Developing basic space science world wide: progress report

Abstract The UN/ESA Workshops on Basic Space Science is a long-term effort for the development of astronomy and regional and international cooperation in this field on a world wide basis, particularly in developing nations. The first four workshops in this series (India 1991, Costa Rica and Colombia 1992, Nigeria 1993, and Egypt 1994) addressed the status of astronomy in Asia and the Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, and Western Asia, respectively. One major recommendation that emanated from the first four workshops was that small astronomical facilities should be established in developing nations for research and education programmes at the university level and that such facilities should be networked. Subsequently, material for teaching and observing programmes for small optical telescopes were developed or recommended and astronomical telescope facilities have been inaugurated at UN/ESA Workshops on Basic Space Science in Sri Lanka (1995), Honduras (1997), and Jordan (1999). UN/ESA Workshops on Basic Space Science in Germany (1996), France (2000), Mauritius (2001), and Argentina (2002) emphasized the particular importance of astrophysical data systems and the virtual observatory concept for the development of astronomy on a world wide basis. Since 1996, the workshops are contributing to the development of the World Space Observatory (WSO/UV) concept. Achievements of the series of workshops are briefly summarized in this report.