Have we lost the impetus for technological advancement?

Yesterday was the 42nd anniversary of the first moon landing and today saw the final return of the last Space Shuttle.

This has set the blogosphere and twitterverse alive with comments. These range from the “Oh how sad that we are not putting men in space,” not strictly true given the Russians seem to be able to continue with the Soyuz Programme with what remains an essentially 1960s spacecraft design. There is another, quite vitriolic strand about how puitting men in space is and always has been a monumental waste of money better spent on ‘humanitarian’ programmes.

The space Programme was undoubtably based on national hubris and development of defense technology. There is an absolutely direct line of descent between the first ballistic missile , the WW2 German v2 and the appollo Programme with the main player throughout being Werner Von Braun.  Many elements of the Shuttles’s rocket motors continued the same technological DNA.

What the naysayers are missing is the absolutely massive spin off technological development without which we would be living in a very different world. To start with however you are reading this be it smart phone, personal computer or even ink jet or laser copy exist due to space related technology development. The whole field of microelectronics owes its development to the requirements for compressing what were then wardrobe sized computers into a box the size of today’s typical games console.

It is not just space and rocketry that has led these developments but the human needs of astronauts that have driven so much of the useful spin off which affects our everyday lives. Technologies born of the astronaut programme really are pervasive and are so important for dealing with many of the issues currently causing concern. First let’s look at the renewable generation area. Photovoltaic panels exist and are as developed as they are due to the necessity of producing electrical energy in outer space. Those massive sails on wind turbines are built from composite materials that were hugely advanced by the need to produce stronger and lighter structures for space craft capable of providing a human liveable environment in space. We are all aware of mundane space spin off such as Velcro that remains a fashionable and very useful fastener and PTFE, the non-stick on pans however the more esoteric sounding cross linked olefin pipe originally developed for plumbing in human occupied spacecraft is now the standard material for water supply pipes in the street and for new water supply schemes in less developed parts of the world.

The decline of manned space exploration has already resulted in a huge reduction in the rate technological innovation seen during the 1960s and 1970s. The impetus provided by the challenge set by President Kennedy to land a man on the moon within a decade is long lost. We need a new challenge with comparable political will and public excitement to re-invigorate industrial innovation. The current negativity brought about through global financial crisis and scare stories of global warming do not provide the impetus given by a strong forward and outward looking target that the race to the moon provided and without which we seem to be sinking into a technological torpor.

Kevan Shaw 21 July 2011