Launching Europe: An Ethnography of European Cooperation in Space Science [Paperback]

The complete title of this book is "Launching Europe: An Ethnography of European Cooperation in Space Science", and on the back cover, you can read that this book should be found in the "Anthropology" section of your bookstore: this is not an error. This is neither an engineering document nor a scientific report of the ESA projects, but an in-depth analysis of the human interactions. And a very technical one: the author is a professional anthropologist, and this text really looks like an authentic anthropological research: the vocabulary is very specific, the methodology is precise, the bibliography extensive.

But even if you are not, like me, a specialist in this field, this will be a very instructive book. Indeed, the ESA science department is a very complex environment, where hundreds of people from more than fifteen countries work together on high-tech projects. In such a challenging environment, you can expect some intriguing things to happen, and the author successfully pinpointed and explained the problems and solutions devised by the participants, such as the scientist/engineer, or technical/management oppositions, the endless meetings, the pressure from deadlines or financial constraints, etc. For example, being fluent in English is not an asset, even though most of the communication is in English. It's also interesting to note that there is almost no hierarchy, but a culture of voluntarily assumed responsibilities. And since no decision can be taken unilaterally without formal hierarchy, absolutely everything goes through tense but effective negotiations. And of course, there is more.

In addition to this purely anthropological exercise, and in order to describe completely the system the people work in, the author also details the historical and structural background of the agency. Combined with the in-depth analysis, this high-level view of the system helps the reader to grasp how such a complicated system achieves its success. This complementary information will detail the ESTEC buildings, laboratories, cantina, etc. as well as the steps taken by a project from idea to satellite, from management decisions at the Paris headquarters, through the peer-review system and up to the flight approval tests.

Only one thing was missing (maybe): even if ESA cannot be directly compared the NASA, this exercise is inevitable. Asides from a few lines here and there, this book doesn't talk about NASA at all. You will then have to do this by yourself.

Overall, a good book, not (only) for space enthusiasts, but (also) for those interested in the challenges faced by those who have the courage to cooperate on an international level... and succeed.

If you want to improve you overall knowledge of ESA, I would recommend the concise but interesting book from two insiders (who actually helped define the highly successful "Horizon 2000" programme): "International Cooperation in Space: The Example of the European Space Agency" by R. Bonnet and V. Manno (1994, ISBN 0674458354). In just under 200 pages, you will get the historical and political background of the agency. For a very complete story, in 600 pages, read "A New Force at a New Frontier" by K. Madders (1997, ISBN 0521570964). You can also order (for free!) the annual reports from 1994 directly from the ESA web site.