-
I was 17 when I chose my career.
-
I was standing outside
-
on a hot summer night in Floria
-
and just a few miles from the ocean.
-
I was waiting for a miracle to happen.
-
That summer I was privileged
to work as an intern
-
as NASA's Kennedy Space Center,
-
and the miracle I was waiting for
-
was the launch
of the Columbia Space Shuttle,
-
carrying the Shondra X-Ray Observatory,
-
a telescope that would allow scientists
to peer into the end of black holes.
-
The entire sky filled with light.
-
And it was as if it was daytime
in the middle of the night.
-
Soon, we could feel the rumble
of the engines vibrating in our chests.
-
And it wasn't a miracle;
-
it was the combined effort
of a team of thousands of people
-
who worked together
-
to make was seemed impossible a reality.
-
And I wanted to join that team.
-
So I decided to apply to university
where I could study aerospace engineering,
-
and the following year,
-
I started at MIT
in my engineering training
-
and joined a student project
building space robots.
-
And everything was going as I planned,
-
except I was confused
about something important.
-
Now, my confusion arose
in my summer breaks.
-
I traveled to a school in Kenya,
-
and there I volunteered with girls
ages five to 17,
-
giving them lessons in English
and math and science.
-
And they taught me songs in Swahili.
-
And mostly, I just spent time
getting to know the girls,
-
enjoying their presence.
-
Not Synced
And I saw that these girls,
-
Not Synced
and the leaders in their community,
-
Not Synced
they were overcoming important barriers
-
Not Synced
to allow these girls to have
the best possible chances in life ...
-
Not Synced
and I wanted to join that team.
-
Not Synced
I wanted to be part of a team
that would help break down barriers
-
Not Synced
and improve the lives
of girls around the world,
-
Not Synced
but I was worried that studying
aerospace engineering
-
Not Synced
wasn't the most useful.
-
Not Synced
I was worried this team in Kenya
-
Not Synced
couldn't use the technology
I was learning about space.
-
Not Synced
But thankfully, I still learned
that I was wrong.
-
Not Synced
I came back and interned at NASA again,
-
Not Synced
and this time,
-
Not Synced
a mentor taught me
-
Not Synced
that countries like Kenya had been
involved using space technology
-
Not Synced
for decades
-
Not Synced
to improve the lives
in their own countries.
-
Not Synced
And then I knew that I could have
a career in space and in development.
-
Not Synced
This idea is not new.
-
Not Synced
In fact, in 1967, the nations
of the world came together
-
Not Synced
to write the Outer Space Treaty.
-
Not Synced
This treaty made a bold statement,
-
Not Synced
saying that the exploration
and use of outer space
-
Not Synced
should be carried on
for the benefit of all peoples,
-
Not Synced
irrespective of their level
of economic or scientific development.
-
Not Synced
We have no truly liked up to this ideal,
-
Not Synced
although people have worked for decades
to make this a reality.
-
Not Synced
Forces such as colonialism and racism
and gender inequality
-
Not Synced
have actually excluded many people
from the benefits of space,
-
Not Synced
and caused us to believe
that space is for the few,
-
Not Synced
or the rich or elite.
-
Not Synced
But we cannot afford this attitude,
-
Not Synced
because the world is engaged
in a vital mission
-
Not Synced
to improve life for everyone.
-
Not Synced
Our roadmap for this mission comes from
the 17 sustainable development goals
-
Not Synced
of the United Nations.
-
Not Synced
All the member states
of the United Nations have agreed
-
Not Synced
that these are priorities
between now and 2030.
-
Not Synced
These goals give us our key moments
and opportunities of our time --
-
Not Synced
opportunities to end extreme poverty,
-
Not Synced
to insure that everyone has access
to food and clean water.
-
Not Synced
We must pursue these goals
as a global community,
-
Not Synced
and technology from space
supports sustainable development,
-
Not Synced
and in fact there are six space services
-
Not Synced
that can help us pursue
the sustainable development goals.
-
Not Synced
Over the next few minutes,
-
Not Synced
let's explore these six services,
-
Not Synced
and see examples of just a few
of the goals they help support.
-
Not Synced
You ready?
-
Not Synced
OK.
-
Not Synced
Communication satelites provide access
to phone and internet service
-
Not Synced
to almost any location on earth.
-
Not Synced
This is particularly important during
times of disaster recovery.
-
Not Synced
When Typhoon Hian
struck the Phillipines,
-
Not Synced
the local communication netwworks
needed to be repaired,
-
Not Synced
and teams brought in inflatable
communication antennas
-
Not Synced
that could link to satellites.
-
Not Synced
This was useful during the time
of repair and recovery.
-
Not Synced
Positioning satellites tell us
where we are
-
Not Synced
by telling us where they are.
-
Not Synced
Scientists can use this technology
to track endagered wildlife.
-
Not Synced
This turtle has been fitted with a system
-
Not Synced
that allows it to receive location
information from positioning satellites,
-
Not Synced
and they send the location information
-
Not Synced
to scientists via
communication satellites.
-
Not Synced
Scientists can use this knowledge
to then make better policies
-
Not Synced
and help determine how
to keep these animals alive.
-
Not Synced
Earth observation satellites.
-
Not Synced
They tell us what's going on
in our environment.
-
Not Synced
Now right now,
-
Not Synced
there are about 150 satellites
operated by over 60 government agencies,
-
Not Synced
and these are just
those observing the earth.
-
Not Synced
And meanwhile, companies
are adding to this list.
-
Not Synced
Most of the governments provide the data
from the satellites for free online.
-
Not Synced
Some of these satellites provide
images like this,
-
Not Synced
that show what you
would see from a camera.
-
Not Synced
This is an image showing
agricultural land in Kansas.
-
Not Synced
However the majority of the earth
observation satellites
-
Not Synced
don't take pictures at all.
-
Not Synced
They take measurements.
-
Not Synced
And they combine these measurements
with complex computer models
-
Not Synced
and make beautiful, global visualizations
-
Not Synced
such ast this one,
-
Not Synced
showing the ocean currents
-
Not Synced
and the temperature
of the ocean, globally.
-
Not Synced
Or we can look at the salt and smoke
and dust in the atmosphere.
-
Not Synced
Or the rainfall and snowfall globablly.
-
Not Synced
As well as the annual cycle of vegetation
on land and in the ocean.
-
Not Synced
Now scientists can take this information
about the rainfall and the vegetation,
-
Not Synced
and use it to understand what areas
on earth are in danger
-
Not Synced
of a famine or a drought,
-
Not Synced
and provide that information
to aid organizations
-
Not Synced
so they can be prepared with food aid
before the hunger becomes severe.
-
Not Synced
In space, we have an orbiting laboratory
on the international space station.
-
Not Synced
The vehicle, and everything inside,
are in a form of freefall around the earth
-
Not Synced
and they don't experience
the effect of gravity.
-
Not Synced
And because of this,
we call it microgravity.
-
Not Synced
When astronauts are in
the microgravity environment,
-
Not Synced
their bodies react
as if they're aging rapidly.
-
Not Synced
Their bones and muscles weaken,
-
Not Synced
and their cardiovascualar system
and their immune system change.
-
Not Synced
As scientists study how to keep
astronauts healthy in space,
-
Not Synced
we can take the exercises and techniques
we use for astronauts
-
Not Synced
and transfer them to people on earth
-
Not Synced
to improve our health here.
-
Not Synced
Often as we develop
technology for astronauts
-
Not Synced
and exploration,
-
Not Synced
or for spacecraft,
-
Not Synced
we can also tranfer those inventions
to improve life on earth.
-
Not Synced
Here's one of my favorites.
-
Not Synced
It's a water filtration system,
-
Not Synced
and a key component of it
is based the technology
-
Not Synced
to filter wastewater on the space station.
-
Not Synced
It's now being used around the world.
-
Not Synced
Space is also an infinite
source of inspiration.
-
Not Synced
Through education,
-
Not Synced
through research and astronomy,
-
Not Synced
and that age-old experience of stargazing,
-
Not Synced
countries are around the world
are enganging
-
Not Synced
in advancing their own development
-
Not Synced
by increasing their local knowledge
of engineering, and science and space.
-
Not Synced
Let's meet some of the world's
newest satellite engineers.
-
Not Synced
This is [Eleka ... ] from Venezuela.
-
Not Synced
Elecka is training as a satellite engineer
-
Not Synced
as part of her nation satellite
program in Venezuela.
-
Not Synced
She has designed a software tool
-
Not Synced
to better design the power systems
for engineering.
-
Not Synced
This is Adele Castillo-Duran,
-
Not Synced
from Phillipines.
-
Not Synced
Adele is both a meteorologist
and a satellite engineer,
-
Not Synced
and she uses data from satellites
in her weather forecasting.
-
Not Synced
And finally, meet Thoula.
-
Not Synced
Thoula is from the Sudan,
-
Not Synced
and as she was studying electrical
engineering as an undergraduate
-
Not Synced
in [Cartun],
-
Not Synced
she and several students decided
to build their own satellite.
-
Not Synced
And later, [...] earned a scholarship
-
Not Synced
to study satellite engineering
at the graduate level.
-
Not Synced
These stories that I've shared with you
-
Not Synced
all illustrate that space really is useful
for sustainable development
-
Not Synced
for the benefit of all peoples.
-
Not Synced
But we have more work to do,
-
Not Synced
because there are still barriers
that exclude people from space
-
Not Synced
and limit the impact of this technology.
-
Not Synced
For many people,
-
Not Synced
earth observation data is complex.
-
Not Synced
And satellite communication
services are too expensive.
-
Not Synced
And microgravity research
just appears to be inaccessible.
-
Not Synced
This is what motivates my work
as a professor at MIT's media lab.
-
Not Synced
I've recently founded a new research group
called "Space Enabled."
-
Not Synced
We are working to tear down these barriers
that limit the benefits of space,
-
Not Synced
and we're also going to develop
the future applications
-
Not Synced
that will continue to contribute
to sustainable development.
-
Not Synced
We'll keep on this work
-
Not Synced
until we can truly say that space
is for the benefit of all peoples,
-
Not Synced
and we are all space enabled.
-
Not Synced
Thank you.
-
Not Synced
(Applause)