Space Technologies for the Benefit of Human
    Society and Earth
     Phillip Olla
     Editor
     Space Technologies for the
     Benefit of Human Society
     and Earth
     123
             Editor
             Dr. Phillip Olla
             MadonnaUniversity
             School of Business
             Dept. Computer Information
             Systems
             36600 Schoolcraft Rd.
             Livonia MI 48150
             USA
             polla@madonna.edu
             ISBN 978-1-4020-9572-6        e-ISBN 978-1-4020-9573-3
             DOI10.1007/978-1-4020-9573-3
             Library of Congress Control Number: 2009920274
             c
             SpringerScience+Business Media B.V. 2009
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             springer.com
           Preface: The Role of Space Technology
           in Society
           Challenges Faced by the Planet
           In today’s global society, it appears that economic prosperity is the most important
           human goal; however, the foremost goal of the human race should be to sustain
           a livable biosphere. Our prime objective must be to implement a coordinated and
           concerted effort to improve sustainable development activities over the next decade.
           The planet is facing some fundamental challenges, which are expected to become
           more devastating over the next couple of decades. The problems that must be ad-
           dressed extend over a spectrum of environmental, technological, and humanitarian
           domains. One of the most topical issues is the dilemma of global warming, which
           comprises such problems as carbon dioxide and methane build-up, and the disap-
           pearing ice caps. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has concluded
           that human activities are causing global warming with probable temperature rises
               ◦      ◦        ◦
           of 1.8 C and 4 C (3.2–7.2 F) by the end of the century. Sea levels are also likely to
           rise by 28–43cm. Another serious problem is the shortage of food. Josette Sheeran,
           Executive Director of the UN’s World Food Program, recently announced that food
           reserves are at a 30 year low, and the WFP has started to ration food. The high food
           prices have led to riots in over 30 countries around the globe in 2008. The cause for
           the shortage is still not clear but possible factors are high energy and grain prices,
           the impact of climate change and the growing demand for biofuels, this problem is
           unlikely to be resolved in the near future.
             The next set of challenges stems from global pollution and includes issues such
           as the destruction of the rain forests, desertification, reduction of arable land, and
           over reliance on dwindling petro-chemical energy sources. Another series of prob-
           lems relates to humanitarian issues that are compounded by the spiraling growth
           of the human population. Foremost is the inappropriate distribution of natural and
           agricultural resources to manage the growing population; about 1 billion people, one
           fifth of the world’s population, live on less than $1a day. Unfortunately, this is also
           reflected in the lack of universal access to information technology, global education
           and health care; this is referred to as the digital divide. The most promising suite of
           applications that can address these challenges and probably our only real hope for
           changing the way we treat the planet use space technology.
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