My thoughts about #WEF20, the SDG's and using Space to Save the World

By Christina Korp

Recently, I was honored to speak during Caspian Week at the World Economic Forum in Davos. I gave my perspective about the inspiration of space, education and women in leadership. I was also very curious to hear what others had to say. The panels I saw were filled with people searching for ways to “save the world” through the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals aka the SDG's. There was much discussion about the problems but no real solutions. I thought that the main focus of the World Economic Forum is to discuss ways to solve the SDG’s and to bring those with economic resources together to use their wealth to address these problems.

Although it was exciting to be at WEF again in such a gorgeous location as Davos, ironically what I felt lacking was inspiration, purpose and meaning in general. And that is where my experience gives me a unique insight in relation to the SDG’s. For the past twelve years I have been working within the space community. In that time I’ve learned that if ever there was an industry built on passion and inspiration it's the space program. Some say the SDG’s are impossible to achieve. The space program’s goals are all about achieving things once thought "impossible." ”Moon shot” is now the metaphor for an extremely ambitious project undertaken to achieve a monumental goal. I cannot overstate the important of this kind of inspiration. Greta Thunberg has rapidly become a powerful agent of change because we are attracted to passionate people and seeing someone so young fighting so hard for something she so deeply believes in is truly inspirational. So how do we harness that same passion to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals here on Earth?

In my opinion, inspiration along with space technologies, current and future, can target many of the issues underlying the SDG’s. I am often asked “What does the space program really have to do with me or helping the world?” We forget, if we ever knew in the first place, where much of the futuristic technology comes from. It was developed to meet the formidable challenges of operating and living in space and it can be used to confront the formidable challenges here on Earth. On one of my panels there was mention of expanding on clean energy by creating more solar farms. Solar Power? It was the U.S. and Russian space programs that first turned solar panels from a novelty into a technology with “real world” applications—powering spacecraft in orbit and on the surface of the Moon and Mars. And now solar power is a very important source of energy on Earth. Every year, corporations all over the world embrace solar more and more.  Not just to be good stewards of the planet, but to help their bottom line. And solar power is only the tip of the iceberg of what space technologies can bring to Earth. 

The Cure for Cancer? Many believe that If you can solve how radiation affects humans for long duration spaceflight you may just find a cure for cancer.

Water scarcity? Nowhere is water more scarce than in space.  And to bring it up there can cost hundreds of dollars an ounce. Learning to grow food with the absolute minimum of water usage in space has untold implications for regions of the world that are only getting drier.

Pollution? NASA technology that permanently cleans petroleum-based pollutants from water is available to the public now. In Davos, I saw a solar powered car that was parked in different spots each day. Curious people were gathered around it taking photos. I heard whispers of, “this is the future!” Meanwhile, I was thinking “this could be right now!”- if it was given the proper support and investment. 

The space program drove innovation. It’s no accident that the game changers of today are heavily invested in space… Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Richard Branson, Sergey Brin and Larry Page. All of these people were all inspired to pursue their own impossible dreams because of the Apollo missions to the Moon.

But space is not just a man’s world anymore. Women are making their mark as well. 

Anousheh Ansari is an Iranian-American engineer and the first private female space explorer to go to the International Space Station in 2006. To help drive commercialization of the space industry, Anousheh and her family provided title sponsorship for the Ansari X Prize, a $10 million cash award for the first non-governmental organization to launch a reusable manned spacecraft into space twice within two weeks.

Gwynne Shotwell is the President and COO at SpaceX and was one of SpaceX's first employees. She manages the day-to-day operations of the commercial space exploration company founded by Elon Musk and has carved out a reputation in the aerospace industry as the levelheaded leader of the most successful commercial rocket company in the world.

There are several other women who are leading in aerospace at some of the biggest companies. Lockheed Martin’s CEO is Marilyn Hewson, Northrop Grumman’s CEO is Kathy Warden, Aerojet Rocketdyne’s CEO is Eileen Drake. I'm pretty inspired by them and I feel that raising mainstream awareness about these women can send a positive message to other women and girls about their role in the future of space.

NASA’s Apollo program provides a valuable model for the SDG’s—this time to save our planet. It took 400,000 people from a myriad of industries to make the Moon landings a success. We need to apply the same technique when facing the challenges on Earth. Why did Apollo and the goal of reaching the Moon inspire so many to join the cause? It's simple really. Everyone who has ever lived on Earth has had a relationship with the Moon. No matter where you were born, your economic status, the color of your skin, your age, or where you live; we all look up to and share that same moon. It unites us as humans on the same planet. Even though it was driven by the space race during the Cold War, the spirit was one of unity – WE CAME IN PEACE FOR ALL MANKIND. In the same way everyone can relate to our shared humanity. We all share this planet. The next generation has already begun to mobilize for the common good and are committed to reversing the effects of climate change. So let’s give them something to work with. 

To learn about some of the real world NASA spinoff tech that’s being used today to benefit our lives go to https://spinoff.nasa.gov/Spinoff2008/tech_benefits.html.

As for the big picture - being able to view our planet from afar also helps focus in on widespread impacts. Who do you think is doing it already? NASA working in partnership with NOAA. From orbit you can see the widespread impacts of past policies—the fires devasting Australia, the deforestation of the Amazon, the poverty of Africa.  Satellites monitor changing weather patterns, shrinking polar ice caps, degrading air quality and other climate change effects. From space we track how the oceans are rising and how that trash is destroying the ecosystems that are critical to the balance of life on the planet. But from space also comes hope.

Achieving the SDG's will take all of us coming together just like during the Apollo Program. I urge the corporations and individuals who are truly committed to the SDG’s to start utilizing what has come from space in a more thoughtful and focused way.  I have mentioned just a handful of ideas, but the possibilities are endless. It’s also critical to inspire young people who are just starting careers or just starting kindergarten to enter fields that improve on these technologies and create new ones. Not just for the sake of a job, but to be part of something bigger, to work towards a common goal, to find a meaningful and inspirational cause—to save the world.