Contenu du sommaire : L'espace, enjeux politiques

From Cosmos to Space
Space is not an objective reality, per se. It is always invested by the imaginary. Today, this imaginary is expressed in the language of science. Yesterday, it was in the language of metaphysics and religion. Man's proper conception of himself is linked to that of space in which he lives. From the closed cosmos to the boundless universe, man remained the basic reference. But is it still true, today ?

Space and Geostrategy
There is a relationship between the projections and representations we have of Space, and the elaboration of a space strategy. Thus, Space can only be thought through its relationship with the earth. Therefore, it is necessary to take into account the nature of the representations of the ground itself that are mapped onto Space. Theses representations can be religious, geographic or strategic.

Geography of Imaginary Cosmic Travels
Long before the space age, some authors had thought about flying over the earth. Lucien Samosate, Johann Kepler, Francis Godwin, Cyrano de Bergerac had described imaginary cosmic travels from which men could observe the earth, before Edgar Allan Poe, Herbert George Wells, Jules Verne, Konstantin Edouardovitch Tsiolkovski, Alexis Tolstoï or Hermann Oberth were able to imagine space observation of our planet.

Kubrick, Space Odyssey2001, a Space Odyssey (released in 1968) was based on a thorough and meticulous research by Kubrick and Space experts. It is therefore based upon the most up-to-date scientific knowledge of the time. 2001's Space is dark, cold and mute, but above all, it must be seen as a metaphorical place for philosophical explorations on humankind.

Satellites representation in US action movies
It is commonly thought that American cinema is the instrument of the U.S. government, which uses it to impose a specific image of America on people. We chose to examine the image of a concrete power factor – satellites – based on an analysis of movies themselves rather than an analysis of the sociological context around their production. We therefore show that a standardized representation of satellites is portrayed in American movies and a visual code is now stabilized. Nevertheless, this representation degenerates progressively into a fantasy, due to the fact that it is not determined by any political vision but it is shaped by the specific constraints of filmed entertainment. Representations are structured according to the fiction they are part of – not by any network of political intentions. The relation between Hollywood and Washington appears too ambivalent to be considered as a subordination of one by the other. It seems to us that it is more relevant to build on the hypothesis that they determine each other.

The Space Program and U.S. Leadership : The Quest for Power and Pride
Two intangible motivations – communicating national power and enhancing national pride – have been major rationales for the U.S. decision to invest significant resources in human space flight over the past forty years. This essay explores how they were manifested in the early years of the U.S. space program in ways that made space achievement an important element of the U.S. national identity both domestically and around the world, and asks whether the U.S. space program as it is being carried out today continues to contribute to U.S. power and pride.

Space Programs and National Identity : View from Russia
Nowadays space programs have lost much of their priority status and most of their funding. Two solutions have been proposed : space commercialization and international space cooperation. International cooperation in space seems less risky in terms of financial and technological investment, but requires understanding between the participants belonging to different cultures. The present article dwells upon the cultural peculiarities of space activities and ways to overcome national barriers.

Public Perception of Space in Japan : Media and Space
This paper aims to provide an analysis of how Japanese general public perceive its space activities and how these perceptions influence the decision-making for Japanese space development. It focuses, on the one hand, on the discourses which are used in major public communication tools such as newspapers. The conclusion is that NASDA and Japanese government, by taking advantage of less space-interested media, frequently uses symbolic features of space such as manned space activities, and emphasises the importance of making dream comes true. On the other hand, the analysis focuses on how public receives the images of space which are generated by NASDA and the government. The opinion poll shows that the NASDA's strategy to foster the image of space as a dream is quite successful. Therefore, this static and favourable public perception for space can be considered as one of the fundamental causes of very stable Japanese space policy.

Outer Space and Symbol : the European Issue
One would have thought that outer space, a subject of fantasmagoric speculation for humanity across the millennia, would have lost its symbolic power when men tamed it. Meanwhile, conquest of space, from its beginning, has shown a transformation of this symbol, outer space becoming a powerful political and identitary symbol of the two systems personified by the USA and USSR, in competition during the cold war. Could outer space be by essence symbolic in its very nature ? The analysis of the European space dynamic and its eventual symbolic construction show this issue in a very different light, when compared with American and Soviet space policies. Space as a symbol thereof appears to be mainly the product of a social and historic context and of a specific political logic.

Space and Chinese Politics
From the very beginning, the historical development of Chinese space program stood for a strong symbolic dimension of the nation-state building as well as a political recognition of the maoist revolutionary regime. Such a political instrumentation has actually prevailed during the five decades of the history of the People's Republic of China. Nowadays, it is at the core of China's willingness to obtain an international integration and acknowledgement of its reform process since 1978 as much as a strong nationalist consciousness, easily enforced by Beijing. In spite of this, observers notice that so called « useful space programs » in terms of development are still rather under developed. The current situation is yet different from the past by the fact that space policy tends now to be more integrated, conceptualised and as such much dependant on the more general reform agenda regarding national bureaucracy or economic policy. For the time being, the ultimate goal is to develop a business oriented path for the space sector. This is already advocated by half private institutions acting on the authority of the State in the field of management activities, and by a constant policy of withdrawing military leaders from the civil space sector. Chinese space future developments will precisely depend on the capacity of the political power to find and have those two elements of balance respected.

Nilesat 101, 102 : a Small Story of a Dream of Power
Egypt, one of the most famous producer of soap operas and popular movies seems reasserting its leadership in the field of media by launching Nilesat 101 and 102 satellites in 1998 and 2000. Introduced first as an urgent step to preserve national security and regional prestige, the acquisition of the two satellites of broadcasting and communication became progressively an efficient tool in fostering financial markets and enhancing new media industries. This huge infrastructure has not met yet a proper regional demand. Nevertheless, this doesn't discourage the Egyptian satellite ambition.

The satellite deus ex machina of teaching programs
Supposedly in the front line of progress, the teaching programmes in life and earth sciences are calling on space techniques. This trend is followed by the specialized publishing companies that are offering a wide range of space pictures and data. The global view capability provided by the satellite makes it a unique tool that is used more or less advisedly in the French educational system starting from the second year up to the final year. This article describes day-to-day realities for teachers who have to deal with a technique that they do not necessarily master.

When TV Watches Man in Space
Considering the TV news evolution during 50 years, the main question is to understand how the « space » topic is included in the successive editorial policy. We have observed a succession of periods in the discourse mode evolution, whose main characteristics reveal some changes in the way to construct the enunciator — and in this case, the scientific journalist — in the way to treat the futur prospects and to consider the real apprehension modes.

Military Space : Myths and Reality
The competition between the US and the USSR and the use of space from an ideological point of view played a pre-eminent role at the beginning of the space conquest. With the development of « spy satellites » a feeling of defiance developed in the public mind while their efficiency for armament control was largely ignored. In the end, the main stakes such as militarization of space in the context of US antimissile programs are not clearly perceived by media and public opinion whose imaginary perception of space is still dominant.

Space Meteorology in Europe
The importance of meteorology in the social framework has increased significantly while, in the mean time, its methods, its tools and its results were improved. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the development, in Europe, of one of the main sources of this change : observation from space. The consequences on the relevant european structures and on the enlargement of the field of these structures to the global change problems are analysed.

Communication Satellites : from Technical Possibilities to Industrial and Political Realities
The satellite has seemed to be a revolutionary tool of communications, abolishing distances and frontiers. The communications satellite has been confronted, in practice, by the realities of the political, strategic and economic interests involved in the development of satellite communications systems. From the 1960s to the mid-1980s, governments dominated international cooperation aimed at operating satellites for communications. The second part of the 1980s showed a break, linked to the strong momentum for the deregulation of space communications. In both cases, the United States played a leading part. Now, space communications appear to be a privileged area of interactions between public and private actors, illustrating the evolution of the role of the State.

The Crisis of Space Policy in United Space
For some years, the space programs have been experiencing a period of uncertainties with a reconsideration of the beliefs and the functioning that have supported this activity since the beginnings. The interest for the big programs, the role of the space agencies as well as the relationships between the public and the industrial sector are progressively affected by a necessity to redefine the orientations of the space effort and to adapt a new discourse about it. This is particularly true in the United States where the intensity of the adaptation effort measures up to the enormous amount of the past investments devoted to space, both politically and financially. The way the U.S. space community has been speaking about itself and its problems has been accentuating this feeling by describing an « abnormal » current situation versus what it sees as a « normal » situation during the sixties. This article suggests that, beyond the purely programmatic debates, the positions and strategies analysed are also expressing the difficulties experienced by a very specific community to find a role and an identity in the new « space policy » it is precisely trying to promote.