Home>A role-playing game to understand cooperation in the space world
12.12.2022
A role-playing game to understand cooperation in the space world
A very... spacey cooperation! >A role-playing game to learn how to cooperate between international actors in an international space mission
"Exploring the world beyond our Earth - can Europe do it alone? This was the theme of one of the sessions of the "European Space Policy and Space Law" course. To make this notion of cooperation in the space world more concrete, a negotiation simulation was organised, allowing students from 1st and 2nd years of Master to take on the role of an expert within a space agency, a scientist in charge of an instrument, or an industrialist in charge of building a satellite for a mission. A lively and instructive exercise!
The pitch - a new planet and a scientific potential to explore
Great news! A group of international scientists has just discovered a new planet, called "27RSG", located outside our solar system. Based on initial observations, “27RSG” appears to have very interesting geological and atmospheric properties. Further knowledge of this planet could lead to very important discoveries about our own planet Earth, and about the conditions for the emergence of life. Therefore, there is a shared international interest in setting up a new scientific mission to reach and observe this new planet and to make an approach to its surface. It is time for agencies, scientists and industry to mobilise for this mission, Scientific Probe for Infinite Planet Observation (S-PIPO).
The exercise - defending positions while finding compromises
Each student was transformed into an ESA expert, a plasma detector specialist, or a technical engineer for the construction of the mission's satellite... 25 different roles, and as many positions to defend, with convergences but also differences!
With a few initial elements of position, the first step was to allocate the roles and responsibilities of each person, in order to understand the different players around the table.
Diagram of the distribution of responsibilities during the simulation
Unfortunately, the life of a space mission is not a long quiet river, and many unforeseen events occur (natural disasters, health crises and their economic repercussions, technical problems, legal constraints and social protests, etc.). Each actor has therefore had to adapt, to compromise... but also sometimes to convince partners to support their positions.
Students at work!
Feedback - the importance of good communication
First of all, the good news is that the negotiations (sometimes tough!) allowed the mission to be completed - "S-PIPO" was born!
Above all, the exercise highlighted the importance of continuous communication between the various stakeholders to avoid misinterpretation and to reach agreements that are endorsed by all. In the heat of the moment, it is sometimes tempting to take certain things for granted when they deserve to be clearly expressed!
Furthermore, everyone was able to discover the diversity of positions and points of view among the actors involved in the mission: a space agency does not always have the same priorities as its country's scientists, nor the same constraints as industrialists!
This role-playing exercise illustrated the sometimes subtle alliance that must be found between respecting one's own positions and the need to find compromises in order to make progress together.
