Connectivity Space Has a New Meaning

Relativity was one of the most important theories of the 20th century. When Einstein published the General Theory of Relativity in 1915, some concepts, such as 4-dimensional spacetime as a unified entity of space and time, relativity of simultaneity, and kinematic and gravitational time dilation, were created. Understanding the universe allowed us to launch satellites, improve navigation and bring people even more together. Since then, the connectivity concept has completely changed. But how exactly?

We have been venturing into space since October 4, 1957, when the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R.) launched Sputnik (the first satellite in orbit). NASA started its operations in 1958. Yuri Gagarin made one orbit around Earth in 1961, and Neil Armstrong was the first to be sent to the moon in 1969. This sequence of events during the Cold War contributed to the development of technologies such as the Navstar/GPS satellite in 1978, which was allowed for civil usage in 1983 after the Korean Air Lines Flight 007 disaster. Today, GPS accounts for all of the relativistic effects in order to work with precision, such as the consequences of the Earth’s gravitational field. 

As a consequence, its precision helped people navigate without knowing the way (Waze), track their food delivery (Ifood), meet unknown people, and maybe create new relationships anywhere in the world.

This means that space exploration has changed the concept of connectivity. While in the first decades of the 20th century, a flight physically connected thousands of people in Parc de Bagatelle during the 14 Bis demonstration, today we are able to follow SpaceX Falcon 9 launches (and its booster recovery) directly online (and simultaneously share our insights with other people around the world). But not only that. Using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), astronomers have discovered an extremely red supermassive black hole that existed when the universe was under 1 billion years old. What if Relativity Theory is right about light velocity limitation and we could detect some light signals came from other galaxies and see its past? Would we be able to understand the universe’s beginning?

Perhaps, but we can go beyond. Space has changed its own meaning when we consider its exploration benefits on Earth. Since the 50th decade, we have experienced health care improvement (e.g., Infrared Thermometers, which principle is based on the same way the temperature of stars and planets is measured), more detailed plantation monitoring (e.g., satellite pictures and its leaf appearance in comparison with last production) and energy generated by nuclear fusion controlled reactions (which can be possible by using Helio-3, helium isotope found in the moon). Space’s capacity to improve people’s lives allowed them to have a better connection with their jobs, health and consequently with their future. This is the subjective connectivity.

"Space Has Changed Its Own Meaning When We Consider Its Exploration Benefits on Earth"

What do we expect for the early future? Some countries have already landed their space probes on the moon. SpaceX (Starship) and NASA are trying to understand Mars. Regardless of how long it takes, space already has a new meaning: connecting human beings with their own future.