French Government Group Wants Europe To Join 2nd Space Race - by Peter B.de Selding

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French Government Group Wants Europe To Join 2nd Space Race - by Peter B.de Selding

French Government Group Wants Europe To Join 2nd Space Race - by Peter B.de Selding

A French parliamentary group said China’s recent anti-satellite demonstrations, plus Chinese and Indian plans for lunar exploration, are clear signs that a second global space race has begun and that Europe should join it. In a report issued Feb. 7, the French Parliamentary Office for the Evaluation of Scientific and Technological Choices makes a series of proposals, some of them specific, to reinvigorate Europe’s civil and military space policy. * Sanctions should be imposed on any European government that does not give preference to European launch vehicles for its government civil and military satellites. Among the 50 proposals:

* France should begin preparing nuclear-powered satellites to permit deep-space exploration, using expertise at the French Atomic Energy Commission and in French industry.

* Europe’s heavy-lift Ariane 5 rocket should be made capable of launching astronauts within five years.