We are now well into the Space Age. In our present context, ‘Space’ means the region beyond 100 km from the surface of the earth extending to the far reaches of the universe. The first man-made satellite, Sputnik - 1, was put into an orbit around the earth on October 4, 1957. On April 12, 1961 Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space. Then the world listened to the memorable words: “One small step for a man, a giant leap for mankind”. That was Neil Armstrong speaking from the moonon July 20, 1969. In the beginning, space held a romantic charm as a new frontier beckoning exploration and discovery.
Before long,the recognition dawned that space also held a treasure of unprecedented benefits to mankind. Space came to be regarded as our fourth environment– the other three being the land, water and air– not unlike a natural resource. Expanding knowledge of our environment,near and remote, and using space technology to....
