Societal+Impact+of+the+Space+Age

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-They occur on many levels: commercial applications, education and inspiration to youth, applications satellites, scientific benefits, and philosophical implications -In her new book //Rocket Dreams: How the Space Age Shaped Our Vision of a World Beyond//, Marina Benjamin argues that space exploration has shaped our worldviews in more ways than one. "The impact of seeing the Earth from space focused our energies on the home planet in unprecedented ways, dramatically affecting our relationship to the natural world and our appreciation of the greater community of mankind, and prompting a revolution in our understanding of the Earth as a living system," she wrote -Exploration shapes world views and changes cultures in unexpected ways, and so does lack of exploration. -To take only one, imagine where we would be without applications satellites. We now take for granted photographs of weather and Earth resources data from space, as well as navigation and worldwide communications made possible by satellite -Worldwide satellite communications brought the world closer together, a factor difficult to estimate from a cost-benefit analysis -Names like Landsat, GOES (Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites), Intelsat and Global Positioning System may not be household words, but they affect humanity in significant ways not always appreciated. -Important as they are, applications satellites pale in significance to what space may represent for the future of humanity -utilized near-Earth space to study the planet's resources, to provide essential information about weather, and to provide means for navigation that was both life-saving and had enormous economic implications.