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Benefits of space exploration

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Benefits of Space Exploration

Space was a high-tech arena where rival ideologies clashed, showcasing their technological prowess under the watchful eyes of the entire globe. The competition between the former USSR and the United States brought about a rapid succession of firsts – the first human in orbit, the first steps on the Moon, the first space station and the first reusable launch system. However, once the dust settled, and the eye-popping bill of the early space activities hit government coffers, a new rationale emerged: pragmatic use of space as the higher ground for improving life on Earth.[1] From satellite telecommunications to remote sensing from micro gravity research to satellite navigation government, space programs started investing in practical outcomes for the public good. Therefore, measuring the socio-economic benefits of space activities steadily gained importance throughout the 1970s and 1980s, an era defined as “Mission to Planet Earth.”[1]

Direct Benefits

Space programs have generated a wide range of hardware, software and processes that have made their way into a myriad of applications. The benefits of these applications are directly attributable to the original investments made by the space agencies and the private sector.[1]

Knowledge of Space

Since Sputnik entered orbit in 1957 to perform Ionospheric experiments, the human understanding of earth and space have increased.[2] The list of missions to the moon begin as early as 1958 and continue into the current age. They include notable missions such as Apollo 8 successful landing on the moon in 1968. Missions to the moon have collected samples of Lunar materials and there are now multiple satellites such as ARTEMIS P1 that currently orbit the moon and collect data.

Telescopic Satellites have captured millions of images of the universe since the introduction of satellites, such as the Mariner Space Satellites. The Mariner 4 space satellite in 1965 was the first successful satellite to capture up close images of the planet Mars. Mariner mission 6 and 7 additionally mapped the poles of the planet and relayed further images of the surface. By the end of the mariner missions in 1972, Mariner 9 spent almost a year in Martian orbit, had collected images of nearly 100% of the surface of the moon and observed notable discoveries such as the the humongous Olympus Mons volcano, more than 4000km of Valles Marineris and dust storms lasting over a month.[3] Further mission since 1972, like the Viking project, Mars observer, Mars pathfinder, Mars climate orbiter, Deep Space 2, Mars Global surveyor, and Phoenix have obtained understandings of the climate, flood plains, and rock samples on mars.[3]

Hubble Deep Field

The Hubble space telescope contributed more than a million observations of the universe that have been influential in understanding the magnitude of size of the universe since its introduction into orbit.[4] The intense focus of Hubble [is] for observation. For ten consecutive days the telescope was pointed towards a tiny speck in the sky. The resultant image revealed at least 1,500 galaxies. The sheer number of galaxies in this image is one of the visual landmarks of space exploration. Although we know how much the The Hubble space telescope cost (about $12 billion over the last 30 years, including the cost of five shuttle servicing missions), it is almost impossible to attach a monetary figure to knowing our place in the universe[1]

Mars mission-future

Indirect benefits

Culture and inspiration

Global partnerships

International Space Station (ISS), space station assembled in low Earth orbit largely by the United States and Russia, with assistance and components from a multinational consortium. In 1993 the United States and Russia agreed to merge their separate space station plans into a single facility integrating their respective modules and incorporating contributions from the European Space Agency and Japan. [5]

Some African countries, including Nigeria and South Africa, have successfully employed space technology—specifically satellite-based disaster management, climate monitoring, and green systems—to tackle workforce development issues and launch new space activities.[6]

The United States collaborated for 20 years with the Soviet Union’s Cosmos/Bion missions and has worked with the Europe Space lab on multiple space life science experiments.[7]

Spin-offs

NASA reports that 444,000 lives have been saved, 14,000 jobs have been created, 5 billion dollars in revenue has been generated, and there has been 6.2 billion dollars in cost reduction due to Spin-off programs from NASA research.[8] Of the the many beneficial NASA Spin-offs technologies there has been advancements in the fields of Health and Medicine, Transportation, Public Safety, Consumer Goods, Energy and Environment, Information Technology, and Industrial Productivity.[8] Multiple products and innovations used in the daily life are results of space generated researches. From Solar panels to water-purification to global search and rescue systems, multiple facets of life are impacted by space research and innovations.[9]

International Space Station

The internationally unifying efforts to create the international space station took from in December of 1998 as the space shuttle Endeavor launched.[10] The international space station serves as a depot of collaboration across the world for innovative research, human health research, global education and earth observation. The international space station itself contains complex sensors including Light Detection and Ranging systems are influential in understanding sea surface winds and atmospheric transportation patterns.[11] Additional astronaut observation from the station with powerful cameras provides detailed mages of the earth and panoramic views of the atmosphere of the earth.[12]

Data collected from the space stations complex orbital senor system has been a valuable tool in evaluating the extent of damage resulting from natural disaster. Real time mapping coupled with a human crew allows for space to ground collaboration.[12]

Communications

The first communication "satellite" was actually a balloon called Echo 1 it was launched on August 12, 1960 and stayed roughly 1000 miles (1,609 km) above the Earth and didn't come back down until May 24, 1968.[13] The first communication satellite that would be an actual satellite by modern standards was launched on July 10, 1962 and it was named Telstar.[14]It allowed communication between the United States and Europe to occur almost instantaneously. Telstar operated for approximately a year before it shutdown.

Weather and Satellites

The first weather satellite named TIROS I (Television and InfraRed Observation Satellite) was launched on April 1, 1960.[15] The Satellite used Television cameras to take pictures of clouds as it orbited the Earth. The satellite only operated for 78 days, but it was able to prove that using a satellite to observe weather conditions on Earth was possible.[16]The use of satellites has since come a long way. Satellites now are more sophisticated and are even used to predict the amount of power that solar panels can make in certain areas.[17]

Biomedical Research

Beginning in 1967, NASA successfully began its Biosatellite program that initially took frog eggs, amoeba, bacteria, planets and mice and studied the effects of zero gravity on these biological life forms.[7] Studies of human life in space have augmented the understanding of adaptive effects of adjusting to a space environment, such as alterations in body fluids, negative influences on the immune system and effects of space on sleep patterns.[18] Current space researches are divided into the subjects of Space Biology, which studies the effects of space on smaller organisms such as cells, Space Physiology, which is the study of the effects of space on the human body and Space Medicine, which examines the possible dangers of space on the human body.[18] Discoveries concerning the human body and space, particularly the effects on the development of bones, may provide further understanding of biomineralization and the process of gene transcription. [19]

         

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  1. ^ a b c d Gurtuna, Ozgur (2013). Fundamentals of Space Business and Economics (PDF). Springer New York Heidelberg Dordrecht London: Springer. p. 31. ISBN 978-1-4614-6695-6.
  2. ^ Kuznetsov, Sinelnikov, and Alpert (June 2015). "Yakov Alpert: Sputnik-1 and the first satellite ionospheric experiment". Advances in Space Research. 55: 2833–839.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. ^ a b Greicius, Tony (2015-03-13). "Mars Exploration Past Missions". NASA. Retrieved 2018-04-09.
  4. ^ NASA (Oct. 19, 2017). "Hubble Discoveries". Retrieved 8 April 2018. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  5. ^ Harland, David (16 January, 2018). "International Space Station (ISS)". Retrieved 9 April 2018. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  6. ^ "Global partnerships: Expanding the frontiers of space exploration education". Acta Astronautica. 80: 190–196. 2012-11-01. doi:10.1016/j.actaastro.2012.05.034. ISSN 0094-5765.
  7. ^ a b "NASA - 50 Years of NASA History". www.nasa.gov. Retrieved 2018-04-10.
  8. ^ a b NASA. Spinoff. 2012, spinoff.nasa.gov/Spinoff2012/pdf/Spinoff2012.pdf.
  9. ^ ISECG (September 2013). "Benefits Stemming from Space Exploration" (PDF). {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  10. ^ LINCOLN; LONDON (2017). Outposts on the Frontier: A Fifty-Year History of Space Stations. UNP - Nebraska. pp. 343–344.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  11. ^ Rainey, Kristine (2015-03-10). "ISS Benefits for Humanity". NASA. Retrieved 2018-04-10.
  12. ^ a b Rainey, Kristine (2015-12-02). "Earth Observation and Disaster Response". NASA. Retrieved 2018-04-10.
  13. ^ "1st Communication Satellite: A Giant Space Balloon 50 Years Ago". Space.com. Retrieved 2018-04-10.
  14. ^ Stromberg, Joseph. "Fifty Years Ago Today, the First Communications Satellite Was Launched Into Space". Smithsonian. Retrieved 2018-04-10.
  15. ^ "NOAASIS - NOAA Satellite Information System for NOAA Meteorological / Weather Satellites". noaasis.noaa.gov. Retrieved 2018-04-10. {{cite web}}: line feed character in |title= at position 68 (help)
  16. ^ Administrator, NASA Content (2015-04-20). "TIROS, the Nation's First Weather Satellite". NASA. Retrieved 2018-04-10.
  17. ^ "Data-driven upscaling methods for regional photovoltaic power estimation and forecast using satellite and numerical weather prediction data". Solar Energy. 158: 1026–1038 – via Elsevier ScienceDirect Journals.
  18. ^ a b Clément, Gilles (2006). Fundamentals of Space Biology: Research on Cells, Animals, and Plants in Space. New York: NY: Springer New York.
  19. ^ Clément, Gilles (2005). "Fundamentals of Space Medicine". The Space Technology Library. 17: 3.
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