It is my aim to show that Space is not an alien world, but that instead it is part of everydays life.
In the Spaceworld2000exhibition (click to see the exhibition list) , this ambitious goal is achieved through a delicate mixture of Technology, Art, Models, Philosophy, Humor and Visions of the future, as well as very special logistics. Even though Space technology and Astronomy have revolutionised our life and way of thinking, there is still a strong tendency to think that what "happens above" may be fascinating, but that it doesn't really mean much, and that funds allocated to these activities might be better used elsewhere.

Here is an interesting extract of an article in a Southern french local newspaper.
The newspaper states that;
"...if it had not been for the Satellite factory of Cannes-la-Boca on the French Riviera , the "Côte d'Azur" (Riviera) would have been much worse hit by the economical recession that engulfed the region since the beginning of the 90s. In fact one could say that, it being at the top of the social pyramid, it saved the region from bancrupcy...". Who would have thought that when the factory was created 30 years earlier...and this in a region known for its Jet-set and high lifstyle rather than for its spacecraft...?
This historical fact is not really surprising, considering that satellites are expensive machines with prices ranging from 200 million to several billion dollars and that this factory - the biggest in Europe - produces a large number of them every year.
This means a tremendous amount of tax revenues for an otherwise much poorer region.
So it could be said that this is a typical example of what the few can do for the many...
Put on a global scale this example shows how a relatively small space industry (in its infancy) will have a tremendous influence on the fate of the (many) human beings living on this planet, even when they are not directly related to this industry.

Considering that in most Western Nations industries small and large have long been "satellised" in specialised "zones at the city's boundaries, it doesn't take much to imagine that in the future, on a planet with a real global economy and in order to satisfy (the same) growing ecological needs, the industry will be chased away again, but this time in space.... and why not on the Moon!
Simply said; If the Moon wouldn't exist, we might have to build it!
The Earth's satellite has everything it takes to make a perfect industrial area and take the burden off the mother planet.
But beware! It would be wrong to think that we will simply rebuild on the Moon what we have on Earth. Future industrial lunar settlements will be different, reflecting a new environment with new possibilities and requirements. If in the short term this new industry will serve terrestrial interests, in the long term it will develop as an independant entity with its own laws and goals.

Thousands of years ago when mankind build its first "ships", basically wooden rafts with a house on it, they tried to reproduce on the water what they had on land. At the time the ocean was nothing but a huge deadly lake with very little to offer compared to the safe rivers and shorelines.  So it must have taken a lot of courage and a very strong will to push the limits and go where nobody had gone before. Nevertheless it took many thousands of years more for a real naval industry to develop with its own culture and rules. When the Spanish "Conquistadores" set foot on the American continent they created a settlement boom that led to the construction of thousands of huge vessels, the famous "Gallions".
Just imagine what this construction boom ment to the country, its economy and its people!
In less than two centuries the new North American settler population grew from a few thousand to 50 million! Apart from those that were born on the continent most came from Europe by ship!
Again, just try to imagine how many vessels it took to bring that many people over the "great pond".

Manned spaceflight is still in its infancy, and our Shuttles are nothing but crude raft exploring the Earth's shoreline, but what an excitement it is to imagine what the future will bring us!
Very few people today are aware how much space conquest has changed our lives but also our culture and mentalities.
Ecology, for example has its roots in the sixties at a time when Apollo astronauts brought back the first pictures of a lonely but beautiful planet earth floating like a pearl in Space... Which political speech could have had the effect of this single shot, this message of "one lonely people on one lonely planet....", a message understandable for even the simplest mind; " This is MY world!..."

Were did the idea of using solar energy come from? Could it be that it came from the solar cells of satellites?

Global peace also becomes a likely possibility in a context where a (proportionally small) mankind unites preparing to face the first challenges of space travel in a huge solar system and universe. The construction of the ISS by former ennemies and competing nations is a good example of this trend.

SPACE CONQUEST is the only HUMAN Endevour that has the future potential of providing an ever increasing number of human beings with work and a life in decency. If ecology and carefull management of our planet's resources will assure our survival on this planet, space conquest will assure that mankind will one day survive it!

Continued on the next page

If you want to know what could happen if we don't develop in Space and don't take care of our planet...
Then...click here and you'll see the world in 2050 (after the "Greenhouse effect") !