vika:
I got curious about the things that our space research has provided for us, so I did a bit of searching. The things that we use every day that resulted from space research are absolutely overwhelming, mind-boggling. Here's a web site
http://www.seds.org/technology/introduction.shtml.
I haven't had time to look at it verymuch, but in the intro it claims space credit for saran wrap and aluminum foil, as well as heart monitors and pacemakers.
Of course where would we be computer-wise if there hadn't been such a need for high-capacity low-weight computers. I'm certain we would be far behind where we are now.
One of the things I noticed when I was browsing through this site was a newer low-weight air-pack for firefighters. As a former firefighter, I can assure you that cutting the weight of the Scott Air-Pak is a blessing for every firefighter who has to enter a burning building, as well as a blessing for every person whose life was saved because the firefighter had more time and energy to conduct a search and rescue in a burning building.
Here;s another one:
next time you drink a glass of orange juice, consider that
Citrus growers have long used aerial photography to inventory the number of groves in production. A new development, aerial mapping of groves with color infrared (CIR) film, affords an important advance in grove management by detecting and locating unhealthy trees long before they could be detected by ground survey methods. Aerial CIR photography picks up light reflected from foliage -- light not visible to the human eye, and enables differentiation between healthy and "stressed" (diseased) trees of a Florida orange/grapefruit grove. Computer aided photo interpretation techniques permit grading diseased trees lightly, moderately or severely stressed, or dead. Method of grove mapping has offered advantage to growers in early disease warning and possible savings through water regulation and provision of a permanent record of grove growth patterns.
We hear people every day decry how Government takes and takes and takes and never gives anything back. That's plain poppycock. Had JFK not declared in 1961 that it was the goal of the US to land a man on the moon and return him safely to earth it would not have happened. Private enterprise wasn't about to spend $40 billion on such an enterprise because there wasn't an immediate return on investment.
There are some things that governments have to do because the profit motive prevents or deters private enterprise from taking on the project.
I'd be willing to bet that there's not an hour of your waking life that's not made better by the space program. And it appears that your sleeping life is better because of it also, judging from what I saw on line.
TEd
