Twinkle, Twinkle little star, how I wonder what you
are. Up above the world so high, like a diamond in the sky.
Fascination, wonder and even obsession with space
and in particular human space travel, have existed throughout many
generations.
Mankind's tireless dreams and ideas on reaching the
mystical "twinkling stars" started long before Leonardo da
Vinci succeeded in designing his first pair of wings.
But gravity was our nemesis that kept us locked
within the bounds of our earth's atmosphere.
When Neil Armstrong took his first step on the
moon's surface, I was greatly disappointed that he didn't say: "Gravity
Sucks"!
The first trips by astronauts into space in the
1960's lasted only a few hours. The rivalry between the US and the
Soviet Union to place a man on the moon, led to more sophisticated
spacecraft and propelling means. This, originally politically driven
agenda, had the advantage of making the world aware that human-kind
can achieve wonders if motivated. Even placing a man on the moon –
then an astonishing feat – never thought possible before.
Space travel changed its face from a platform to
score "political" points, perform technological marvels, and
to boast our ego, to a platform for performing scientific experiments,
developing and testing new technologies and creating commercially
viable technology to be used on mother earth for our benefit.
Space contributes greatly to our society today. Not
only does it advance scientific knowledge but it also improves man's
daily living on earth. Until recently, astronomers did not have the
tools to probe the universe on its largest scale. Now with improved
telescopes, satellites and receivers, they can study the history and
the wonders of our universe. The universe tells us its history and
helps us better understand our origin. When we look at distant
galaxies we see that they are moving apart: The universe is expanding.
If we could rewind the universe, we would see the galaxies moving
together and find that our universe had a definite beginning. The big
bang. Will it then have a definite end ? The big crunch.
Satellites are launched for a very practical reason:
to benefit us. A crucial part of information dissemination is due to
communication satellites. Thirty years ago, routine international
phone calls were virtually unheard of and TV stations relied on
aircraft to bring then the latest news pictures from the other side of
the world. Today communication satellites are sending millions of
phone calls and broadcasting hundreds of TV channels – nonstop. If
satellites didn't exist, we wouldn't even have seen Mark Shuttleworth
embarking on his exciting journey into space. Even worse… I wouldn’t
have been able to watch "FRIENDS" !
Earth observation satellites monitor environmental
activities so that natural, and manmade disasters, can be monitored,
foreseen and prevented or minimized. These activities include
disasters such as forest fires, volcano eruptions, floods,
deforestation and open mining activities.
Meteorological and oceanographic monitoring
satellites are measuring ocean temperatures and guide fishing vessels
for improved harvests and contribute to more accurate weather
forecasting. The El-nino effect could not have been discovered without
satellite monitoring and now is a common weather phenomenon used to
guide farming activities from South America, Africa and to Australia.
Now you can even be sure not to organise a picnic when it's going to
snow tomorrow.
This is just the tip of the iceberg.
High imagery equipment on the latest satellites
allow us to view all features on earth, from objects of many square
kilometres in size, down to objects smaller than even one square meter.
(And I thought Big Brother was an original idea !)
These objects might include road networks, airports,
canals, coastal features, danger points, drainage basins, stream
networks, mineral resources, population density, sea-ice, vegetation,
wetlands, desert areas and are limited literally only by our
imagination.
Not only do we utilise satellites in space to our
advantage, we also now use space as a laboratory for accelerated
experimentation, which otherwise would have taken us much longer to
perform.
Since I was a little girl, I always thought about
what I would like to do and discover in space someday. When I finished
fighting UFO’s in my imagination, really terrific ideas kept me
awake at night. One of my favourite ideas is all about apples, my
favourite fruit. Here on earth, apples grow on trees until they are
approximately the size of a fist. They then become too heavy for their
stems, and fall towards the earth. In space that’s not possible,
because gravity is not present. Imagine apples growing to the size of
beach balls, growing uninhibited by gravity, growing and growing until
we select to pick them. Only one apple a year to keep the doctor not
near.
Studies on osteoporosis are currently being
conducted in space. When astronauts are subjected to zero gravity,
their bones lose calcium and strength, and their muscles lose mass.
This process happens rapidly so that the effect on their bodies can be
described as artificial, accelerated ageing. Thus, space can be used
to test potential solutions for combating this disabling disease. The
same is done to find solutions for cardio-vascular problems. Therefore
space is once again the perfect test-bed for an accelerated testing
environment.
Space really makes a huge contribution to our daily
lives, not just to know what the weather will be like tomorrow, not
just to test new technology, and not just to perform scientific
experimentation. When Mark Shuttleworth became the first African in
space, something else was achieved: People across Africa were reminded
again that they are allowed to dream, to work towards their dreams and
that their dreams can come true. We can achieve wonders, the
extra-ordinary, if we set our minds to it. We can.
RESOURCES:
1. The Space Atlas, HEather Couper and Nigel Henbest, published
by Dorling Kindersley, 1993
2. Fascinating Facts – Science, Encyclopaedia Britannica,
published by Publications International, 1992
3. Library of the Universe - Astronomy today, Isaac Asimov,
published by Gareth Stevens Publishing, 1990
4. Just look at the universe, Neil Ardley, published by Macdonald
& Co Publishers, 1985
5. Internet websites :
www.computamaps.com
www.esa.int
www.estec.esa.nl
www.ccrs.nrcan.gc.ca
www.cnes-edu.org
www.space.gc.ca
www.telsat.belspo.be
