Science and technology

Why do we need space?

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Science and technology

Why do we need space?

For a long time, space was polarized and one-dimensional. It served the aims of the state and was a weapon in the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. Sergei Korolev personified this: he was known to the Americans as the Secret Designer. In the 1990s, space started to change. It acquired peaceful uses such as the internet, communication and navigation, and business people started to invest financially in space start-ups. Space was transformed from one- to two-dimensional. The leader of this new space age was the founder of SpaceX, Elon Musk, who has made space exploration look like a gripping drama.

Speakers

Lev Danilkin

Writer, journalist and winner of the Big Book literary prize and author of two biographies of Gagarin, Yuri Gagarin and Passenger with Children

Yusef Khesuani

Managing Partner, 3D Bioprinting Solutions, a company carrying out experiments on the International Space Station (ISS) to create artificial meat, as well as bone and cartilaginous tissue, on a 3D bioprinter

Vitaly Egorov

Popular writer on space exploration, founder of the Open Space online community and author of popular science books Make Space and People on the Moon

Today, humanity is at the start of the next stage in the transformation of space. Space is changing from every point of view: culturally, ideologically, technically and in its media portrayal. More and more people and satellites are being launched into space, and unique medical experiments are being carried out in orbit. The influence of private investment is growing and more and more start-ups are appearing, with activities ranging from asteroid research to removing space junk from orbit. Space is becoming multi-dimensional, with many parties involved, and is much closer to all of us than it might seem.

There was another important reason for us to talk about space: 12 April 2021 marked sixty years since Yuri Gagarin became the first human being in space. Since then, space hasn’t become closer to us in the way its pioneers dreamed. But is has got more interesting — and this is what we talked about.

Lev Danilkin:

“The Russians had conquered the vast empty spaces right up to Vladivostok so we had to do the same thing with space.”

In both the United States and the USSR, the military elites were not keen to pursue manned space flight. So how did the USSR manage to seize the initiative at the end of the 1950s?

Firstly, to quote the designer Boris Chertok, it was the result of three mistakes: by the Germans, who had invested too much in their rocket programme at the end of the war; by the United States, which counted on the Russians; and by the Russians, who miscalculated the weight of an atomic warhead and then found that not only could a warhead be mounted onto a rocket — rockets could be used in spacecraft.

Secondly, the country felt that it was on the verge of a new world war between the nuclear powers and that it was important to ensure that an atomic weapon could be delivered quickly.

Thirdly, space was a distraction from unpleasant aspects of socialism such as the Berlin wall.

Fourthly, there was ideology: space was proof that Marxism was an all-powerful doctrine and it was where the future lay.

And lastly, there was historical inertia. The Russians had conquered the vast empty spaces right up to Vladivostok so we had to do the same thing with space.

Yusef Khesuani:

“We don’t see borders from space.”

Bioprinting is a 3D printing technology that uses living cells as printing material. Because of their different structures and functions, there isn’t currently an ideal bioprinting technology for all organ tissues. We have to devise different technologies and machines that are able to control cells in three-dimensional space.

At a conference at the end of 2014, the idea was mooted that an object could be formed by using magnetic waves instead of complicated mechanics and that we would need conditions of microgravity for this — and so we sent a printer into space. We’ve learned how to produce materials we obtained in space here on Earth. Right now this is expensive, but not prohibitively so. For instance, we have produced materials to restore bone tissue.
Creating organs for transplant is problematic because the facilities on the ISS are not perfect. To be fit for use, it’s not enough to just print the organs. They have to be “matured” using a special reactor system, which doesn’t yet exist on the Russian segment of the ISS. They do have it on the American segment but we haven’t yet been able to negotiate using it. As well as this, the loads are much higher when they’re sent to Earth than when they’re sent to the ISS.

We’ve learned how to produce materials we obtained in space here on Earth

We’ve also discovered an important phenomenon which hadn’t been described before: for some reason, cellular memory works well in conditions of microgravity. The cells that are supposed to be at the periphery of organs make their own way there, regardless of how we mix them, and the cells that are supposed to be inside the organ go inside. It’s difficult to say whether this is connected to microgravity, but we don’t see this effect on Earth. In space, the correct hierarchy establishes itself.

Astronauts say they don’t see borders from space. It would be nice if we didn’t see barriers within ourselves and if the answer to the question of why humankind needs space was that it’s the simplest thing we can do.

Vitaly Egorov:

“There is nothing better than the Earth in our solar system.”

Space doesn’t always live up to our expectations. Fifty years ago people saw themselves as explorers and conquerors of space, as they had on Earth in the Age of Exploration. However, it’s turned out that the work people do in space mainly involves carrying out repairs: astronauts spend 70% of their time repairing and servicing systems and the remaining 30% on science, rest, and interacting with the public. In Konstantin Tsiolkovsky’s day, people believed that weightlessness and the state of free fall would be a pleasant flight sensation, but it turned out that it was the worst thing that could happen to the body inside a spacecraft. The first two weeks of space flight are a period of unpredictable adaptation. Even a very experienced astronaut can experience extreme motion sickness for the entire two weeks, regardless of pre-flight training. And if they don’t carry out physical exercises during these two weeks, they’re guaranteed to experience a condition similar to a heart attack on their return. That’s why astronauts carry out specially developed exercises so they remain well when they return to Earth.

There is nothing better than the Earth in our solar system

Why do people need space? Curiosity is what moves people. An important element of astrophysics is the desire to look where no one has looked before. Demonstrating achievements is probably also a motivation.

The most profitable kind of activity in space is television. If you pay for a satellite dish then you’re making a contribution to the development of the space programme. Satellite navigation also has a significant influence on the terrestrial economy: we even order home pizza deliveries using it. The incomes of companies that are involved in space in one way or another exceed annual government spending on space by three times.

Space allows us to look at our planet and ourselves in a different way. Yes, we did expect something different from space. Yes, we haven’t yet learned how to make greater use of space than we already do. But space exploration demonstrates one obvious fact, and perhaps the most important: there is nothing better than the Earth in our solar system. And we don’t have any Plan B. There is no other planet in the known universe we could live on, and so we need to value it.

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