宇宙活動の新しい展開

Abstract

A national space program of the government generally provides a firm base for prediction of the future space activities well until the end of this century. For example, the latest issue of the Japanese space program prepared by the government Space Activities Commission has authorized development of satellites to be operational by 1993 and advanced studies on later projects. For the long range plan, the Commission organized a special panel which reported that the Japanese space activities should include manned space activities and the government space budget should be in-creased by five times more than the current one.The continuation of growth of world space activities can be indicated by the fact that the total number of artificial space objects and the annual human population in space are constantly increasing. Commercialization of space and manned space flight feature the current space activities in the world. The US and USSR emphasize space station for their main activities in space, and the European decid-ed to seek autonomous capability in the field of manned space flight.Finally, a personal view on the prospect of space activities through the end of the next century is briefly introduced in connection with evolution of technological capability in space.