Aug 30, 2011

Michael Braukus/J D Harrington Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1979/5241 michael j braukus@nasa gov/j d harrington@nasa gov

RELEASE: 11-280

SPACE AGENCIES MEET TO DISCUSS A GLOBAL EXPLORATION ROADMAP

WASHINGTON -- Senior managers representing 10 space agencies from around the world met in Kyoto, Japan today to advance the Global Exploration Roadmap for coordinated space exploration

During the past year, the International Space Exploration Coordination Group (ISECG) has developed a long-range human exploration strategy It begins with the International Space Station and expands human presence throughout the solar system, leading ultimately to human missions to explore the surface of Mars The roadmap flows from this strategy and identifies two potential pathways: "Asteroid Next" and "Moon Next "

Each pathway represents a mission scenario over a 25-year period describing a logical sequence of robotic and human missions Both pathways were deemed practical approaches addressing common high-level exploration goals developed by the participating agencies, recognizing that individual preferences among participating space agencies may vary regarding these pathways

The first iteration of the roadmap will inform and focus the planning currently underway in each of the partner agencies in the areas of planetary robotic exploration, advanced technology development and use of the space station in preparation for exploration It was agreed that during the next few weeks, this initial version of the Global Exploration Roadmap would be finalized and released to the public

Yoshiyuki Hasagawa of Japan's Aerospace Exploration Agency, in his capacity as chairman of the International Space Exploration Coordination Group said, "We are very happy with the progress of the Global Exploration Roadmap to technically coordinate both near and long term space exploration planning, with world space agencies "

During the meeting, the senior agency managers also reaffirmed the role of the ISECG to facilitate the ability of space agencies to take concrete steps toward partnerships that reflect a globally coordinated exploration effort

"NASA is confident that the release of this product, and subsequent refinements as circumstances within each space agency evolve, will facilitate the ability of space agencies to form the partnerships that will ensure robust and sustainable human exploration," said NASA's Associate Administrator for Human Exploration and Operations and outgoing ISECG chair William Gerstenmaier

The ISECG was established as a voluntary, non-binding international coordination forum, where the partner agencies that contributed to the Global Exploration Strategy (GES) can exchange information regarding interests, plans, and activities in space exploration

The GES set forth a shared vision for concerted human and robotic space exploration missions focused on solar system destinations where humans may one day live and work Another stated goal is to encourage the partners to work together on strengthening both individual exploration programs and collective efforts

The development of the Global Exploration Roadmap is the second step toward achieving this goal, following the development of the ISECG Reference Architecture for Human Lunar Exploration

The countries participating in the meeting included in alphabetical order: Canada, Europe, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Russia, United Kingdom, and United States

For more information about NASA and human exploration visit:

http://www nasa gov/directorates/heo/home/index html

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