Technological Innovations stimulated by Space Exploration
Remember Microsoft Age of Empires?
As a teenager, I was introduced to the game Microsoft Age of Empires by some very fantastic [senior] friends in my community. The game focused on events that took place in the Stone and Iron age. Interesting game!
The Age of Empires helped my young mind to understand the very rudiments of strategy and the real meaning of EXPLORATION.
At the start of the game session, one is introduced to a small piece of land at the center of the screen while the rest of the display is made pitch black. That small piece of land is a place indwelt by humans who are farming and living their daily lives in peace and tranquility.
If the player stays in that land and does nothing, the community runs out of land space, food resources and capacity in general, over time. In order to forestall this, the player begins to move into the dark areas. The deeper the player [explorer] delves, the more land and resources are available. As he goes on however, there is the risk of security threats and all sorts. This is where strategy comes into play.
Although the game is only a work of human imagination, it provides a great insight into what exploration is and how it is an important part of the makeup of humans. In fact, human wants according to economists are insatiable, so there is a continuous yearning for knowledge for what exists beyond the earth. We all desire to know. Don’t we?
As I’ve been following up with space exploration activities, nothing else explains it better than my experience playing the game Age of Empires.
Join me as we look at some important technological innovations that wouldn’t have occurred without space exploration.
Scientific research
Among other things, the ISS has provided opportunity for scientists to observe the differences between laboratory experiments when performed on earth and in space. Microgravity as it exists in the ISS may in one way or the other have some unique effects on the results achieved.
According to Wikipedia,
The investigation of the physics of fluids in microgravity will allow researchers to model the behaviour of fluids better. Because fluids can be almost completely combined in microgravity, physicists investigate fluids that do not mix well on Earth. In addition, an examination of reactions that are slowed by low gravity and temperatures will give scientists a deeper understanding of superconductivity.
Did you know that some samples from the moon surface were taken and brought to the earth for analysis? The intent is to properly understand the makeup of the moon. There are thousands of artificial satellites, probes and unmanned vehicles at different locations in the expanse surrounding the earth.
How would we have known that the moon didn’t have light of its own but only reflects the light from the sun that falls on its surface?
How would we have known that there are other planets in our universe? And ultimately, how would we have known how massive the universe is?
Health and Medicine research
Although medicine has been evolving and a lot of innovations have come up in the past few decades. It is considered that sometime later, the capabilities of the earth may someday become depleted. Scientists don’t like such peaks, hence would do everything to explore new territories to provide answers to questions that remain unanswered.
Research on the ISS improves knowledge about the effects of long-term space exposure on the human body. Subjects currently under study include muscle atrophy, bone loss, and fluid shift. The data will be used to determine whether space colonisation and lengthy human spaceflight are feasible.
Researchers are investigating the effect of the station’s near-weightless environment on the evolution, development, growth and internal processes of plants and animals. In response to some of this data, NASA wants to investigate microgravity’s effects on the growth of three-dimensional, human-like tissues, and the unusual protein crystals that can be formed in space.
Wikipedia
Internet
Internet has remained a wonder but the fact that in 2020, we are still plagued with lack of quality inter-networking capabilities shows that we haven’t attained the place of comfort just yet. Yes, we have moved from G to 2G and all the way to 5G, while 6G is being researched; but there remains so many areas of our world that’s disconnected totally. In Africa, Internet latency remains high and its negative impact on technological advancement is quite huge.
As of June 13 2020, SpaceX has launched 540 artificial satellites into a non-geostationary orbit. The company has received approval to launch 12,000 of such satellites into orbit, with the possibility of extending the number to 42,000 . These satellites are intended to provide low latency internet to the underserved areas of the earth. I think that may include Nigeria.
Forbes 2020 World’s richest man Jeff Bezos through his space flight company Blue Origin has secured approval to launch at least 3000 low-earth orbit satellites via the effort code named Project Kuiper. These satellites too are aimed at improving Internet access across the globe.
Satellite Television
For the past 20–30 years, satellite television systems have existed. Do you think it just bears the description “satellite TV” for nothing? Not at all. There are satellites in an orbit called the geostationary orbit that help deliver superb content to your homes.
A media outfit beams its content to a broadcast satellite orbiting the earth in space. A satellite receiver that is strategically positioned to receive the signals from the satellite intercepts the signals via a dish antenna. A decoder interprets (decodes) this signal and delivers it to your Television set as audiovisual content. All of these take place with the speed of light. Amazing! Innit?
GPS — Geographical Positioning System
GPS is the technology that map applications like Google Earth and Maps use to define a user’s location. This location information has multiple uses, the most popular being traffic data and journey scheduling. So, I want to move from Iba to Lekki in Lagos on a certain day. I open my Maps application and it tells me there is currently a gridlock on Lagos-Badagry expressway and should consider other alternatives.
GPS is basically a network of artificial satellites (about 20–30 nos) in space which orbit the earth at an altitude (height) of about 20,000 km. The GPS sensor in your mobile device knows your location by sending and receiving some data to and from the GPS satellite closest to it. If space wasn’t explored, how would it have been? I don’t know. Do you?
Oh! GPS the reason I can view the developments that have taken place in my village even though I haven’t been there in more than 2 decades using Google Earth software?
Finally on this piece…
Technology is progressive and research is continuous. There have been several efforts made to explore space and the entire universe over several decades. There have been very impressive results in fact. Only time will reveal what we get to see in the coming years, as a result of the research currently going on.
Since the moon appears to be the closest celestial object to earth in terms of geographical distance, I would expect a lot of activities to happen on the moon first. The success or failure of those activities would go a long way in determining when [whether or not] we can get to other planetary surfaces.
Remember, watch [this] Space.
