The formation of the Provisional Space Science Board for Europe

In Chapter 4 we discussed the important role played by the Space Science Board (SSB) of the US National Academy of Sciences in relation to the space science programme of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The Board gives expert advice on the long-term programme and generally acts as a body to which members of the space science community may turn to air any dissatisfaction they may have. On the other hand, the Board does not interfere in the day-to-day running of NASA and its short term programme.

In 1973 the SSB, then under the Chairmanship of R.M. Goody, expressed their concern about the need for an international advisory body for space science. In a letter to Sir David Martin, the Executive Secretary of the Royal Society, H. Friedman, a member of the SSB, stated ‘our concern is related to the growing interest in joint development projects for space exploration … much of the interest can be directly attributed to the increasing national budgets and growing political emphasis placed on sharing the costs of major projects internationally. Without an independent and respected source of scientific advice we believe it is possible that the science content and planning for joint projects may be overly influenced by aerospace industry requirements ….’ He then suggested that he would welcome the opportunity to discuss the idea of an international advisory agency during his forthcoming visit to London to attend a meeting of the Bureau of SCOSTEP.