The Impact of Space Science on Mankind PDF
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THE IMPACT OF SPACE SCIENCE ON MANKIND NOBEL SYMPOSIUM COMMITTEE (1975) STIG RAMEL,Chairman • Executive Director, Nobel Foundation ARNE FREDGA • Chairman, Nobel Committee for Chemistry TIM GREVE • Director, Norwegian Nobel Institute (Peace) BENGT GUSTAFSSON • Secretary, Nobel Committee for Medicine LARS GYLLENSTEN • Member, Swedish Academy (Literature) LAMEK HULT HEN • Chairman, Nobel Committee for Physics ERIK LUNDBERG • Chairman, Prize Committee for Economic Sciences NILS-ERIC SVENSSON • Executive Director, Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Foundation THE IMPACT OF SPACE SCIENCE ON MANKIND Edited by Tim Greve Norwegian Nobel Institute Finn Lied Norwegian Council for Scientific and Industrial Research and Erik Tandberg Norconsult A.S. PLENUM PRESS D NEW YORK AND LONDON Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Nobel Symposium, 31st, Spatind, Norway, 1975. The impact of space science on mankind. Includes index. 1. Scientific satellites-Congresses. 2. Astronautics in earth sciences-Congresses. 3. Space sciences-Congresses. 4. Artificial satellites in telecommunication-Congresses. I. Greve, Tim, 1926- II. Lied, Finn. III. Tandberg, Erik, 1932- IV. Title. TL798.S3N6 1975 301.24'3 76-26652 ISBN 978-14684-8666-7 ISBN 978-14684-8664-3 (eBook) 00110.1007/978-14684-8664-3 Proceedings of the thirty-first Nobel Symposium on The Impact of Space Science on Mankind held at Sp~tind, Norway, September 7-12,1975 ORGANIZING COMMITTEE GREVE, TIM-Director, Norwegian Nobel Institute INGVALDSEN, BERNT -Director, Member of the Norwegian Nobel Committee LIED, FINN-Chairman, Executive Board, Norwegian Council for Scientific and Industrial Research SANNESS, JOHN-Director, Norwegian Institute for Foreign Affairs, member Norwegian Nobel Committee TANDBERG, ERIK-Director, NorconsultA.S. © 1976 Plenum Press, New York Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1s t edition 1976 A Division of Plenum Publishing Corporation 227 West 17th Street New York, N.Y. 10011 All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher EARLIER NOBEL SYMPOSIA • Muscular Afferents and Motor Control-Edited by Ragnar Granit 2 • Prostaglandins-Edited by Sune Bergstrom and Bengt Samuelsson 3 • Gamma globulins-Edited by Johan Killander 4 • Current Problems of Lower Vertebrate Phylogeny-Edited by Tor RJrvig 5 • Fast Reactions and Primary Processes in Chemical Kinetics-Edited by Stig Claesson 6 • Problems of International Literary Understanding-Edited by Karl Ragnar Gierow 7 • International Protection of Human Rights-Edited by Asbjiirn Eide and August Schou 8 • Elementary Particle Theory-Edited by Nils Svartholm 9 • Mass Motions in Solar Flares and Related Phenomena-Edited by Yngve Ohman 10 • Disorders of the Skull Base Region-Edited by Carl-Axel Hamberger and Jan Wersall 11 • Symmetry and Function of Biological Systems at the Macromolecular Level- Edited by Arne Engstrom and Bror Strandberg 12 • Radiocarbon Variations and Absolute Chronology-Edited by Ingrid U Olsson 13 • Pathogenesis of Diabetes Mellitus-Edited by Eral Cerasi and Rolf Luft 14 • The Place of Value in a World of Facts-Edited by Arne Tiselius and Sam Nilsson 15 • Control of Human Fertility-Edited by Egon Diczfalusy and Ulf Borell 16 • Frontiers in Gastrointestinal Hormone Research-Edited by Sven Andersson 17 • Small States in Ihternational Relations-Edited by August Schou and Arne Olav Brundtland 18 • Cancelled 19 • Cancelled 20 • The Changing Chemistry of the Oceans-Edited by David Dyrssen and Daniel Jagner 21 • From Plasma to Planet-Edited by Aina Elvius 22 • ESR Applications to Polymer Research-Edited by Per-Olof Kinell and Bef}gt Ranby 23 • Chromosome Identification-Technique and Applications in Biology and Med icine-Edited by Torbjorn Caspersson and Lore Zech 24 • Collective Properties of Physical Systems-Edited by Bengt Lundqvist and Stig Lundqvist 25 • Chemistry in Botanical Classification-Edited by Gerd Bendz and Johan Santesson 26 • Coordination in the Field of Science and Technology-Edited by August Schou and Finn Sollie 27 • Super-Heavy Elements-Edited by Sven Gosta Nilsson and Nils Robert Nilsson 28 • Somatomedins and Some Other Growth Factors-To be published 29 • Man, Environment, and Resources-Edited by Torgny Segerstedt and Sam Nilsson 30 • Physics of the Hot Plasma in the Magnetosphere-Edited by Bengt Hultqvist and Lennart Stenflo Symposia 1-17 and 20-22 were published by Almqvist & Wiksell, Stockholm and John Wiley & Sons, New York; Symposia 23-25 by Nobel Foundation, Stockholm and Academic Press, New York; Symposium 26 by the Norwegian Nobel Institute, Universitetsforlaget, Oslo; Symposium 27 by Nobel Foundation, Stockholm and Almqvist & Wiksell International, Stockholm; Symposium 28 to be published by Academic Press, New York; Symposium 29 by Nobel Foundation, Stockholm and Trycksaksservice AB, Stockholm; and Symposium 30 by Plenum Press, New York. PREFACE Nobel Symposium No 31 on The Impact of Space Science on Man kind was held at Spatind, Norway, September 7 - 12, 1975. Twenty seven leading experts from the United States, the U.S.S.R. and Western Europe attended the Symposium. Four main subjects were discussed: The Impact of Space Science, introduced by Profe.ssor Reimar Lust; The Impact of Space Communica tion, ihtroduced by Dr Joseph Charyk; The Impact of Earth Resources Exploration from Space, introduced by Dr William Nordberg; and The Impact of Space Assisted Meteorology, introduced by Dr Robert M White. This book contains edited summaries of the papers presented at the Symposium and summaries of the discussions. The Symposium was financed by the Nobel Foundation through grants from the Tercentenary Foundation of the Bank of Sweden and organized by a special committee appointed by the Norwegian Nobel Institute. Tim Greve Finn Lied Erik Tandberg vii CONTENTS The Impact of Space Science 1 R. Lust The Impact of Space Science on Mankind (Discussion) 13 T. R. Larsen (ed.) Satellite Communications 25 J. V. Charyk The Impact of Space Communication (Discussion) 57 G. Rosenberg (ed.) The Impact of Earth Resources Exploration from Space 67 W. Nordberg The Impact of Earth Resources Exploration from Space 79 (Discussion) E. Tandberg (ed.) The Environmental Satellite: What It Means for Man 91 R. M. White The Impact of Space Assisted Meteorology (Discussion) 111 E. Tandberg (ed.) Participants 119 Index 121 ix THE IMPACT OF SPACE SCIENCE* R. Lust Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science 1. NEW METHODS Space science as a discipline is not so much. defined by the objects to be investigated or observed as by the technical means - namely balloons, sounding rockets, satellites and space probes - to be applied for the investigation above the surface of the earth. As in many other fields, scientific and technical progress are very closely correlated, and space technology has provided the scientists with completely new possibilities for their research of the earth, its environment, the planetary system, astronomical objects, and the unlverse. These techniques can be applied in different ways: A. Large parts of the surface of the earth and its atmosphere can be observed and monitored simultaneously. B. The surroundings of the earth, the moon and the planets can be investigated directly by measuring instruments. C. The electromagnetic and the corpuscular radiation approaching the earth c~n be observed from an extraterrestrial (observing) station not inhibited and influenced by the earth's atmosphere and by the earth's magnetic field. Therefore the whole range of the electromagnetic spectrum as well as the energy spectrum of the arriving photons and particles can be exploited and yields new data on known objects as well as on objects so far *The parts 2.5 - 2.9 have been written by Dr Klaus Beuermann (Max-Planck-Institut fur Physik und Astrophysik, Institut fur Extraterrestrische Physik, Garching bei MUnchen). I want to thank him also for many valuable discussions. Furthermore I am thankful to Dr Dieter Hovestadt for a contribution. 2 R, LUST not yet detected. D. Direct experiments can be carried out in the extraterrestrial space under conditions not to be realized on the earth. All these different ways have been used, and they have opened the road for the application satellites. Thus it could easily be proven that space science was the first step necessary to enable us to use satellites for communication, to monitor the physical environ ment of man and to study its resources on the earth. In this way the impact of space science on mankind can directly be demonstrated. But also the impact on technical developments - particularly ~n 'electronics - should be taken into account, e.g. micro miniaturization. However, this is not the motivation for space science, and it would be a serious mistake, if one would try to sell space science on these reasons. Here we meet with the most difficult question: why one should carry out basic research and why one is justified to ask for funding basic research. From our experience of the past we know that the results of basic research are the necessary corner stones for our further technological and technical development. But it is very difficult to predict which areas are essential for the future development. But even this is not a sufficient motiva tion for supporting basic research, to which space science belongs. The main motivation is to widen our knowledge about the nature, which may have a profound impact on mankind as e.g. the discovery of Copernicus has demonstrated, but which is very difficult to be anticipated. 2. NEW DISCOVERIES For these reasons this shall not be an attempt to describe in detail what space science has accomplished so far. Instead, I shall try to give a list of the findings and discoveries achieved with the means of space research which could have a strong impact on further scientific developments and thereby on mankind. The progress in the understanding of the physics and the behaviour of cosmical objects has been considerable, and also it was possible to accumulate new knowledge in certain areas of physics as e.g. in plasmaphysics. The following summary might serve as a basis for discussion: 2.1 The Surrounding of the Earth. The in situ measurements in the surrounding of the earth with the help of satellites and sounding rockets have changed our picture of this region completely. The space out to a distance of about 10 ~ in the direction towards the sun is dominated by the earth's magnetic field. In the anti-solar THE IMPACT OF SPACE SCIENCE 3 direction, the magnetic lines of force are not closed, but temporarily linked to the interplanetary field and stretched far beyond the lunar orbit to form a long magnetic tail. This whole region is called the magnetosphere. The first important discovery by means of satellites was that of the radiation belts, which constitute the innermost part of the magnetosphere where the field is approximately dipolar. Most of the energetic charged particles trapped in the earth's magnetic field seem to originate from the solar wind and are accelerated by the variable electromagnetic field, whereby the energy is again derived from the solar wind. The outer parts of the magnetosphere contain layers of low energy plasma (average proton energies of a few 100 eV to a few keV). The interface between solar wind and magnetosphere, the magnetopause, is covered on the inside by a plasma layer which extends far into the tail. It is filled by ions and electrons which have just managed to penetrate through the barrier of the magnetopause. The greatest energy reservoir of the magnetosphere is the plasma sheet which occupies the central region of the tail and maps into the auroral oval. Particle and energy losses from the plasma sheet to the upper atmosphere are the origin of the auroral phenomena. The various regions of the magnetosphere are subject to a large scale internal convection process which is initiated by momentum transfer from the solar wind and controlled by frictional forces acting in the weakly ionized plasma of the ionosphere. Somewhere on the front-side of the magnetopause a merging of magnetic field lines from the earth with those imbedded in the solar wind plasma takes place which establishes a way of momentum transfer between the two regions. In the neighbourhood of the central plane of the tail this process is eventually (and in an impulsive fashion) reversed by reconnection of opposing open field lines. In addition to the large scale transport processes a host of collective microscopic interaction processes of the plasma have been identified. As a medium for propagation and excitation of various kinds of plasma waves the magnetosphere has received intensive attention and also as a laboratory for active plasma and wave experiments. An exciting recent finding is that the earth is a powerful emitter of radio waves with wavelengths in the km range. Fortunately, these waves are shielded from the earth's surface by the ionosphere. 2.2 The Earth, Moon, Planets and Meteorites. In less than twenty years of space exploration we have learned more about the moon, the meteorites and the planets Mercury, Venus, Mars and Jupiter than in all the preceding centuries of earthbound observation. According to Sagan, the Mariner 9 photographic results correspond roughly to
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