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The New Space Age the South Aims for the Stars Year 2014 - Vol. 26 - No.4 NEWSLETTER A PUBLICATION OF THE WORLD ACADEMY OF SCIENCES The New Space Age The South aims for the stars PUBLISHED WITH THE SUppORT OF THE KUWAIT FOUNDATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCES Advance your career. Advance global science. With a TWAS fellowship, you can earn a PhD or do postgraduate research at top universities in the developing world. Learn more at www.twas.org/opportunities/fellowships CONTENTS 4 2 Editorial: Space is not just for superpowers Executive Director Romain Murenzi: It’s essential for development. 3 In the news Cities are facing more heatwaves. Costa Rica makes clean-energy history. SPECIAL SECTION: SPACE SCIENCE 4 The new space age India is orbiting Mars. China is on the Moon. Many smaller nations are sending satellites aloft. But to what ends? 10 Q&A: Will space science nurture development? Can a nation have space science and also fight hunger and disease? 14 Farouk El-Baz: Lessons from space 14 The Egyptian TWAS Fellow uses space science to improve life on Earth. Ecuadorian scientists 16 Italy & TWAS: A fruitful partnership display a small Ecuador flag TWAS and three other Italy-based science organizations were the focus over their country’s first satellite, Pegaso (Photo: Ecuadorian of a presentation to top Italian government leaders. Civilian Space Agency); Farouk El-Baz, TWAS Fellow 18 South Africa to host TWAS regional office and pioneering advocate of The office eyes a future as a regional science and engineering leader. space science for development. (Photo: Emily Johnson, Boston University) 20 Today's scholars, tomorrow's leaders Five women physicists, mathematicians win the 2015 Elsevier Awards. Cover picture: India’s PSLV-C25 rocket carrying the Mars Orbiter Spacecraft blasts off from the 22 Palis wins Abdus Salam Medal launch pad at Sriharikota on The former TWAS president has long supported developing world science. 5 November 2013. (Photo: ISRO) 23 R&D for a Caribbean Future Four physicists and a The Caribbean needs the political will to back research and education. mathematician won the 2015 Elsevier Foundation Awards for Early Career Women Scientists 24 A big step for science in Ecuador in the Developing World. The nation’s Academy of Sciences inducted its first elected members. 25 A bold vision for Islamic science Atta-ur-Rahman: Islamic countries should commit to research. 26 People, places & events 28 Voices: Life outside the comfort zone The path to science has been unique for Almas Taj Awan of Pakistan. 20 TWAS Newsletter, Vol. 26 No. 4, 2014 1 EDITORIAL Space: IT’S NOT JUst FOR SUPERPOwers or the past decade, China has mounted information systems (GIS), which can be used Fan initiative to explore the Moon, with to improve urban water efficiency, or to track each launch growing more ambitious. Last the spread of disease. fall, millions of Indians celebrated when their In Rwanda, my home country, the government nation put a spacecraft into orbit around Mars. in the late 1990s began to work with the Across the developing world, dozens of other Georgia Institute of Technology, the Dian Fossey nations are making forays into space. It is a Gorilla Fund International and the National time of extraordinary progress, and yet, in news University of Rwanda on remote sensing coverage and public discussion, two objections systems – using GIS, GPS and satellite imaging frequently emerge: – to monitor mountain gorilla populations and Why should nations suffering from hunger be their habitat. Such work is good for the land spending money on space programmes? Aren’t and for the gorillas, and it supports sustainable these nations just flexing their muscle – at great economic development through eco-tourism. cost – in a new era of geopolitical competition? To say that a nation must choose between Romain Murenzi The concerns about human priorities and food and space science is misleading, because wise use of public resources are well justified. satellites support food production. They can And yet, sometimes it seems this discussion help predict rainfall and drought, and assess reflects a view of science in the developing the moisture content of soils. They can help to world that is stuck in the 1970s. analyse soil quality and the condition of crops, India and China get most of the headlines, allowing for early warning of crop failure. GIS and but consider a smaller country: Peru. satellite images can guide cultivation practices. Teams of faculty and students at three TWAS has long advocated the value of Peruvian universities have built four small space science for developing nations. One satellites, all launched since late 2013. In the of TWAS’s 10 membership committees is process, they have worked with colleagues in focused on Earth, astronomy and space France, Russia and the United States. All of this sciences. We have awarded fellowships and experience will quickly build the nation’s skill prizes to space scientists. We see space and capability. science as an essential support for sustainable Azerbaijan, Mauritius and Iraq recently have development, and for the post-2015 had similar breakthroughs, and others are close Sustainable Development Goals. Clearly, the behind. But while competition can be good for data obtained by Earth observation and remote innovation, it is simplistic to call this a new sensing can make powerful contributions to our “space race”. Rather, it’s a new space age in communities and our people. which many nations are seeing opportunity. Why should developing nations go into The point is underscored time and again in our space? Today, there’s a more important special report on space science. By some counts, question: Can they afford not to? 70 nations now have space programmes; 35 of them have space agencies. Even 10 years ago, Romain Murenzi, TWAS executive director this would have been inconceivable. But satellites are not mere status symbols. A satellite in the sky brings real benefits on the ground in communication and weather forecasting. Satellites support geographic 2 TWAS Newsletter, Vol. 26 No. 4, 2014 WORLD NEWS TWAS NEWSLETTER Published quarterly with the support of the executive of the Sugar Industry Authority in Kuwait Foundation Jamaica, calls the change in EU policy an for the Advancement IN THE NEWS of Sciences (KFAS) “earth-shattering event” for the island. by The World Academy The Guardian: of Sciences - http://bit.ly/1AgD96k for the advancement of science in developing countries (TWAS) ICTP Campus Cities worldwide feeling Strada Costiera 11 more extreme heat Costa Rica: 75 straight days 34151 Trieste, Italy Cities around the world are likely to suffer more tel: +39 040 2240327 on renewable energy fax: +39 040 224559 heatwaves in the future, a study has found, Costa Rica has achieved a clean energy e-mail: [email protected] leading to greater need for planning regulation milestone by using 100% renewable energy for website: www.twas.org and urban cooling. a record 75 days in a row. The study found a significant increase between Thanks to heavy rainfall, which powered four TWAS COUNCIL 1973 and 2012 in the number of heat waves hydroelectric plants in the first three months President Bai Chunli affecting the 217 urban areas around the world of the year, no fossil fuels have been burnt to Immediate Past President it examined. Also, almost two-thirds of cities generate electricity from December 2014, said Jacob Palis saw significant rises in “extreme hot nights”, a report released in late March 2015. In 2014, Vice-Presidents which are dangerous because people have no 80% of the energy used came from hydropower, Fayzah M.A. Al-Kharafi Francisco J. Barrantes respite from hot days. while geothermal energy made up about 10%. Rabia Hussain SciDevNet: The Independent: Keto E. Mshigeni Yongyuth Yuthavong http://bit.ly/1Phopb3 http://ind.pn/1FQlHI8 Secretary-General A.K. Sood Treasurer Mohamed H.A. Hassan Mongolia holds rare text message Council Members vote on mining Robin Crewe Mongolians received a text message asking Adel E.T. El-Beltagy them to reply to vote for either budget cuts or Habib Firouzabadi Harold Ramkissoon the controversial expansion of copper and gold Fernando Quevedo mines, bringing in billions in foreign investment. They chose the mines. TWAS Executive Director For a vast, sparsely populated country like Romain Murenzi Mongolia, a mobile vote may be the most Editor Edward W. Lempinen efficient way to reach people. The result of Managing editor the vote was non-binding, but was hailed by Gisela Isten the prime minister as justification for pushing India's urban lakes are drying up Assistant editors ahead with more mining investment. The water table of Ahmedabad, India, is dipping Cristina Serra Sean Treacy Quartz: at an alarming rate because of unfettered Design & Art Direction http://bit.ly/1DOijIz urbanisation and industrialisation. Other Indian Rado Jagodic, cities are having similar experiences. Studio Link, Trieste, Italy The city’s proposed solution is to revive the Printing La Tipografica Srl, End of cap will devastate groundwater levels by restoring its lost lakes. Campoformido, Udine, Italy Jamaican farmers The solution may sound simple but carrying From the end of next year, a change in it out on the ground is a daunting task. An Unless otherwise indicated, European Union policy will likely force hundreds optimistic Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation the text is written by the editors and may be of thousands of people across Jamaica and says it will identify the lakes under threat and reproduced freely with due beyond out of traditional work and into poverty. then draw a plan to revive them. credit to the source. The change is the end to the existing cap on Down to Earth: European sugar beet production, which will http://bit.ly/1Azqo3G flood a sugar market already experiencing historicly low prices.
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