As the 21st century gets further underway, the impact of space activities upon the welfare of humanity will only increase. It has been acknowledged that one of the most significant events of the 20th century was when humanity left its ancestral home and stepped onto the surface of another celestial body. We can imagine that during the 21st century human expansion and insight into the cosmos will produce some of the more significant events of this new century.
SPACE EXPECTATIONS: SHAPING THE NEXT FIFTY YEARS
Dr David Raitt, European Space Agency, Noordwijk, The Netherlands
Dr Cathy Swan ,SouthWest Analytic Network, Inc., Paradise Valley, AZ, USA
Dr Peter Swan, Teaching Science and Technology, Inc., Paradise Valley, AZ, USA
Arthur Woods, spaceOp sarl, Yverdon-les-Bains, Switzerland
Paper IAC-08-E5.2.01 presented at the 59th International Astronautical Congress
September-3 October 2008, Glasgow, Scotland.
ABSTRACT
In 2005, the International Academy of Astronautics, concluded a study (under the auspices of its Commission VI, Space and Society) on the impact of space activities upon society. That study solicited the opinions and views of senior individuals within the space community as well as the voices of leading politicians, scientists, managers and artists. It was felt by the members of Commission VI, however, that this only gave one side of the coin and that a complementary study was required which sought the hopes and aspirations of those outside the space field – the person in the street – what was their take on space? Accordingly, Commission VI instituted a new survey named Space Expectations.
This paper will review the thought processes and decisions leading up to the commencement of the survey to ascertain the expectations of the public, in particularly young people, regarding space activities. It will document the reasoning behind the questions which the public were to be asked and the efforts involved to enable the questionnaire to have the widest possible distribution, for which it was deemed necessary to translate the questionnaire into the six UNESCO languages. One vital aspect of the whole study was to create a Web site to enable the public to easily, conveniently and quickly answer the questions. The issues and challenges faced by constructing a multilingual Web site will be described and a first analysis of the results of the opinions will be presented at the IAC in Glasgow.
INTRODUCTION
As the 21st century gets further underway, the impact of space activities upon the welfare of humanity will only increase. It has been acknowledged that one of the most significant events of the 20th century was when humanity left its ancestral home and stepped onto the surface of another celestial body. We can imagine that during the 21st century human expansion and insight into the cosmos will produce some of the more significant events of this new century.
The period between 1957 and 1991 saw the dawn of the space age with flights to the planets, footprints on the moon, and global communications; however, this history of space was anchored in the global cold war with its massive budgets for military space exploitation. The last ten years, however, have brought about a new era of space exploration, images of distant stars and galaxies, international cooperation and a focus on our own planet. In the not-too- distant future we may have unlimited, clean, solar energy from space powering our industries as well as heating and lighting our homes. Our nuclear waste may be safely and inexpensively disposed of by being carried up a Space Elevator and released towards the sun. We may become tourists in Earth orbit or on the Moon. We may carry out extra-terrestrial mining and even introduce the development of a multi-planet economy. In addition to the enormous knowledge that space exploration has already delivered, space technologies have become integrated into everyday life so deeply that modern society could not function without them. Weather, telecommunications, environmental analyses and national security are only the most obvious space technologies that humanity relies on, though spin-offs and transfers from space to non-space sectors provide many additional indirect benefits.
Research and development organizations, including space agencies, must continually adapt to an environment which their very successes transform: the emergence of new user communities, the introduction of new public and commercial services, the advent of new operators, citizens’ dependence on services using new space systems etc. As a consequence, space agencies are becoming part of a political, economic and social frame, which is continually evolving, creating new needs and opportunities, but also giving rise to constraints and shifting responsibilities.
The activities of space agencies show very clearly how space is impacting society. The European Space Agency (ESA), for instance, combines responsibilities in three distinct areas: the basic activities required to develop and maintain the fundamental elements on which a space policy depends for its implementation (access to space, the technology base, industrial capabilities, ground facilities); the inspirational activities of sciences and human and robotic exploration; and utilitarian activities – developing space systems to support public services (such as meteorology, environment, disaster management, education, energy, agriculture) and commercial offerings (telecommunications, navigation and imagery) for the benefit of the citizen.
As a result of such activities, both governments and the general public are today increasingly realizing the enormous potential of space and just how it is being integrated into everyday life. For its part, the European Union is being confronted with a quantum shift due to globalization and the challenges of a new knowledge-driven economy. Its own space priorities have led the EU to conclude an agreement with ESA for efficient and mutually beneficial cooperation relating to initiatives in telecommunications and navigation, global monitoring for environment and security, and exploration – areas all geared to the needs and requirements of society. Space activities stimulate the development of new technologies – as an innovation factor, as a competitiveness factor and as a key to the consolidation of industrial capabilities, without which there are no space activities.
Education is also an integral part of space activities. Education or transmission of knowledge from one generation to the next has been the driving force behind the progress of humankind. The duty of any generation is to educate the following one. Space is not only a fantastic tool for inspiring and educating youth but also because of the many disciplines and expertise that space developments require. Furthermore, the introduction of space incubators will afford young entrepreneurs the opportunities to take space technologies and create new products and services for the non-space sector – thus adding even more value to the investments in space.
For most of this time, the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) has brought the world’s foremost experts in the field of astronautics together on a regular basis to recognize the accomplishments of their peers, explore and discuss cutting-edge issues in space research and technology, and to provide direction and guidance in the non-military uses of space and the ongoing exploration of the solar system. The Academy is helping to formulate the future through recognition of the positive impact that space activities have upon society and, with the assistance of dedicated study teams, has initiated two major projects to this end. The first, already completed, elicited personal views from world leaders, recognized authorities and influential personalities as well as space experts in response to the statement “I believe that space activities are impacting society through……..”; while the second is trying to determine the expectations, understanding and backing of society vis-a-vis space programmes and policies.
IMPACT OF SPACE ACTIVITIES UPON SOCIETY
The impact of space activities upon society has largely been measured in quantifiable terms. How many spacecraft have been launched by a given country? How many phone calls are made over a satellite? How many lives are saved by hurricane-watching satellites? How much money was spent on space inside a country or by a corporation? The problem with this approach is that, generally, the value to humanity is not measured. And as space endeavours are, for the most part, funded through taxes from the general public, then it becomes inevitable that the value and benefits of such space activities must be justified.
While not itself in a position to justify these things, the International Academy of Astronautics believed, nevertheless, that it would be of interest and serve a real purpose if somehow the reasons for and results of space exploration could be presented to both the public at large and the non-space sector.
Accordingly, in 2001, the Academy initiated a study project to look at the impact that space was having on society as a whole – as seen through the eyes of a very diverse set of people. The project was carried out by a dedicated Study Team and the idea was that personal insights and views from world leaders, recognized authorities and influential personalities as well as space experts would be sought in response to the following statement:
“I believe that space activities are impacting society through ………….”
Even though the Study Team tried to employ the theory of six degrees, which suggests that everyone in the world is connected to everyone else through no more than six connections (or degrees), it proved very difficult to elicit responses from members of government, politicians and leading industrialists. However, with persistence, a number of very apposite replies were received from interesting personalities who felt they had something to say across a range of topics. Indeed, the success of the project can be measured by the value of the respondents and the insights they provided.
The Study Team stressed to those invited to contribute that the intention was to illustrate to the general public that space activities have a positive impact on everyday life and society. Their personal statements were placed unchanged on a specially created Web site (http://www.spaceandsociety.org), as well as the Academy Web site, together with those of other global figures as an assessment of and reflection on the impact of nearly fifty years of space flight upon society.
Nearly one hundred responses were received, over half of which were selected for inclusion in a special book published by the European Space Agency.1 Replies were chosen, as submitted, to portray the authors’ own views about the impact of space activities. The respondents ranged from a student, to a famous science fiction writer and the Secretary General of the United Nations. The authors, representative of many of the nations of the world, are diverse in jobs and lifestyles; but, together in their beliefs in the beauty and scope of space, together in their hopes for the future, and together in their recognition that the human race has an unlimited future. Tellingly, none of the responses portrayed a negative impact, for instance that space activities were a waste of money – on the contrary, all were very positive.
The study, the Web site and the subsequent book provide an insight into the opinions and views of individuals regarding space activities and the impact they are having on society and every day life. Some of the respondents work or have worked within the space field, others have not. Some responses are borne of experience and first hand knowledge of space programmes, others are considered judgments of how they believe space has been of benefit to the world – by providing opportunities and challenges, by stimulating jobs, by extending knowledge and education, by making available enhanced services and technologies, and by fostering international cooperation.
Although space programmes are expensive and the public might query why so much money is spent on space, especially human spaceflight, the respondents are very positive in their views that space has contributed significantly to humankind. The responses to the study provide a rich catalogue of the ways in which space activities have helped and improved society – providing communication and educational services in remote areas, bringing entertainment to the masses, creating new materials for stronger and more durable structures, providing meteorological data so ships can be safer at sea, monitoring the threat of pollution, enhancing medical instruments for better health-care, enabling hikers and skiers to be located when lost, and many more.
If there is a conclusion to be drawn from the study and the responses received, it is that space activities impact society in diverse ways – and not only the obvious ones like provision of telecommunications and weather forecasting, but also less obvious ways such as the relentless quest for knowledge about our planet’s place in space and time. The path to gaining this knowledge winds through scientific as well as technical discoveries and these in their turn benefit society in many ways. The camera in space developed to take pictures of far distance galaxies is reborn as a medical instrument to detect lymph node cancer. The instruments on an orbiting spacecraft designed to find out more about the structure of planets can be packaged into a portable device for identifying the minerals in rocks on Earth. The sun’s rays can be harnessed to provide cheap and abundant solar energy to warm and light our houses. None of these things would have been possible without space activities. The search for life also drives space exploration. Are we alone in the Universe? Are we unique? We will never rest until we know. So this drive spawns high- tech robots and samplers, hardware and software – all of which will ultimately be spun back into mainstream consumer and medical electronics and gadgets which will make living on Earth better.
SPACE EXPECTATIONS
During the last fifty years, we have sent spacecraft to the far reaches of outer space, man has walked upon the Moon, satellites have monitored the well-being of our planet, we have a permanent manned laboratory in space, global communication has been facilitated, and everyday life has been improved in countless ways through the transfer of space technologies. Space technologies and services are used in many non-space applications such as medicine, automobiles, textiles, housing, sports, water recycling. Indeed, many of these space spin-offs are dramatically, but unobtrusively, benefiting society not only by providing new reliable and robust products and services, but also by stimulating economic growth, innovation and job opportunities. But what are society’s expectations from all these space activities?
Space activities have historically been based upon technological successes with science and exploration leading space activities toward major projects throughout the solar system. Periodic disconnects have occurred as the public suddenly sees major successes and cheers or sees failures and asks tough questions like why and how much? Following on from the IAA’s recent study on the Impact of Space Activities upon Society, described above, a new study sponsored by the Academy would essentially turn the previous study around in order to determine the depth of understanding and backing that is out in the public, describe society’s expectations from space programmes, and ascertain how society could become more involved in space exploration. The next step would be to merge these three thrusts so that projects could be positioned to fulfill public expectations, maintain their interest and excitement; and thus, be supported (both financially and intellectually) by the public.
The approach taken by the IAA Study Team was to develop a survey that would be aimed at the general public to determine their understanding and expectation of space activities. This survey would then be distributed though various national networks and organizations (including space agencies) to diverse groups including: high schools and universities; art, cultural and heritage bodies; as well as the public at large. To avoid a plethora of responses, replies would be sought as much as possible from groups of people, eg students would be asked to provide a reply from their class as a whole rather than individually. For the public response, students would be requested to ask their parents to respond to the survey. This would give the study team several sets of inputs from different age groups from around the world. The intention was to collect the inputs via a Web-based form to minimize the paperwork and thus ascertain the views on what people around the world in all walks of life think about and expect from space research, development and exploration.
Questionnaire
The questionnaire went through several iterations and testings before it was deemed ready for release. Initially it contained a brief description of the project and its anticipated outcome and use on the first page, but this was eventually taken out as it was felt it might lead or cause the respondent to answer in a different way. In addition to basic demographic questions relating to gender, age, nationality, occupation and highest level of education, the final version comprised six categories pertaining to Space in general; Government involvement in space activities; Understanding and using space; Space exploration; I would like to go into space myself; and My expectations of space activities. Within each of these categories, there were a number of statements for each of which the responder could tick a box saying s/he Strongly Agreed with the statement, Tended to Agree, Neither Agreed nor Disagreed, Tended to Disagree and Strongly Disagreed.
A huge effort to distribute the questionnaire globally was undertaken. To elicit support, members of the Study Team mailed a covering letter with details of the project and Web site to scores of universities in all parts of the world. UNESCO undertook to distribute it to all the education ministries and schools in its
Member States; the IAA and IAF were asked to announce it on their Web sites; ESA and NASA were similarly contacted to announce it on their Web sites and share it with educational institutes and youth groups with whom they were in touch; as were the Space Generation Advisory Council (SGAC) and the International Space University (ISU). And contact was taken with the world body responsible for Boy Scouts and Girl Guides with the aim of getting the questionnaire distributed to scouts and guides worldwide. In the event, most of these corporate channels (with the exception of the SGAC and ISU) proved somewhat unproductive which is rather disappointing considering the value such a survey could bring.
Web Site Design
A special Web site (www.space-expectations.org which is no longer active) was created for the Space Expectations Survey with a multimedia slide show as the home page. The various slides illustrate different aspects of general “expectations” the public may have about space development and exploration. The last slide is linked to the “Take the Survey” entrance page where one may select the appropriate language version. An “About Us” information page listing details about the project, the Study Group, the International Academy of Astronautics and the European Space Agency, a “Contact Page” and the “Take the Survey” make up the general structure of the Website front- end. When the survey is completed the User is returned to the website with a “Thank- You” page in their appropriate language.
Survey Methodology
It was determined by the Academy Study Group that the best way to develop the project and to reach a large audience was via an online Internet platform that incorporated interactive survey technology. The requirements were for an attractive website that would enable the general public to access the survey in a variety of languages. The official languages of UNESCO were deemed by the Study Group to be appropriate, thus the survey would be deployed in English, French, Spanish, Russian, Chinese and Arabic. Accordingly various (unpaid) translators were found who were willing to translate the questionnaire into each language. A Simplified Chinese version was also included. The decision was taken later to extend the languages to include Italian and German to encourage a wider participation – though the German version was never prepared and although the Italian version was, it was never verified and edited, and thus not made available online. Contact was also taken with the Indian Space Research Organization to have the questionnaire translated into the various major languages and dialects in India – but to date nothing concrete has been achieved in this respect.
The domain name “space-expectations.org” was registered in January 2006, a virtual server with a basic informational web site was brought online, and an investigation and experimentation of survey software commenced and ran for the remainder of that year. The software needed to not only collect responses to the questionnaire but also enable some form of analysis accessible by the project leaders, as well as support multiple languages. Initially, the Open Source software php Surveyor 1.00 was selected as the best candidate and after obtaining some experience with the program the English version of the Space Expectations Survey was installed.
It soon became obvious by both using the software and via the online forum that the software was limited in terms of customization and optimization for implementation in various languages. Due to the issue that a specific language implementation would require knowledge of that specific language, and the limitation that all of the UNESCO languages were not available in stable versions, the search for alternative software was commenced and various commercial survey applications were reviewed. The software that appeared to meet all of the necessary criteria was Survey Monkey.
Adding a new survey in a Western language (English, French, Spanish) was straight-forward with the user friendly Administrator Interface. In addition to the translation of the questionnaire, all the navigational and instructional tags had to be translated and installed. Once this was done, the translators were asked to review the Survey in their respective language and send corrections and suggestions.
The non-Western languages (Arabic, Russian, Chinese Simplified and Chinese Traditional) proved to be much more difficult to install. Unfamiliarity with the specific language was, of course, a major reason; however, in the case of Arabic and Chinese, the left to right instead of right to left made even “cut & paste” a very difficult and unreliable task. Consequently, these language versions required a lot of additional input by the translators in order for them to read and function satisfactory. In addition to the volunteers from within the IAA Study Group, assistance was also forthcoming via UNESCO, ESA’s Moscow Office and the Space Generation Advisory Council.
Beta “test” surveys were installed in each designated language and when all corrections were made and approved the statistics were deleted and the surveys were switched to “live” status. Besides the online interface for viewing and analyzing the responses to the survey, it is possible to export Excel and PDF versions of the results for off-line analysis and reporting. The intention was to launch the site during World Space Week at the beginning of October 2007, however, it was later that month when it was finally made publicly available. It is planned that the Space Expectation Survey will run until at least the summer of 2009.
Initial analysis of results
Within the first month of going live 1480 people had completed the Space Expectations Survey. To date the number of has risen to 1659 with the breakout for each questionnaire as follows: English 1336, Traditional Chinese 181, Spanish 44, Arabic 43, Simplified Chinese 27, French 24 and Russian 4. Of course, not everyone answered every question and not everyone completed the questionnaire in their own language. For instance, six Chinese filled in the English questionnaire as did nine Italians (because the Italian version was not actually linked to). And of the four respondents completing the Russian language questionnaire, none of them actually gave their nationality as Russian! Only three Swiss completed the French questionnaire, but five completed the English version.
Questionnaires were returned by people of 100 different nationalities. The most productive being the Americans with 809 (60.6%) English questionnaires being returned. (A further three people with American nationality completed either the Spanish, French or Russian questionnaires). Next highest was Taiwan with 159 (87.8%) completing the Traditional Chinese questionnaire and a further five doing the survey in English (this compares to only 25 (92.6%) of Chinese nationality completing the Simplified Chinese version and a further six Chinese doing the English one). 102 (7.6%) people with British nationality completed the English survey. Other relatively high nationality scores for the English questionnaire were Hungary 53, Serbia 40, India 39, Yugoslavia 32 and Ireland 30. Also worthy of mention were 18 Iranians. Over half the people (55%) replying to the Arabic questionnaire were from Kuwait.
The relatively good response (in terms of age and occupations such as students, libraries/museums, art, education) from certain countries (or nationalities) such as Serbia, Yugoslavia, Taiwan, Iran, Greece and India terms illustrate excellent efforts by individual Study Team members.
Regarding the ages of those completing the questionnaires, 43% of the English one were aged between 26-45, as were 58% of the French and 63% of the Spanish. For the other languages over 50% were aged 18-25. Around 70% of all respondents were, not surprisingly, male – although 50% of those completing the Traditional Chinese version were female. These were virtually all from Taiwan. Of those replying to the English questionnaire some 47% had a Masters or PhD degree, while over 60% of French and Simplified Chinese had a higher degree, compared to only 4.5% Spanish, 19% Arabic and 15% Traditional Chinese. The reasons for some of these figures becomes apparent when one sees that nearly 40% of those completing the English survey said their occupation was in Aerospace, as did over 20% of the French. For most of the others, no less than 84% of Spanish and 55% of Traditional Chinese (ie mainly from Taiwan) said they were students, as did 41% of those completing the Simplified Chinese version – compared to only 18% of those doing the English language survey.
In so far as the English questionnaire was concerned, this was not really the response that was wanted. The Study Team anticipated, and hoped for, responses from young people and wanted to avoid getting numerous responses from older, highly educated people working in the aerospace field. Such people were already involved in space and thus presumably were predictably positive. Given this, it then comes as no real surprise to learn that statistics from the English language questionnaire showed that in general the majority of respondents tended to agree strongly with many of the statements. Two thirds strongly agreed that products derived from space as well as space technologies themselves were useful in everyday life and contributed to the improvement of life. Some 76% strongly agreed that their country should play an active role in space activities – partly because space helped create new jobs and encouraged young people to become scientists and engineers.
Again, the vast majority of respondents strongly wanted their country to be involved and spend money in the main activities of satellite communications (75%), Earth observation (83%), navigation (77%), exploring the universe with robots and telescopes (74%), and building and operating space systems (73%). Regarding funding, 61% strongly believed that the money spent on space benefits society, 61% also strongly agreed that spending on space activities should be increased. Three quarters of people replying believed that space should be used for peaceful purposes and that weapons of mass destruction in space should continue to be banned. Two thirds were of the strong opinion that exploration of planets could lead to the discovery of new resources, but only slightly more than one third were strongly in favour of actually commercializing or exploiting these resources – though overall 67% tended to agree to a greater or lesser extent that nations should be able to.
Only around 50% agreed that space exploration should be done by robots (only 22% of those agreed strongly), whereas 45% strongly agreed that humans in space are needed for exploration activities and 36% tended to agree with the statement. Interestingly this bears out a recent poll in Focus magazine (July 2008, p21) in response to the comment by astronomer Lord Martin Rees that money was being wasted by sending astronauts into space and that Europe should concentrate on other missions specializing in robotic exploration and observation. In the poll, 53% of respondents disagreed that Europe should scrap plans for crewed space missions and said that sending astronauts into space was a good use of European money. Replies to the English questionnaire revealed that three quarters of respondents thought humans should return to the Moon and establish a base there and virtually the same numbers said humans should go to Mars and establish a base there. They were pretty much split when it came to deciding whether human space travel would be common in their life-times (but bear in mind that nearly half the respondents to the English language questionnaire were aged between 26-45).
In so far as going into space was concerned, 78% said they would like to go there themselves – mainly for personal reasons: to view the Earth from space and to have new experiences. Two thirds or so wanted to explore other worlds or experience weightlessness. Half wanted to gain knowledge about themselves and the world while a few more wanted to contribute to science. Only a third strongly agreed that they wanted to go just to say they’d done it and less than 20% admitted that they wanted to go to be among the elite. But nearly 40% of those replying (and many didn’t) said they would participate in a planned one-way human mission to space.
Regarding their own expectations, most people expected space activities and systems to increase our general scientific and technical knowledge (84% strongly), allow us to gain a better understanding of the universe (79% strongly), contribute to monitoring environmental change on Earth (77% strongly) and enable us to have a better understanding of the Earth. About two thirds expected contributions to disaster prevention and management and monitoring and preventing pollution, as well as improving daily life through space spin-offs.
As for cultural or national differences, these are actually not so striking – and where they are they can largely be attributed to the fact that many more students outside the aerospace field completed the non-English questionnaire. Interestingly almost 60% of those completing the Spanish questionnaire (not all were actually Spanish) disagreed that their country was a space faring nation – they clearly do not know about their own national efforts and those of the European Space Agency to which Spain belongs. This may point to the fact that more public relations is required. On the other hand, 60% of the respondents to the Simplified Chinese version (mainly from China) knew their country was a space faring nation, as did 57% of the French respondents (though again not everyone replying was actually a French national). Everybody wanted pretty much the same thing as the respondents to the English questionnaire when it came to what space activities their governments should spend money on.
Compared to all the other language versions, the Traditional Chinese (and to a somewhat lesser extent the Simplified Chinese) questionnaire had far fewer people answering that they strongly agreed – more people preferred to use the option that they tended to agree. Thus only 47% of the Traditional Chinese respondents strongly agreed with the statement that WMD be banned in space (compared to 65% of Simplified Chinese). Further, 41% tended to agree that more money should be spent on space activities, compared to 60% for Simplified Chinese. Of course, as noted the vast majority of those completing the Traditional Chinese questionnaire were from Taiwan, and as that country does not have an active space programme then such less strong responses are to be expected. When it came to exploiting resources on other planets, fully 76% of Arabic respondents answered that nations should be able to exploit these resources with a further 8% tending to agree. This contrasts greatly with the responses from the other non- English surveys who generally felt that nations should not really exploit these extra-terrestrial resources.
And as for wanting to go into space – as expected with so many younger people answering the non-English questionnaires – then in just about every case around 80% wanted to go. Breaking it down for the reasons, many people strongly wanted to view the Earth from space (94% in case of Arabic responses) – though, as ever, Traditional Chinese respondents were not quite so definite with only 51% strongly agreeing that they wanted to view the Earth from space. Arabic and Simplified Chinese respondents were the highest for strongly agreeing (81% and 71%) that they wanted new experiences – though 57% of Simplified Chinese did not want to go an a one-way trip. The overall tendency of the Traditional Chinese responses was also not to make such a trip, as were those of the Spanish. On the other hand, 38% of the French agreed that they would undertake such a one-way mission, while no fewer than 44% of the Arabic respondents agreed similarly (25% strongly – the highest proportion). Interestingly, the Arabic questionnaire also had the highest number (44%) of people answering strongly that they would like to go into space to be among the elite.
Coming to the expectations, the results from the other versions of the questionnaire are pretty much in line with the English except in a few instances. For example, all were much more in agreement than the English that space activities and systems should provide solutions for waste disposal (nuclear, chemical, biological). The Arabic community was the highest here, with 59% agreeing strongly and 23% tending to agree – compared to 31% and 25% of all the English respondents. This was also highly important to the Traditional Chinese (46% and 37%), the French (42% and 32%) and even more so to the Spanish (63% and 23%). And for the most part all non-English respondents did not have so many expectations as the English regarding seeing whether we can find life elsewhere in the universe. This was a fairly low priority compared to the other more useful and beneficial things that space exploration could offer. Again, this could point to the fact that because many of the English language questionnaire respondents were older and wiser, American and worked in aerospace, then they were altogether more aware of the possibilities and limitations.
CONCLUSION
The intention of the two studies described above was to illustrate that not only do space activities have a positive and beneficial impact on everyday life and society and thus help people to understand that, despite the high costs of space activities, there is a tremendous return to the community in terms of jobs, technological know-how, scientific knowledge and space spin-offs, but also to demonstrate that people in general, from all walks of life and from all corners of the globe, appear to be very positive toward space activities and their individual expectations for the future. Indeed so many want to go into space themselves that this augurs very well for the fledgling space tourist industry.
And these are the very reasons that we need to continue with space programmes. We need to continue to explore. We need to continue to learn about our planet, the solar system and beyond because this helps us to survive and thrive through the constant improvements occasioned by scientific and technological research and breakthroughs. To give one simple example – our planet may get hit by an asteroid – so we need to detect and monitor possible threatening rocks and we also need to work out how to avoid getting hit. Not only that, but the rigorous testing of space systems, even though there are sometimes catastrophic failures, means that the public ultimately benefits from the reliability, safety and durability that is inherent in components and devices today.
New developments such as the proposed Space Elevator may eventually bring the cost of launching into space down to some $10/kg. This in itself will open vast new applications to the benefit of society. Whilst there may be few ordinary citizens who might profit from Space Elevator applications – unlike space agencies, commercial companies and the scientific community – it is highly likely that the general public will ultimately benefit from it through cheap solar power and a greener environment, enhanced satellite navigation and communication services, reduced risk from nuclear waste, and even through improved health, education and social services made possible because of the savings made by governments in accessing space.
These two studies, conducted by members of the International Academy of Astronautics as part of its space activities and society endeavours, go some way to encouraging space agencies and governments, as well as private companies, to continue their space programmes and exploration efforts because, even though they might be expensive, for the most part they have the backing and support of the public. But the public needs to be offered something in return – not simply spin-offs from space, but also something that provides them with excitement and satisfies their innate desires.
REFERENCE
1) The impact of space activities upon society. ESA, 2005.
ESA-BR-237
