Space Research in Our Everyday Lives

  1. Types of Technological Impact 

    1. Communication Satellites

      1. Increased interconnectedness and access

        1. Cell phones (Silver)

          1. Benefits

            1. Connection to family/friends

            2. Emergency alerts

            3. Internet access

          2. Impact

            1. 96% smartphone ownership in USA (Silver)

            2. 64% smartphone ownership worldwide (Silver)

        2. Satellite-based internet

          1. Benefits 

            1. Education

            2. News

          2. End Users

            1. Rural/Remote

            2. Underdeveloped countries

      2. Personal Navigation Technology 

        1. Map Quest

          1. Easy gps navigation in a time before smartphones

        2. Apple/Google Maps

          1. Equipped in every smartphone sold today

          2. Accessible through the internet

          3. Allows people to navigate the quickly growing world autonomously 

        3. Portable GPS

          1. Outdoor Activites

            1. Safety-oriented

          2. Car equipped

            1. Comfort-oriented

    2. Weather Satellites (Choi)

      1. Macro view of the atmosphere

        1. Provide early storm warning (“GOES overview and History”)

          1. Allow people time to evacuate

          2. Every Hurricane Evacuation in the last 54 years

        2. Better understanding of climate change and its atmospheric impacts

          1. Discovery of effects of Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) in the 70’s (American Chemical Society)

            1. Call to action to ban CFCs

            2. Increased radiation from depleted ozone (Climate Change and Human Health)

              1. More skin damage

              2. Increased cancer rates

      2. Search and Rescue (NOAA Satellites)

        1. NOAA weather satellites saved 421 individually lost people in 2019

    3. Environmental Technology

      1. Development of powerful air purifiers to kill airborne fungus, bacteria, and viruses (Rainey)

        1. Used commonly in sterile environments and in home use

          1. Better the living experience of those with asthma and allergies

          2. Safer medical procedures in rural/developing areas

      2. Better understanding of how plants react to artificial soil in greenhouses (Rainey)

        1. Efficient vertical farms in urban areas

          1. Unclear if they are better for resources than traditional farming

          2. Help alleviate “Food Deserts” by providing fresh local food and employment

      3. Earth Day was founded a few days after Apollo 13

        1. People saw the earth in its entirety and changed their perspectives

  2. Cutting Edge Medical Research (Rainey)

    1. Health Technology

      1. Research on ISS enabled robotic surgery within MRI machines

        1. Allows for far better diagnostic and treatment of cancers (esp. breast)

          1. Better cancer treatment could impact anyone

          2. Relatively new technology still

        2. Better treatment of alzheimer's (The University of Hong Kong)

          1. Currently impacting 8.5 million 

      2. Air measurement devices developed for the ISS

        1. Combat/medicate against asthma attacks in remote areas

        2. Portable devices for detecting non-odorous, harmful gases

      3. Study of plasmas for exploration

        1. Disinfection of chronic wounds

        2. Boosting of tumor inactivation

        3. Jumpstarting plant growth

    2. Preventing Bone Loss

      1. Diet and exercise techniques developed for astronauts in microgravity 

        1. Used to treat the elderly

        2. Those prone to osteoporosis

    3. Immune Defense

      1. Microgravity activates any dormant herpes virus in humans

        1. NASA has developed a device for the early and rapid detection of this virus

          1. Can lead to prevention and treatment

          2. Can be used in both space and doctors office

          3. Potential cure to herpes

    4. Disease Therapy

      1. Microgravity environment

        1. Unique protein behavior has lead to 

          1. Treatment to combat muscular dystrophy

        2. Fluid behavior

          1. Microencapsulation technology developed in space

            1. used to deliver concentrated anti-cancer drugs

  3. Ideological Impact

    1. Interconnectedness & Better Understanding

      1. “One of the great revelations of the Space Age has been the perspective it has given humanity on ourselves. When we see the earth from space, we see ourselves as a whole. We see the unity and not the divisions. It is such a simple image with a compelling message. One planet. One human race.”― Stephen Hawking, Brief Answers to the Big Questions

    2. A new perspective

      1. We have no other home than Earth

        1. “Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there--on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.” - Carl Sagan 

        2. “The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.” - Carl Sagan 

References

April 13, Charles Q. Choi, and 2010. “How Weather Satellites Changed the World.” Space.com. Accessed January 31, 2020. https://www.space.com/8186-weather-satellites-changed-world.html.

American Chemical Society. “Chlorofluorocarbons and Ozone Depletion.” Accessed February 3, 2020. https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/whatischemistry/landmarks/cfcs-ozone.html.

“NASA Technologies Benefit Our Lives.” Accessed January 31, 2020. https://spinoff.nasa.gov/Spinoff2008/tech_benefits.html.

“NOAA Satellites Helped Save a Record 421 Lives in 2019 | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.” Accessed February 3, 2020. https://www.noaa.gov/media-release/noaa-satellites-helped-save-record-421-lives-in-2019.

World Meteorological Organization. “NOAA’s Eyes in the Sky - After Five Decades of Weather Forecasting with Environmental Satellites, What Do Future Satellites Promise for Meteorologists and Society?,” November 12, 2015. https://public.wmo.int/en/resources/bulletin/noaa%E2%80%99s-eyes-sky-after-five-decades-of-weather-forecasting-environmental.

Rainey, Kristine. “Human Health.” Text. NASA, November 19, 2015. http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/benefits/human_health_benefits.

WHO. “WHO | Climate Change and Human Health - Risks and Responses. Summary.” Accessed February 24, 2020. https://www.who.int/globalchange/summary/en/index7.html.