Sky and Telescope - November 2017 - 4

SPECTRUM

by Peter Tyson

A New Cosmopolitanism

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N O V E M B E R 2 0 17 * S K Y & T E L E S C O P E

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M OH A M MED BIN R ASHID SPACE CEN TRE

and astrophysics have become in this century than to have a glance
at a large, peer-reviewed research paper. At random, I recently chose
as an example the journal article that describes the LIGO consortium's third detection of gravitational waves (S&T: Sept. 2017, p. 10).
Published in Physical Review Letters on June 2nd (see https://is.gd/nAlfQ7), this
paper has more than a thousand authors. They hail from institutions all over the
world. Beyond dozens from the U.S. and Europe, this includes afﬁliations in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, India, Japan, Russia, South Korea, and Taiwan.
As our readers are well aware, numerous countries host ﬁrst-rate astronomical
observatories - on the ground, in the air, or in orbit. With its raft of premier eyes
on the sky, Chile immediately comes to mind. Soon, South Africa and Australia
will jointly host the Square Kilometre Array (see page 84). There are even observatories in Antarctica, a symbol of global participation if there ever was one.
Space exploration, too, is becoming more, well, planetary. As our cover story
on page 14 details, the various missions to Mars set to launch in 2020 will
feature the usual Big Three: the U.S., European, and Russian space agencies. But
these will be joined by two comparative newcomers, China and United Arab Emirates, each of which
plans to send its own spacecraft to the Red Planet.
Altogether, more than 70 nations today boast
space agencies. Thirteen of those have launch capabilities, with a handful able to send humans into
space. Astronauts ﬂying under 18 different ﬂags have
visited the International Space Station, including
one each from Belgium, Brazil, Denmark, Kazakhp United Arab Emirates
engineers inspect the Hope
stan, Malaysia, the Netherlands, South Africa, South
spacecraft, set to launch
Korea, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.
Mars-ward in July 2020.
Beyond signifying greater internationalism, this
trend is emblematic of the essentially collaborative, inclusive, and universal nature
of our kind's study of the heavens. We all share the same ﬁrmament, and the same
desire to explore, discover, and understand. Jingoism doesn't - or shouldn't - come
into it. When a space mission fails, it pains all of us, because we all lose. When
it succeeds, we all win, as Neil Armstrong expressed so eloquently when he took
humankind's ﬁrst step onto another world.
This broadening of astronomy and space exploration to embrace more and
more peoples is, like the expansion of the cosmos itself, speeding up. As our current golden age of astronomy advances, we welcome the
diversity and wish clear skies for all.

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Sky and Telescope - November 2017

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