NASA and International Space Agencies Meet to Discuss Human and Robotic Space Exploration

NASA senior managers met with their counterparts representing other space agencies at the National Harbor, Md., on June 23, to discuss globally-coordinated human and robotic space exploration. The meeting participants agreed that significant progress has been made since the joint release of The Global Exploration Strategy (GES) in May 2007. They agreed steps should be taken to coordinate a long-term space exploration vision that is sustainable and affordable.

The meeting included representatives from the Italian Space Agency, the French Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales, China National Space Administration, Canadian Space Agency, German Aerospace Center, European Space Agency, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Korea Aerospace Research Institute, NASA, National Space Agency of Ukraine, Russian Federal Space Agency and the U.K. Space Agency.

The agencies' senior managers welcomed the development of the International Space Exploration Coordination Group's (ISECG) first reference architecture, which is focused on human lunar exploration. They agreed to expand their work to all key exploration destinations and the critical building blocks required to reach those destinations. This “global exploration roadmap” is a key part of an evolving international architecture effort.