NewTrans2.txt[9/15/2024 8:28:26 PM] SOLAR ENERGY COLLECTING SATELLITES (SPS) AND THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY (The views expressed by the author are not necessarily those of the United Nations or its secretariat.) BERTRAND H. CHATEL Chief of Technology Applications Office of Science and Technology United Nations New York, NY 10017, USA INTRODUCTION I would like to begin by thanking the organizers for inviting me to this important International Symposium: Dr. Peter Glaser, the founder of the concept, and salute his innovative genius and technological tenacity; Dr. Rashmi Mayur, Ph.D., who brings us the points of view of developing countries in all their spontaneous freshness; and Dr. Pelegrin, Director of the Centre d’Etudes et de Recherches de Toulouse (C.E.R.T.), warmly congratulating him on the excellent scientific and technical program of this Symposium. I would now like to bring you here the greetings of the United Nations to your important meeting. The United Nations, as you know, is now focusing its attention on Energy problems, according to a global approach, on a global scale, certainly, but from the particular point of view of developing countries. The UN is organizing, in fact, next year in Nairobi, the Conference on New and Renewable Energy Sources, which will focus on 9 sources and in particular on Solar, Wind and Biological Energy. The Satellites, solar energy collectors (SPS) could therefore, theoretically, be presented at this Conference. I say theoretically because the SPS is above all a space project and should, in my opinion, rather be presented at the United Nations Space Conference which will take place the following year, in 1982. These two Conferences are part of the annual world Conferences by which the United Nations addresses the global problems which confront the current evolution of Humanity: - Thus, in 1970, several groups of intellectuals tried to draw the attention of Governments to the importance of damage to the Environment, but were unable to make themselves heard. The United Nations took up this issue, organized the World Conference on the Environment (Stockholm, 1972) and a few years later, most States had an agency and activities to protect the Environment. - Other conferences focused on Population (Bucharest, 1974), Food (Rome, 1974), Housing (Vancouver, 1976), Women's Equality (Mexico, 1975), Water (1977), Desertification (Nairobi, 1977), Science and Technology (Vienna, 1979), Cooperation between developing countries (1979). These conferences mobilize public opinion and the political will of Governments. They lead to the adoption of a program of action and international cooperation, often associated with the creation of a Fund to implement the programs envisaged. I believe that SPS are becoming a possible global solution that deserves the consideration of national and international leaders. I. BASIC CRITERIA OF INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION Since the enthusiasm of the launch of the first artificial satellite (Sputnik, 1968) and the landing on the Moon (NASA, decade of 1970’s), the usefulness of space programs has often been questioned, particularly from the point of view of the relevance of their relations with the urgent needs of Humanity, where the majority of the population still suffers from poverty, hunger, malnutrition, diseases and unemployment. This is not the case of the SPS space programs of solar energy collecting satellites because these projects could contribute directly to reducing human suffering by providing abundant and non-polluting energy, a
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTU5NjU0Mg==