The Practical Values of Space Exploration Part 6

Hundreds of other examples of the s.p.a.ce program's value for everyday living could be cited.

One with wide possibilities is a new welding process by using a high-powered electron beam gun, developed for the fabrication of s.p.a.ceships and other s.p.a.ce vehicles. This method permits welding joints capable of withstanding temperatures up to 3,000 F.; it can be used on metals such as molybdenum and pure tungsten. And, its developers say, it results in welded joints that have deep penetration and narrow weld beads that are virtually free of contamination.[51]

Another ingenius application, resulting from the Navy's s.p.a.ce research program, has significant utility for medicine and surgery. This is a gla.s.s fiber device which, when placed in the mouth during dental work or in the area of surgical incision, permits a much magnified televising of the operation. It holds considerable promise for teaching techniques in many fields.[52]

Another example is a finely woven stainless steel cloth designed for parachuting s.p.a.ce vehicles back to Earth. The cloth is made of fine wire of great strength which can withstand tremendous temperatures and chemical contamination. The wire from which the cloth is woven is about one-fifth the thickness of a human hair and is believed to have marked potential for industry and consumers alike.

Here is an additional list of examples:[53]

Microminiature transmitters and receivers--used by police and doctors.

Target drone autopilot--used as an inexpensive pilot a.s.sist and safety device for private aircraft.

Inert thread sealing compound--- used by pump manufacturers serving process industries.

Satellite scan devices--used in infrared appliances, e.g., lamps, roasters, switches, ovens.

Automatic control components--used as proximity switches, plugs, valves, cylinders; other components already are an integral part of industrial conveyor systems.

Missile accelerometers, torquemeters, strain gage equipment--used in auto crash tests, motor testing, shipbuilding and bridge construction.

s.p.a.ce recording equipment automatically stopped and started by sound of voice--used widely as conference recorder.

Armalite radar--used as proximity warning device for aircraft.

Miniature electronics and bearings--used for portable radio and television; excessively small roller, needle and ball bearings used for such equipment as air-turbine dental drills.

Epoxy missile resin--used for plastic tooling, metal bonding, adhesive, and casting and laminating applications.

Silicones for motor insulation and subzero lubricants--used in new gla.s.smaking techniques for myriad products.

Ribbon gla.s.s for capacitors--used widely in electronics field.

Radar bulbs--used in air traffic control equipment.

Ribbon cable for missiles--used in the communications industry.

Automatic gun cameras--used in banks, toll booths, etc.

Fluxless aluminum soldering--used for kitchen utensil repair, gutters, flashings, antennas, electrical joints, auto repairing, farm machinery, etc.

Lightweight hydraulic pumps--used in automated machinery and pneumatic control systems.

Voice interruption priority system--used for a.s.sembly line production control.

Examples such as the foregoing, it might be pointed out, do not generally emphasize an area in which s.p.a.ce exploration is making one of its greatest contributions. This is the creation of new materials, metals, fabrics, alloys, and compounds that are finding their way rapidly into the commercial market.

Less demonstrable but equally (and perhaps more) significant areas which may expect to benefit from s.p.a.ce exploration are set out beginning on page 35.

[Ill.u.s.tration. FIGURE 11.--Vital information about the forces which cause weather can be learned from meteorological satellites such as these. Even a slight increase in the accuracy of weather prediction will be worth millions of dollars annually.]

FOOD AND AGRICULTURE

An extremely difficult problem bound up with s.p.a.ce travel of any duration is that of food. Astronauts will not be able to take large supplies of food on their voyages and probably will have to reuse what they do take. Learning how to do this is no easy matter. Some doubt if it can be done. Others are optimistic.

The body of scientists now working directly on s.p.a.ce feeding and nutrition is working effectively at a rate only attained by high motivation. But this motivation suffices and their efforts will ultimately provide at least a partially closed s.p.a.ce feeding system by the time it is critically needed and, eventually, an ideal one for long voyages of man into the remoter reaches of outer s.p.a.ce.[54]

If the optimists are right, it is conceivable that the information gamed from this research will have profound influence on food and agricultural processes in the future. The use and growth of synthetics or new foods, and their effects on the soil, could prove invaluable as the worlds population climbs and the demand for food multiplies. Better understanding of weather processes, as provided through s.p.a.ce exploration, will also be valuable in terms of agriculture. Long-range accurate weather prediction would be worth millions of dollars in proper crops planted and crop damage avoided.

Meanwhile, as in other technological areas, s.p.a.ce research is providing specific new tools for the food and agriculture industry. Infrared food blanching, for instance, is highly effective in preparing foods for canning or freezing. The development of a new forage harvester based on principles of aerodynamics uncovered by missile engineers is another example.

COMMUNICATIONS

This is a field of enormous promise, and its practicality has already been demonstrated to the extent of placing satellites into precise orbits, such as Tiros (weather) and Transit (navigation), and of communicating at long distances--23 million miles in the case of Pioneer V. As a result:

Government and industry technicians are rapidly developing new Earth satellites to beam not only television programs but radio broadcasts and phone conversations to every spot on Earth that's equipped to receive them. Thus this s.p.a.ce project, far more than most, will touch the ordinary citizen. The goal: a workable, worldwide communications system in s.p.a.ce before this decade is over. It will be, declares one researcher, "the ultimate in communications."[55]

Incidentally, the first worldwide communications system of this type, and whether it is conducted in English or Russian, may have crucial prestige and propaganda ramifications.

Such facilities should be possible through a system of carefully placed satellites so that radio signals can be relayed to any part of the globe at any time.

Moreover they appear to be essential when one considers that within the next 20 years existing techniques are apt to be stretched beyond reasonable economic limits by demands for long distance communications.

It is difficult to see how transoceanic television will otherwise be possible when it is realized that there is presently a capacity of less than 100 telephone channels across the Atlantic and a single television channel is equivalent in band width to 1,000 telephone channels. It appears that a system utilizing satellites is the most promising solution to this problem.[56]

More esoteric communications systems may also arise from s.p.a.ce research.

In some future year when a cruising s.p.a.ce vehicle communicates with another s.p.a.ce vehicle or its...o...b..ting station, it may use a beam of light instead of conventional radio. Not that radio will be inoperative under the airless conditions of s.p.a.ce--rather the reverse--but there is reason to believe that communication by sunlight not only will be cheaper but will entail carrying much simpler and lighter equipment for certain specialized s.p.a.ce applications. (The Air Force) is developing an experimental system that will collect sun rays, run them through a modulator, direct the resultant light wave in a controlled beam to a receiver. There the wave will be put through a detector, transposed into an electrical impulse and be amplified to a speaker. Depending on the type of modulator used, either the digital (dot-dash) message or a voice message can be sent.[57]

Might not such a system find practical usage on Earth, particularly in sunny, arid lands?

WEATHER PREDICTION AND MODIFICATION

Meteorological satellites should make possible weather observations over the entire globe. Today, only 20 percent of the globe is covered by any regular observational and reporting systems. If we can solve the problems of handling the vast amounts of data that will be received, develop methods for timely a.n.a.lysis of the data and the notification of weather bureaus throughout the world, we should be able to improve by a significant degree the accuracy of weather predictions. An improvement of only 10 percent in accuracy could result in savings totaling hundreds of millions of dollars annually to farmers, builders, airlines, shipping, the tourist trade, and many other enterprises.

Perhaps even greater savings will come from warning systems devised for hurricanes and tornadoes.

The slight knowledge which humans actually have of weather forces can be seen from the fact that at present we do not even know exactly how rain begins.[58] Learning to predict it and to modify it, through s.p.a.ce application, might help slow down the soil erosion of arable land--that "geological inevitability * * * which man can only hasten or postpone."[59] It is noteworthy that the two leading nations in s.p.a.ce research, the United States and the U.S.S.R., are among the most affected by soil erosion.

The "leg up" which the United States has in this particular phase of s.p.a.ce research is ill.u.s.trated by the acute photographic talents of the Tiros satellite and their meaning to weather experts. The following description of some of the earliest pictures by the Director of the Office of Meteorological Research, U.S. Weather Bureau, is illuminating.

This picture, labeled "No. 1," was the storm that was picked up in the early orbits of Tiros on the first day of launch, April 1. This shows the storm 120 miles east of Cape Cod, with dry continental air streaming off the United States, not shown by clouds, and off the coast the moist air streaming up to the north, counterclockwise around the center, producing widespread clouds and precipitation as far north as the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

On that same day mention was made of a storm in the Midwest. That is ill.u.s.trated by photograph No. 2. This was centered over southeast Nebraska, a rather extensive storm. Again, we have a clear air portion shown by a dark area, the ground underneath, which has less brightness than the clouds, the cold air from Canada streaming into that area, not characterized by clouds, and to the east the moist air from the Gulf of Mexico, in this general neighborhood, streaming around into that center and producing rather widespread rains. In this case near the Gulf of Mexico, where the cloud is extremely bright, indicating that the clouds are very high, thunderstorms were found in that area.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 12.--Storm center over Nebraska photographed by the first U.S. weather satellite, Tiros, on April 1, 1960. The extent of the picture can be seen from the accompanying weather map.]