  The almost universal availability of electronic connectivity, web software,
and portable devices is bringing about a major revolution: information of all
kinds is rapidly becoming accessible to everyone, transforming social, economic
and cultural life practically everywhere in the world. Internet technologies
represent an unprecedented and extraordinary two-way channel of communication
between producers and users of data. For this reason the web is widely
recognized as an asset capable of achieving the fundamental goal of
transparency of information and of data products, in line with the growing
demand for transparency of all goods that are produced with public money. This
paper describes "Open Universe" an initiative proposed to the United Nations
Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) with the objective of
stimulating a dramatic increase in the availability and usability of space
science data, extending the potential of scientific discovery to new
participants in all parts of the world.
