I deem it a great privilege to be invited to address this meeting on the Impact of Space Exploration on Society. The navigation of the Mariner IV space-craft to successfully accomplish a fly by mission to Mars and the telemetry of television pictures from a distance of 13.5 million miles are mile-stones in technological and scientific progress. While applauding the magnificent accomplishment that these represent, we should also appreciate the understanding displayed by the organisers of the mission of their responsibility to the scientific community and to the society at large to preserve the possibility of detecting life on Mars uncontaminated by biological organisms transferred from the earth.
At first sight it may appear odd that a developing nation such as India, where the annual per capita income is about 80 dollars at current prices, where the average expectancy of life is 45 years and the population grows by about 13 millions each year, should think of things other than the immediate problems of population control and of providing food, clothing, housing, education and the social services. What is the value of space research to such a country? People seriously ask this question both at home and in foreign lands. And yet we have a modest space programme with which I have been connected from its inception some four years ago. I, therefore, feel it appropriate to share my thinking with you.
Some of the comments which I make are perhaps applicable to all developing countries. Others are of special significance to India. I will deal here first with the close relationship between understanding science and the ability of a nation to develop through the application of science and technology. Secondly, I will deal with the role of international cooperation in an advanced field, such as space research, in the transfer of know-how and technology and the creation of an overall climate, vitally necessary for a developing nation. Thirdly, I will discuss the significance of collaboration between advanced nations in jointly undertaking assistance to a developing nation and of the U. N. sponsorship of the International Rocket Launching Facility in India. And finally, what is perhaps most important in an immediate sense, I will relate the value of space research in India for improving understanding of equatorial aeronomy and some factors governing everyday life in the Indian Ocean region.
Clearly the development of a nation is intimately linked with the understanding and application of science and technology by its people. It has sometimes been argued that the application of technology by itself can contribute to growth. This is certainly true as an abstract proposition, but fails in practice. Witness the state of development and social structure of countries of the Middle East, where for decades resources of oil have been exploited with the most sophisticated technology. History has demonstrated that the real social and economic fruits of technology go to those who apply them through understanding. Therefore a significant number of citizens of every developing country must understand the ways of modern science and of the technology that flows from it.
An ability to question basic assumptions in any situation is fostered by probing the frontiers of science, whatever field one may be engaged in, whether it is Biology, Genetics, Atomic Science or Space Research. It is this ability rather than an empirical hit and miss approach which proves most effective in tackling the day to day problems of the world.
It follows from this that countries have to provide facilities for its nationals to do front rank research within the resources which are available. It is equally necessary, having produced the men who can do research, to organise task oriented projects for the nation’s practical problems. In India, space activities may be allocated during the next few years about 4 per cent of the total available funds for non-military research and development by Government.
Pursuit of cosmic rays and space research does not require an apology in a developing nation provided the activities are within a total scheme of priorities in the allocation of national resources. Many of us who are engaged in pure science are also involved in the organisation and conduct of education, of planning and of industrial development in fields such as electronics and chemicals. The role of space activities in stimulating the growth of technology and industry in advanced fields such as electronics, communications, cybernetics and in materials engineering is well recognised in the advanced nations. This applies equally to developing nations such as India.
When a developing nation gets actively interested in a field such as space research, it inevitably establishes collaborative relationships with organisations as well as scientists and technologists in foreign lands. Through these relationships it starts looking outwards from its encapsulated existence born out of an emergent nationalism. It learns to deal with peers, to establish a mutuality even when the flow of know-how and technology is largely in one direction to start with.
International cooperation in jointly assisting a developing nation, has a special significance to the advanced countries. In a world in which the East-West conflict has dominated the international scene for almost a decade and a half, there are understandable political overtones in the area of technical assistance. On the other hand, many people believe that 10 to 20 years from now, the important problem facing the world will no longer be the East-West issue in its classical form, but one arising from the disparity of the standards of living of vast areas of the earth’s population. Indeed the security of the world will then depend on the effectiveness of common endeavour to ameliorate the situation.
Programmes such as IGY, IGC and the International Indian Ocean Expedition constitute international cooperation in fields relatively remote from current practical problems. The International Rocket Launching Facility at Thumba in South India is a unique experiment in international cooperation in the field of space research. At Thumba, the space organisations of France, U.S.A. and the U.S.S.R. and of the host country, which is India, have actively participated. The resolution of the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space brings out the nature of the project. I quote from the official document:-
“The Committee:
(i) Believes that the creation and use of sounding rocket launching facilities (especially in the equatorial region and the southern hemisphere) under United Nations sponsorship would contribute to the achievement of the objectives of General Assembly resolution 1721 (XVI) by greatly furthering international collaboration in space research and the advancement of human knowledge, and by providing opportunity for valuable practical training for interested users;
(ii) Notes that such facilities would open possibilities for nations which wish to enter the field of space research and would provide opportunities for practical instruction and training in this field, and would also make possible space research by Member States which are unable, because of economic or technological factors, or the unsuitability of their territories, to support sounding rocket programmes except through cooperative efforts, and would also allow States already possessing facilities to conduct research for peaceful scientific purposes in other regions”.
In 1962, COSPAR drew attention to major gaps in the world coverage of sounding rocket launching sites. It pointed out: “The equatorial region has special scientific interest for meteorology and aeronomy. In particular, the magnetic equator is highly significant in the investigation of the earth’s magnetic field and the ionosphere”. It therefore urged that a sounding rocket launching facility on the magnetic equator be established as soon as possible, as a first step in creating and using international sounding rocket facilities under United Nations sponsorship.
India has a long tradition, going back to several decades, of research in geophysics, solar physics and earth-sun relationships. Scientists have been working in Universities, in Research Institutions and in Government Departments, in meteorology, geomagnetism, ionospheric physics and other areas of aeronomy, on cosmic radiation, solar optical and radio astronomy, the electromagnetic conditions of interplanetary space and theoretical astrophysics. The magnetic equator passes through the southern tip of the Indian peninsula and a range of geomagnetic latitudes from -1° to 25° N is thus available. The strength of the field in India is about the highest that is reached anywhere along the equator and in consequence the distance between the F-2 layer and the lower limit of the radiation belts is about 800 km. over India as compared to 200 km. in Peru. The presence of high mountains has permitted the establishment of high altitude laboratories near the equator as well as in the Himalayas.
The scientific programme in aeronomy, which is backed up by extensive ground-based observations routinely conducted in India, is of particular interest in understanding the problems dealing with the interaction of neutral and charged particles in the presence of the earth’s magnetic field. The studies which are currently undertaken involve, along with sounding rocket experiments, measurements with groundbased equipment of related parameters, analysis of real time telemetry data from satellites and radio propagation studies using satellite beacons.
Rocket experiments provide photographs of artificial vapour clouds which give information on wind velocities, shears and regions of turbulence in the vertical profile of the neutral atmosphere from an altitude of 80 km. through the E region up to 180 km. The chemical composition of the ionosphere and the vertical profile of electron density are also studied. Special emphasis is on understanding the nature of the D layer and of the sporadic E. Using magnetometers, the structure, the extent and the movements of the current systems involved in the equatorial electrojet are investigated.
Agriculture is the most important activity on the sub-continent of India. A large majority of the population of 480 millions earn their livelihood from this occupation which is largely dependent on rain that occurs during the monsoons. It is hardly necessary in this audience to stress therefore the importance to India’s economy of a better understanding of the processes by which the monsoon rains occur, processes which commence over the vast Indian Ocean, where there are relatively few observing stations undertaking even the normal observations at surface or with balloons. What applies to the economy of India applies to the economy of most of the countries in the Indian Ocean region. Space meteorology which permits the acquisition of valuable data from satellites as well as with the use of sounding rockets has therefore a special significance for us.
Another area of practical importance is the field of satellite communications. Geographically situated as it is at 75 to 90 E meridian, with a volume of international telecommunications second only to Japan in Asia, a satellite communications earth station is of great importance not only for national needs, but for international hook-ups. Assisted by the U. N. Special Fund, an Experimental Satellite Communications Earth Station is now being set up. Independent of this, it is proposed to have a commercial station in the future. The experimental station would provide unique facilities for training scientists and technologists, particularly from the developing nations, in the new field of space communications.
These then are the reasons why India has embarked on a space programme with particular reference to a region which can be covered neither by satellites nor by balloons. With continued cooperation from the advanced nations, we hope through this activity not only to stimulate the progress of our nation, but also to contribute to science.
This is part of ThePrint’s Great Speeches series. It features speeches and debates that shaped modern India.