It is quite clear
that our global leaders at the current G-8 meetings face significant challenges. The front burners of the global political stove feature many
“hot” global issues to discuss. Global warming, warfare and hostilities in Iraq and the Middle East; genocide, starvation and poverty in Darfur and beyond. This does not even include spiraling energy costs, prospective pandemics and other such super critical issues that clearly crowd out space-related concerns. The leaders from Washington
, Moscow, Tokyo, Paris, Berlin
and
elsewhere would have to look very hard to find a slight blip on the screen that represents concerns about effective safety for space travel, control of orbital debris
or other hazards from outer space. These are
minor
issues and ones for the distant future. Right? Well, in a word: No. Actually it is time that global leaders understand that
space safety
is far from a detail to be neglected. We in the aerospace industry need to get out our space megaphones and explain a few facts.