ISEO Discussion Thread (OOC) (TWI only)

[Reynaerdia]

International Space Exploration Organisation

Discussion Thread

Cosmic greetings to all! This thread is meant for discussion and world building around the International Space Exploration Organisation (ISEO for short).
ISEO is meant to be an organisation where smaller economies band together to fund a world class space program. Here we can discuss memberships, funding, procurement and most importantly our missions.
All ideas are welcome!

We can also share factbooks, dispatches and other information here.

Current Priorities

• Defining the tiers of membership
• Defining how we will handle funding
• Setting the requirements in contribution in order to be a member
• Setting our priorities in the types of missions we want to have
• Aligning on a timeline, (when was ISEO founded, do we have any missions in progress etc...)

[Reynaerdia]

So for the funding I’d suggest we do it in a similar way to ESA, they have a policy of "georeturn", where funds that ESA member states provide to the ESA are returned in the form of contracts to companies in those countries.
Outside a minimum membership fee (to keep the organisation afloat) the programs and missions that are funded should stay optional to be chosen by the member.

For membership I suggest that we have 2 tiers: Full member states and associate states.
Full members would have to participate in funding a number of missions and programs while associates have less commitments but don’t enjoy the georeturn policy.

[Balervia]

Balervia would like to be a full member

[Xokalderix]

Xokalderix would like to become a member

[Rhostohn]

Excited this is happening! Just a thought on timelines: If we're following real-world examples then the USA and the Soviets started their space programs in the 1950s, and JAXA is among the newer programs, founded in 2003 (though this was through a merger). If the ISEO is all smaller economies, then maybe we want to found toward the middle/latter end of this range?

[Reynaerdia]

Balveria, Xokalderix, Welcome! Your memberships have been noted.

For our timeline I agree with Rhostohn. We are all smaller economies and I do not think we could realistically start a space program in the 50's.
Reynaerdia would be dealing with the Gael economic crash in the 70's - 80's. So early 90's would be the time where it could start investing in R&D and other science programs.
I would suggest 1994 as the founding date. This also gives us a nice time frame to write about past mission.

For the writing of the dispatches about missions and discoveries, I would write a central dispatch about ISEO itself and then link everything to that one. I'll try to get some work done on it over the weekend. So every member can then freely set up their own missions (after we all agree on the time frame and funding of course) and write about the things that interest them the most.

For our new members, we are still looking for a nation to host the launch site. Ideally close to the equator and an area that is sparsely populated. From looking at the world map the southern tip of Balveria seems like a good spot.

[Rhostohn]

Not opposed to 1994, I think that gives us a good timeframe to establish solid rocket designs and at least get us into satellite and probe territory, if not manned missions. And thank you for taking on that drafting work, Reynaerdia!

Agreed that Balervia is our best candidate for a launch site at this time. Balervia, what's your geography like along your southern tip?

Also, how do we feel about the the discussion about the layout of the solar system last week? It didn't seem to me like the RMB was leaning in any particular direction.