technical (treaties and agreements are dissected almost point by point), the future reader must be aware that this text is definitly a research work done by a specialist, and not an ordinary, easy-reading book on the space program written a journalist. But learning about the politics involved is the only way to understand the ESA history.

Overall, an excellent reference that makes a good book, but for a limited readership, given its subject (ESA is not very well known, but this may change) and treatment (technical analysis of legal texts).

If you want to improve you overall knowledge of ESA, I would recommend the very interesting book from a professional anthropologist: "Launching Europe" by S. Zabusky (1995, ISBN 0691029725). In 300 pages, you will get an intimate view of the inner workings of ESA. I would also recommend the short but interesting book from two insiders (who actually helped define the highly successful "Horizon 2000" programme): "International Cooperation in Space: The Example of the European Space Agency" by R. Bonnet and V. Manno (1994, ISBN 0674458354). In just under 200 pages, this book provides the historical and political background of the agency. You can also order (for free!) the annual reports, from 1994, directly from the ESA web site.