THE ROLE OF SPACE TECHNOLOGY IN THE DEVELOPING COUNTRIES* I. INTRODUCTION The space era began just a little over two decades ago with the launch of Sputnik I, the first artificial satellite of the Earth, by the Soviet Union in October 1957. Within a short time, more historic events followed: the first orbital flight of a human being, then of two, then of three. Then, within an astonishingly short time, the first voyage of human beings to the surface of another planetary body, the Moon, was successfully accomplished by the United States. Including these historic events, altogether some 2500 satellites and space probes have been launched from 24 sites around the globe. As an arena for human endeavors, space is still widely believed to be of little consequence; its contributions have been perceived as beneficial primarily to the developed countries. Yet the whole world has been changed irrevocably as a result of the quest to explore and to utilize the new frontier of outer space. New concepts have been explored; new technologies have been developed to permit the exploration of space by machines and by people; and the options available to human civilization have been expanded and multiplied. The spectacular successes of the manned lunar landings have now been eclipsed by the applications of space technology to practical activities here on Earth. As President Carter stated in the U.S. Space Policy of October 1978, “more and more, *Presented at NGO Forum on Science and Technology for Development, Vienna, Austria, August 19-29, 1979. DAVID CRISWELL Lunar and Planetary Institute 3303 NASA Road 1 Houston, Texas 77058 U.S.A. PETER E. GLASER Arthur D. Little, Inc. Acorn Park Cambridge, Massachusetts 02140 U.S.A. RASHMI MAYUR Urban Development Institute 181, Rewa Haji Ali Bombay 400 026 India BRIAN T. O'LEARY Department of Physics Princeton University Princeton, New Jersey 08540 U.S.A. GERARD K. O'NEILL Department of Physics Princeton University Princeton, New Jersey 08540 U.S.A. J. PETER VAJK Science Applications, Inc. 1811 Santa Rita Road—Suite 104 Pleasanton, California 94566 U.S.A.
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