By Elsayed Hany
Dr. Farouk El-Baz, Egyptian-American space scientist and geologist, said in an interview that the tremendous leap that has been made in recent years in the field of communication technology is because of space exploration that humans have undertaken over the past five decades, which have revealed amazing and important facts about the nature of the universe in which we live.
Space exploration has also provided the opportunity for scientists to study how a person can benefit from outer space to improve his life on earth in terms of upgrading the level of services such as communications and progress in other fields like health, agriculture and climate change.
The well-known space scientist, who worked with NASA on the scientific exploration of the Moon and the planning of the Apollo programme, said in an exclusive interview with TV presenter Amal Nouman for The Egyptian Gazette newspaper that the age of open skies that the world is experiencing now is one of the results achieved by spaceflight.
In response to Nouman’s question about spending billions of dollars on manned flights in space, he said that the benefits that have been gained from these trips are much greater than the money spent on them.
“If man did not reach space and put satellites in orbit around the Earth, you and I wouldn’t be able to speak directly between Cairo and Washington and see each other at the same time,” he said.
“All television and satellite channels that reach everywhere on the planet and spark discussions and dialogues between people on different continents of the world, all of this would not have been possible without spaceflight and the success of scientists in employing outer space to develop human life on Earth,” he added.
El-Baz said that he conducted the first GPS test in Egypt in 1978 when he was on a geological expedition in the Western Desert from Egypt to the Libyan border. He did not know the roads he could use in this vast expanse of desert until some of his fellow scientists at a research center in Washington contacted him and gave him a device on which they were conducting research on the invention of the GPS feature to have it tested in Egypt.
He put the device in his car throughout the trip, and the experiment succeeded.
“The GPS feature is now available on all mobile phones for any person in the globe, he can be guided by it to any place he wants,” he said.
The scientist also said that Egypt was always among his interests in space research that he undertook or supervised and that he was keen on taking pictures of the Earth from space, some of these pictures were of the western desert of Egypt.
He also added that astronauts always liked the sight of the pyramids of Giza and the Nile when they saw them from space and they chatted with him in the spacecraft about their admiration for these beautiful scenes.
El-Baz said that he began writing his personal diaries from his childhood until now. He calls his account ‘Apollo and me’. He said that his role in the Apollo flights during his work at the American NASA space agency was the main reason for his success and advanced status among space scientists and geologists in academies all over the world.
“Before the Apollo 11 flight to the moon began there were many concerns about the landing of the spaceship,” he said.
“Geologists had different opinions. Some said the surface of the moon consisted of rocks that could be landed on. Others said that the moon had suffered the impacts of many meteors, which made its surface a powder as much as 10 metres deep. A spaceship might land in this dust and disappear.
“We did not have a specific idea about the surface of the moon. So, I worked alone for four months to study the nature of the surface of the moon and its properties through about 2,200 pictures.
“I studied each image. I gave it a number and recorded its location, until I had a complete idea of the nature of the lunar terrain. Therefore they gavce me the task of determining the landing point of the first person on the surface of the moon.
“So, I pinpointed it and I also trained the astronauts on how to walk on the surface of the moon, the directions in which they walk, the distance they travel in each direction and the places they go to collect rocks and samples that teach us the geological history of the moon and the changes that have occurred to it,” he explained.
The first person to land on the surface of the moon was the American astronaut, Neil Armstrong on July 21, 1969, an historic moment that was watched by 650 million viewers on Earth. The American television broadcast Armstrong as he stepped off the ladder onto another world. “It’s a small step for man, but a giant leap for Mankind.” Then his fellow-astronaut Edwin (Buzz) Aldrin followed his skipper, saying, “Beautiful view. Magnificent desolation.” The two pioneers spent two hours wandering on the surface of the moon, collecting rocks and samples and conducting the required scientific experiments. Then they returned to Eagle, the lunar module, which then transported them to Columbia, the mother ship that had been piloted by Michael Collins. Three days later they splashed down in Pacific Ocean on July 24, 1969. Such was the journey for an historic achievement, in which Egyptian scientist Farouk el-Baz had a prominent role.
