[Lee Myung-ho's Future Preview] Moonshot, an Era of Challenges Creating the Future

The US, a Latecomer in the Space Age, Surpasses the Soviet Union with Successful Moon Landing
President Kennedy's Challenge... Satellite Sparks Global Communication Revolution
Now the Wave of AI and the 4th Industrial Revolution... Pioneering a New Future for Humanity

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

Once again, the era of moonshots is approaching. 'Moonshot thinking' refers to big and bold ideas or ambitions, like shooting for the moon. In another sense, it means a reckless challenge with low feasibility. The 1962 declaration to send humans to the moon might have seemed like an absurd political statement from a young president, but for some, it planted a lifelong dream. Moonshot thinking was not just a challenge for President John F. Kennedy and NASA; it was the beginning of humanity's challenge to expand from being Earth-bound to becoming a cosmic presence, extending human capabilities into space. Ultimately, it was recorded as a great achievement in human history.

After humanity reached the moon and during the process of getting there, a true era of Earth was opened. The era of space, more precisely the era of artificial satellites, created a unified Earth sphere. With satellites, Earth became a single communication zone. Satellite phones, satellite relays, satellite broadcasting, and GPS enabled people on the opposite side of the planet to receive news, make calls, and find locations in real time. Earth observation satellites expanded human knowledge about Earth, from weather forecasting to crop statistics and climate change. Technologies developed to reach the moon enriched human life. Advances in rocket and aviation technology allowed more satellites to be placed in Earth's orbit at lower costs. Thousands to tens of thousands of products and technologies needed for astronauts to safely land on and return from the moon were transferred to private companies and appeared in the market as innovative products that excited the public. Water filters, cordless vacuum cleaners, memory foam, air cushions, compact cameras, sunglasses, ear thermometers, smoke detectors, air purifiers, freeze-dried foods, transparent ceramics, shape-memory alloys, artificial hearts, and LASIK surgery?all were developed as technologies for astronauts. Additionally, flight technologies contributed to the development of the aviation, mechanical, and electronic communication industries.

From 1915 to 2015, NASA's annual budget was about $18.5 billion, but the economic stimulus effect reached $123 billion to $246 billion. For every dollar invested in NASA, there was a $7 to $14 economic stimulus effect. Based on 50 major NASA technologies transferred annually to the private sector, about 1,600 new products were developed, generating $1 million in annual sales per transferred technology. This proved that the highest-level technologies required in the most challenging situations ultimately return as the best products.

How was NASA able to achieve such accomplishments? In the history of the space era, the United States was a latecomer. The leader was the Soviet Union. In October 1957, the Soviet Union succeeded in launching the Sputnik satellite. The radio signals sent from space were heard not only by Americans but by people worldwide, sparking curiosity and fear about space. If it had been a nuclear warhead instead of a satellite, the United States and any country in the world would have been defenseless against a nuclear attack launched from the opposite side of the Earth. When the Soviet Union secured technology that the United States did not have, politicians and scientists in the U.S. were alarmed. Behind this was the presence of German V-2 rocket scientists taken to the Soviet Union after World War II. German scientists, including those in the U.S., were cooperating to develop rocket technology, but the Soviets were ahead.

At that time, President Dwight Eisenhower was cautious about the Cold War competition spreading into space and tried to avoid active responses. However, newly elected President Kennedy was different. He transcended Cold War thinking and transformed the crisis into a human challenge. At that time, the U.S. was developing rocket technology capable of launching satellites and sending astronauts (pilots) into Earth's orbit, like the Soviet Union. But in a 1962 congressional speech, President Kennedy presented a bigger goal and vision.

Before this decade is out, America will send a man to the moon. We choose to go to the moon not because it is easy, but because it is hard. Because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our abilities and skills. We will not postpone the challenge; we will accept it gladly and achieve it.

He then clarified the meaning of the moonshot in a speech at the Texas Space Center, presenting a vision of a challenge for peace, not war.

Previous generations believed that America rode the first wave of the Industrial Revolution, the second wave of modern inventions, and the third wave of nuclear power. Our generation will not be stranded by the incoming tide of the space age. We will be part of it and lead the process. The world now looks to space, the moon, and planets beyond, and we pledge to see it not as a flag of hostile conquest but as a banner of freedom and peace. We vow to see space not as a place filled with weapons of mass destruction but as a tool for knowledge and understanding.

Until the mid-1960s, the Soviet Union led the space race. They were the first to send animals (dogs) into space and sent cosmonauts into Earth's orbit. The Soviets maintained the lead, but only up to that point. NASA proved that a systematic approach different from before was necessary to open a new era. Civilian engineers, not the military, took the lead in systematically consolidating the nation's scientific and technological knowledge and capabilities. They developed a system to manage a vast organization of 180,000 people and encouraged participation from universities and the private sector in technology development. The Soviet Union failed to create a national system that transferred technologies developed here back to the private sector to create new industries.

Sixty years later, the U.S.-Soviet conflict has transformed into U.S.-China tensions. Technological competition has shifted to artificial intelligence (AI) and Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies. The challenge facing humanity now is climate change. From the moon, humanity could see Earth as a single blue dot. But now, that Earth is becoming a red dot facing a crisis. It is an era that requires a moonshot to protect the Earth.