ISU Southern Hemisphere Summer Space Program - Paths to Progress

As noted in a previous post, the International Space University's (ISU) inaugural Southern Hemisphere Summer Space Program (SHS-SP) was held in Adelaide in January 5th to February 4th, 2011. The program consisted of 43 participants from nine different countries spending an intensive month studying all aspects of space and space activities. Additional information and links to material discussed and presented can be found on the program homepage, here.

The program culminated with the presentation of the group's White Paper which focused on:

"...[proposing] space-related policies and strategies to serve current and future social and economic needs in Southern Hemisphere States."


After considerable discussion, the group focused their report on three goals that were also linked to the UN's Millenium Development Goals:

1. Realising Southern capabilities.
2. Developing Earth observation capabilities.
3. Promoting tele-health and tele-education.

Their report contained six key recommendations related to these goals.

1. Exploit the natural and geographic advantages of the Southern Hemisphere.
2. Establish a Regional Space Industry Association.
3. Collaborate on Earth observation systems.
4. Cooperate on EO data and product dissemination.
5. Develop expertise and infrastructure to ensure optimal use of available EO and GIS solutions.
6. Invest in tele-health and tele-education.

The executive summary and full report are available for download from the program White Paper website.