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The
Eye-in-the-Sky Opens Our Eyes
by
Rabbi Shimon Silman
Director, Rabbi Yisroel Aryeh Leib
Research Institute on Moshiach & Science
The ongoing process of the transformation of military technology to
peaceful uses worldwide is the direct effect of the Rebbe Melech HaMoshiach
on the nations of the world.
One of the most fascinating areas in which we have seen military technology
be transformed into peaceful uses is the area of satellite technology. In
fact, in the Sicha of 24 Kislev, 5752 at the scene of the lighting of the
Channukah menorahs which were viewed simultaneously via satellite, the
Rebbe Melech HaMoshiach made a special point of emphasizing how satellite
technology can be used to facilitate the observance of a Mitzva by many
Jews all over the world and to help people in general such as by
transfering money via satellite.
Satellite technology was originally developed in the United States as a
military project back in the 1950's in response to Russia's launch of their
Sputnik spy satellite. There was a big panic in the U.S. of the Russians
being ahead of us and on top of us, literally looking down on us. There was
a mad rush in the United States to develop our own satellite technology for
the same military purposes. Dr. Naftali Berg, the director of the Advanced
Technology Office of the Army Research Center at the Pentagon, spoke at the
Moshiach and Science Conference of the Rabbi Yisroel Aryeh Leib Research
Institute on Moshiach and the Sciences in 5753 about how these satellites
are now being used for peaceful purposes, such as to locate and identify
land that is good for agriculture, i.e. food production, and to find
resources deep under the surface of the earth which can't be located by
conventional means.
I would now like to update this. Last year there was an article in
Scientific American documenting at great length a whole range of military
satellites that are now being used for those purposes which Dr. Berg spoke
of - to locate land for agriculture, to locate natural resources, and so
on.
One of the satellites that Dr. Berg talked about was a satellite called
Landsat. Landsat, along with other similar military satellites, is now
being used by NASA's newly established Center for Health Applications of
Aerospace Technology to track the spread of diseases, especially those
whose spread is extremely unpredictable.
One of the topics at the forefront of scientific research is to try to find
out what is causing these diseases to spread. For example cholera. There
are certain parts of the world that are especially prone to outbreaks of
cholera, such as India and countries in that area. But scientists have
observed that since the early 1800's there have been seven worldwide
epidemics of cholera, leaving scientists mystified: how did the disease spread
through the world?
Now some of these military satellites are being used to identify oceanic
conditions contributing to the reproduction of the bacteria that cause
cholera. They found that the bacteria itself actually grow in the oceans,
and can, therefore, be transmitted by ocean currents.
The growth and spread of the cholera bacteria is a result of the warming of
the ocean in certain areas, the sea level, and certain green plants in the
ocean on which this bacteria feed. So satellites are now being used to
identify those locations in the ocean which are conducive to the spread of
the bacteria and then to forewarn those countries where it is likely that
the epidemic would spread.
The Landsat satellite is also doing something similar. There is a certain
disease in Brazil which is spreading to urban areas, transmitted by
infected flies. This much is known. But it is not known why it hits certain
areas of the cities and certain other areas aren't hit. These satellites
have been used to identify how the flies are spreading the disease and
they've come up with an idea that forest animals such as foxes are coming
out of the forest carrying the flies infected with the disease and making
contact with certain areas of the city which are close to forest and thereby
spreading the disease to the city. This gives them the ability to stop the
disease at the point that it enters the city before it spreads. Closer to
home another military satellite has done the same thing right here in New
York State with respect to a disease called Lyme Disease. It is spread by
ticks also carried by forest animals. Usually deer carry the ticks and if a
person is bitten by the tick, Chas v'shalom, he gets the disease.
Satellites have identified certain areas in West Chester county for example,
which are particularly conducive to the spread of this disease, because of
a combination of things - their proximity to the forest so that forest
animals coming out of the forest make contact with people, and the
abundance of shade and moisture in those areas which is also conducive to
the spread of the disease. Thus we see that the use of satellites for
peaceful purposes is now an extensive program. NASA has actually
established a center to use these satellites for medical purposes.
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Recently Hurricane Mitch devastated Central America, killing more than
9,000 people, leaving 2 million homeless and causing more than $5 billion
in damage. It was the worst storm in the Western Hemisphere in 200 years.
But satellite images of the areas hit - including images from Russian
satellites - were used by relief workers and reconstruction crews to locate
landslides and retrace roads, utilities and shifting waterways to deliver
needed aid quickly, and to spot potential danger areas before they were
hit. The effort was coordinated by the Center for Integration of Natural
Disaster information of the U.S. Geological Survey. The information will
facilitate the rebuilding of the devasted areas and in the future these
methods could be used to coordinate efforts to respond with aid to areas
hit by a natural disaster even in a remote part of the world.
A plan is under way to use the Global Positioning System satellite network
(GPS) to help airplans navigate instead of ground based radio signals. The
system called the Wide Area Augmentation System is being designed by
Raytheon Corp. and is expected to increase airplane safety both in the air
and while making landings.
A similar system is being developed by a religious Jewish professor at the
University of Minnesota for use by trucks. It would use the GPS satellites
to tell a truck driver if he is about to collide with a nearby car. The
recent collision of a truck with an Amtrack train points out a serious problem
of collisions with trucks which kill thousands of people each year and is
now the subject of a congressional hearing. (In 1997, 5,355 people were
killed in car-truck collisions.)
We conclude this report with a look at how the satellite technology introduced
into modern warfare by Russia has come full circle and is now being used to
help Russia reduce its nuclear arsenal. In the 1960's U. S. scientists
developed a spy satellite system for the CIA called the Corona Program. It
was a joint effort of rocket scientists, optical scientists from Kodak and
Polaroid, and MIT. Among other things the satellites photographed secret
Russian nuclear weapons facilities. Now Russia is attempting to reduce its
nuclear arsenal and safely store the warheads it keeps. It now has 25,000
nuclear warheads.
Both Russia and the U. S. have faced a daunting task of financing adequate
security for thousands of weapons storage sites scattered across Russia.
The fear of terrorists raiding a storage site or of impoverished nuclear
commanders selling them to other countries, has been the driving force
behind annual U. S. expeditures of more than $350 million per year in
disarmament aid.
More than 800,000 photographs from the Corona Program are now being
analized by scientists such as Joshua Handler of Princeton University who
says that the photographs show that Russia may have enough secure storage
space to enable thousands more nuclear warheads to be removed from missiles
under the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty. It is estimated that 20 national
level weapons storage sites and 60 smaller, military storage sites could be
secured for $400 million.
Thus the eye-in-the-sky (the satellites) opens our eyes to see the truth of
the words of the Rebbe Melech HaMoshiach that the Geulah is already here
and the nations of the world are beating their swords into plowshares. The
nations themselves recognize this truth. In the words of Professor Sun Ying
(et al) of the China Academy of Engineering Physics in Chengdu, China,
"The peaceful use of military technology represents the trend of
history."
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