Policy Brief: Solutions in Space

Space, and man’s relationship to it, has captured the human imagination for centuries. During the 20th century, dreams of space exploration became reality, and now dozens of countries, in particular in the OECD area, devote major resources to space programmes. But is this money well spent? Can we use space to find solutions to Earth’s problems not available on the ground, or are we just pursuing high-priced star-filled dreams? Space technology may have brought us benefits from satellite telecommunications and their associated benefits such as telemedicine, but could we be doing more to exploit the link between space exploration and Earth application?

Space applications have unique characteristics, such as a global vision of the world and the ability to spread information over broad areas, which could be used to make a major contribution to meeting several enduring challenges of the 21st century such as changes to the environment, use and management of natural resources, the impact of increasing international mobility, and the move to the knowledge society.

OECD studies suggest that there will be high demand for space applications in the future and that space applications have substantial potential to help tackle these problems.

But if that potential is to be realised, a number of important conditions must be met: space systems require further development, need to be better integrated with ground-based systems, and be provided in a sustainable and predictable manner. And for that to happen, policy makers will need to act on the technological, legal, economic, regulatory and institutional front.

This Policy Brief draws on OECD studies by the International Futures Programme (IFP) on how to ensure that the space sector contributes fully to the development of the economy and society. It highlights some of the issues at stake concerning the role of space assets for tackling long term societal challenges, and what actions governments could take to use space infrastructure more efficiently.