out that almost everything developed for space can be used in therapy
and thereby benefits both the elderly and the handicapped, the two groups
requiring the most therapy of all sorts.
“When you reach old age-say 70 and up-it approaches certainty that you will
be in some way handicapped. Not necessarily a wheelchair or crutches or a white
cane-most handicaps do not show. So all of us are customers for space spinoffs-if
not today, then soon.
Witness holds up NASA brochure. “There is no need
for me to discuss applications that NASA has already described. But this I must say:
NASA’s presentation is extremely modest; it cites only 46 applications- whereas
there are hundreds. Often one bit of research results in 2nd, 3rd, and 4th
generations; each generation usually has multiple applications-spinoffs have
spinoffs, branching out like a tree. To get a feeling for this, think of the endless
applications of Lee DeForest’s vacuum tube, Dr. Shockley’s transistor.
“Here is a way to spot space-research spinoffs: If it involves
microminiaturization of any sort, minicomputers, miniaturized long-life power
sources, highly reliable microswitches, remotely-controlled manipulators, image
enhancers, small and sophisticated robotics or cybernetics, then, no matter where
you find the item, at a critical point in its development it was part of our space
program.
“Examples:
“Image enhancer: This magic gadget runs an x-ray or fluoroscope picture
through a special computer, does things to it, then puts it back onto the screen. Or
stores it for replay. Or both. It can sharpen the contrast, take out ‘noise,’ remove
part of the picture that gets in the way of what you need to see, and do other
Wizard-of-Oz stunts.
“This is the wonder toy that took extremely weak digital code signals and
turned them into those beautiful, sharp, true-color photographs from the surface of
Mars in the Viking program and also brought us the Voyager photographs of Jupiter
and its moons.
“I first saw one in 1977 at the Medical School of the University of Arizona-saw them
put a long catheter up through a dog’s body in order to inject an x-rayopaque dye
into its brain. This does not hurt the dog. More about this later- “I did not know
what an image enhancer was until
I saw one demonstrated and did not learn until this year that it came from our space
program. Possibly the doctor did not know. M.D.’s can use instruments
with no notion that they derive from space research and a patient usually knows
as little about it as
did that dog.
“The most ironical thing about our space program is that there are thousands
of people alive today who would be dead were it not for some item derived from space
research-but are blissfully unaware of the fact-and complain about ‘wasting all that
money on stupid, useless space stunts when we have so many really important problems
to solve right here on Earth.’
“‘-all that money-‘!
“That sort of thinking would have kept Columbus at home.
“NASA’s annual budget wouldn’t carry H.E.W. ten days. The entire 10 years of
the Moon program works out to slightly less than five cents per citizen per day.
“Would you like to be a wheelchair case caught by a hurricane such as that
one that failed to swing east and instead hit the Texas and Louisiana coast? That
storm was tracked by weather satellite; there was ample warning for anyone who would
heed it-plenty of time to evacuate not only wheelchair cases but bed patients.
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“A similar storm hit Bangladesh a while back; it too was tracked by
satellite. But Bangladesh lacks means to warn its people; many thousands were
killed. Here in the United States it would take real effort to miss a hurricane
warning; even houses with no plumbing have television.
“Weather satellites are not spinoff; they are space program. But they must
be listed because bad weather of any sort is much rougher on the aged and the
handicapped than it is on the young and able-bodied.
“Portable kidney machine: If a person’s kidneys fail, he must ‘go on the
machine’ or die. ‘The machine’ is a fate so grim that the suicide rate is high.
Miniaturization has made it possible to build portable kidney machines. This not