The state of my health, both physical and mental, is questionable at best. With our maid picking up Dengue, we are deprived of her culinary services for the next few weeks. The effort you've to expend to cook food is multiplied exponentially by the decrease in the atmospheric temperature from it's normally acceptable levels. As Delhi is set to have an early winter, with it becoming noticeably cold since last week, we are left with the herculean task of preparing our own food, braving cold water from the pipes, and even colder draughts from the elsewhere.
Well, that about sums up the week for me. I know. Pretty boring, right?
Not for our nation though. It was a huge week for India. No. I'm not talking about Sachin's last international performance (yet!!), but about Mangalyaan - India's first mission to Mars. With over half of such ambitious missions in the past failing to achieve it's target (globally), the success of this venture will significantly increase the trust from other nations in our ISRO. It's a tantalizing prospect for them - both commercially as well as a symbol of national pride.
The project was done in less than 18 months at a cost about 250 crore rupees. One smart fellow calculated its cost per km as Rs.12, claiming that it's similar to what you've to pay for an auto ride in India. Smartasses and unconfirmed asset values aside, it begets a question. What good is such advancement for me?
Off the back of my mind, I can roll off
better communication facilities, the ability to forecast weather with more accuracy, the growth of TV and the Internet and all such modern things.
Okay. So the work of space age enthusiasts has been good for me. But what good would spending money on a mission to Mars to the hungry children of Africa?
This question was not from me, but from Sister Mary Jucunda, a nun who worked among the starving children of Kabwe, Zambia, in Africa in 1970s. She wrote a letter then, asking the same to Mr.Ernst Stuhlinger, Associate Director for Science, NASA. NASA was at that time working on a similar project to send a probe to MARS. Even though he used to get lots of such mails, he replied to her, considering her line of work. That reply is now a legend. In that reply, he elucidates on the need for space exploration, and why it'll be good for those hungry kids in Africa?
I'll be listing out five major points from his reply as the "5 things" for this week, which will give us a better idea of why space exploration is good for mankind.
And for those of you, who would like to read the letter in its entirety, do visit the link..
So, let's begin the proceedings, shall we?
Did you know...
1. ...that the fund for space exploration is on a budget - meaning it has very specific, limited means of utilization?
The total budget of a nation is fixed. "This money goes to health, education, welfare, urban renewal, highways, transportation, foreign aid, defense, conservation, science, agriculture and many installations inside and outside the country." Only a small percent (~1%) is spent on the space program. "When the funds are finally appropriated by the Government after stringent screening, they can be spent only for the line items specified and approved in the budget" - that is only for space related missions, and not for giving out aid to poor countries. Moreover, the Government has its own fund to give out as an aid for other countries.
2. ...that space exploration can help in solving poverty issues?
"Basic to the hunger problem are two functions: the production of food and the distribution of food. Food production by agriculture, cattle ranching, ocean fishing and other large-scale operations is efficient in some parts of the world, but drastically deficient in many others. For example, large areas of land could be utilized far better if efficient methods of watershed control, fertilizer use, weather forecasting, fertility assessment, plantation programming, field selection, planting habits, timing of cultivation, crop survey and harvest planning were applied.
The best tool for the improvement of all these functions, undoubtedly, is the artificial Earth satellite."
3. ... that the space program helps in the stimulation of technological development?
"The requirements for high precision and for extreme reliability which must be imposed upon the components of a moon-travelling spacecraft are entirely unprecedented in the history of engineering. The development of systems which meet these severe requirements has provided us a unique opportunity to find new material and methods, to invent better technical systems, to manufacturing procedures, to lengthen the lifetimes of instruments, and even to discover new laws of nature.
All this newly acquired technical knowledge is also available for application to Earth-bound technologies."
4. ...that the space program helps in the generation of scientific knowledge?
"There is a continuing great need for new basic knowledge in the sciences if we wish to improve the conditions of human life on Earth. We need more knowledge in physics and chemistry, in biology and physiology, and very particularly in medicine to cope with all these problems which threaten man’s life: hunger, disease, contamination of food and water, pollution of the environment.
We need more young men and women who choose science as a career and we need better support for those scientists who have the talent and the determination to engage in fruitful research work. Challenging research objectives must be available, and sufficient support for research projects must be provided" - both of which are provided by the space program.
5. ...that Ernst Stuhlinger hoped that the space age would end war, and then, begin it all over again?
"How much human suffering can be avoided if nations, instead of competing with their bomb-dropping fleets of airplanes and rockets, compete with their moon-travelling space ships! This competition is full of promise for brilliant victories, but it leaves no room for the bitter fate of the vanquished, which breeds nothing but revenge and new wars."
He has explained in a few words how the world will first embrace space age for good, and how it might end up like it used to be.
***
Balaji Viswanathan. I don't exactly know who this guy is, but he has written very well about the same topic, but mainly covering the fact that the foreign press has been trying to belittle this huge milestone of the Indian Space Research Organization.
Read what he has to say at the following link...
***
Well, that's it from me for this week. Nothing much else to say.
Oh. Forgot one thing. I resigned.
More on that next week though.
Have a great weekend!!!
'til next week.
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