Today marks the historic 50-year anniversary of the launch of the very first human-built satellite. On Oct. 4, 1957 the then-USSR successfully sent Sputnik 1 into orbit around the Earth, starting the space race between the two polar powers of the Cold War. Yesterday, the United States and Russia signed an agreement promising to work together in the search for water on the moon and Mars, heralding in a new era of cooperation. I spoke with Professor of Physics and Astronomy Kenneth Lang to reflect on the past and look ahead into the space age.
Jamie Bologna: It was 50 years ago this week that the Russians launched Sputnik. What are your thoughts on this momentous date?
Kenneth Lang: The Sputnik launch and the race to the moon, which the United States won, illustrated that the United States had a better system of government than the Soviet system. I think that's still true. I think a Democratic form of government is preferable. The race to the moon was primarily not a scientific endeavor; it was primarily a political one. There was some science that certainly came out of it, but it was in response to the Sputnik launch, which seemed to show the Soviets were dominating the scene.
JB: You've been known to tell a story about photographs from the surface of Venus to show how this political wrangling did not extend to scientists.
KL: Just because there's political controversy between politicians doesn't mean that there are such feelings between scientists. Scientists are usually apolitical. The story I tell in my class is the Russians had recently translated my first book, "Astrophysical Formulae," so I stopped by Moscow to see the book on my way to the Crimea for an international meeting on the Sun. When I was there I was given the number of the head of the Russian space agency and I had heard that the Russians had successfully landed a craft on the surface of Venus, which is hot enough to melt lead, and before it broke down it transmitted pictures. Within an hour he sent somebody by with those pictures. This demonstrates the cordial, apolitical nature of most scientists and their willingness to share information. This was in the middle of the Cold War.
JB: How far have we come since the launch of Sputnik?
KL: The scientific advances have been enormous. They have been huge. There's a whole invisible universe out there that cannot be seen except from space. There are x-rays, microwaves, ultraviolet radiation and other particles that wouldn't have been discovered without x-ray telescopes. Then there's the exploration of the planets. [We've] sent telescopes and cameras to photograph the planets and their moons, which opens us up to a whole new world. This brings us back to the question of water on Mars. We currently have several spacecrafts up there looking for signs of liquid water, either current or past. Liquid water on the surface of Mars is impossible, considering it either freezes or evaporates. It could be buried or just under the surface.
JB: Do you think that the pact that the United States and Russia signed to use Russian technology for a NASA flight will be helpful in this search for water?
KL: There's no reason to believe using Russian technology to find water is likely to be anymore developed than our own. What the Russians are good at is building powerful rockets. If you want to launch something, you get a Russian rocket and several countries are doing that. I was invited to by the United Nations to give a talk in Malaysia. I talked with the head of the Malaysian space agency and the Malaysians are launching an astronaut into space using Russian rockets. I said that in order to persuade the Russians to do that, it must have been very costly. The head of the agency, who is a woman by the way, said "Oh no, the rockets were free, all we had to do was have our military buy its jet aircraft from Russia." That brings up the close tie, not only a political tie, but there is a tie between the military and space.
JB: Looking into the future, are scientists looking for water on Mars to see if the planet can be used for colonization?
KL: If there were water on the moon, it would be used for future colonization, because we need water. Now for Mars, the whole search for water on Mars is not for colonization so much as for the search for extraterrestrial life. Because living things as we know them require liquid water to function.
JB: Also, some people talk about "Star Wars" and the militarization of space. Are we headed in that direction?
KL: Space is currently used in modern warfare. For example, the Internet was developed by and totally funded by the military before the public ever got it. Another example is all the satellites up there right now that are telling airplanes and ships where to launch things in Iraq. So the use of space in warfare has already begun, it is just that there aren't weapons in satellites.
Jamie Bologna is a senior majoring in political science and Spanish. He can be reached at james.bologna@tufts.edu
