TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapters 7, 8, and 9 are written from the perspective of the year 2057, the 100th anniversary of the launch of Sputnik 1 and the centenary of the Space Age. They offer three different views of how the future might turn out for space exploration and development under certain premises.
This first scenario assumes that any activities and developments are allowed without control, without an improvement in debris mitigation strategies, and without a policy for protection of the space environment.
"Sputnik's 100th Anniversary" The Global Review October 2057
The Global Review's space correspondent visited the Sputnik 1 Memorial Museum at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, to mark the 100th anniversary of Sputnik 1 's launch on 4 October 1957.
The Space Age began 100 years ago with Sputnik 1's triumphant opening of a new frontier. Since then, there have been countless developments in space technology, but have they really met the promise of space exploration? Many experts would, emphatically, say "no."
It was in the early years of the current century that the real problems began. To most people working in the space industry today, that era is ancient history, their grandparent's era, when it took eight hours to cross the Atlantic and personal computers needed desks to support their weight. But history has much to teach us, and if we had listened to our grandparents, we might not have some of the problems we have today.
Let us start by looking at what is still the...
