At the dawn of the Atomic Age, there was talk of using nuclear bombs for civilian purposes such as digging canals and harbors. In the Soviet Union, there was even a plan to use nuclear bombs for fracking natural gas. Fortunately this plan was never carried out. However, it turns out that these proposals were tame in comparison to ideas expressed by an astronomer named Fred Zwicky at CalTech.
The start of the Space Age is usually thought to be the launching of Sputnik by the Soviet Union in 1957. While Sputnik was the first Earth orbiting satellite ever launched and did start the Space Race, the actual roots of the Space Age reach back much earlier to World War II.
I have posted many essays on nuclear weapons on my nuclear blog at nucleotidings.com. Most people are not aware or are not bothered by the fact that the United States and Russia both have about fifteen hundred nuclear missiles aimed at each other that can launch in minutes. As I have posted before, the U.S. missile forces has low morale all the way up to the generals in charge.
The first British space program began in 1959 with the Ariel series of six satellites which were built in the U.K. and the U.S. The satellites were launched by N.A.S.A. from U.S. sites. Ariel 1 was launched in 1962. The last of the six Ariel satellites was launched in 1979. Four of the satellites relayed back information about the Earth's ionosphere. The other two were dedicated to X-ray astronomy and cosmic-ray studies.
In 1961, French President Charles de Gaulle created the National Center for Space Studies (CNES) as a "public administration with industrial and commercial purpose" under the French Ministries of Defence and Research. CNES was established to focus on five areas of interest: access to space, civil applications of space, sustainable development, science and technology research, security and defense. France was the third nation to achieve access to space after the U.S. and the U.S.S.R.
South Korea's first encounter with modern rocketry occurred as the U.S. moved missiles into S.K. to counter the North Koreans after the Korean war. The Korean Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) was founded in 1989 in Daejeon, Korea primarily for the purpose of aerospace research. Its mission was to "Perform basic and applied studies in aerospace technology", "Perform government-delegated tasks and support policy development", "Support industries and transfer technology."
Rakesh Sharma was the first Indian citizen to fly into space. He was carried into orbit aboard a Russian spacecraft in 1984. In August of 2007, the Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) stated that they were "seriously considering" developing a human spaceflight program.
In the early 1980s, India began work on the Augmented Satellite Launch Vehicle (ASLV). The ASLV design was based on the Satellite Launch Vehicle used in the 1970s to launch Indian space missions. It consisted of five solid fuel rocket stages and was able to carry a three hundred and thirty pound satellite into a two hundred and fifty mile orbit. The ASLV was only used four times. The first launch was in 1987 and was successful.
In 1975, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) built India's first satellite, Aryabhata which was launched by the Soviet Union. Aryabhata was a test project for India to gain experience in the construction and launching of satellites. It had an orbital period of about one hundred minutes and the orbit reached a maximum altitude of about three hundred and fifty miles. It's instrument package conducted experiments in X-ray astronomy, aeronomics and solar physics.
Atmospheric and space research in India began in the 1920s with ground based sounding of the ionosphere. Other researchers added to theoretical foundation of space science in the next two decades. In 1945, two scientists established research institutes, the Physical Research Laboratory and the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, which established an organized space research capability in India.
