Mankind needs to find alternative habitat in galaxy: Kalam

Former president A P J Abdul Kalam wants mankind to find an alternative habitat in the galaxy and thinks Mars could be the ideal planet.

Mankind needs to find an alternative habitat in another planet with the Moon serving as the human space technological industrial belt and Planet Mars as an alternative human habitat, Kalam said at a recent address to the International Aerospace Conference at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

"We have to evolve and ensure guidelines for the creation of an environmental friendly industrial belt in the Moon and habitat in Mars," he said.

Favouring a "space vision" and missions to enhance quality of life, he also called for a "paradigm shift" by nations to work together in order to see a quantum jump in the progress in space technology.

Kalam said large societal missions and low cost access to space would pave the way for Moon-Mars combination missions.

"This technological contribution will lead to cost-effective launches of large payloads for geo-synchronous and polar orbit missions, paving the way for Moon-Mars combination missions with mass transportation systems," Kalam said.

Underlining the importance of using space technology to enhance quality of life, he said the world community must explore the possibility of generating electric power through single cycle fusion process using Helium-3 on the Moon.

Kalam said greater efforts are needed to create affordable alternate sources of clean energy on scales large enough to be a perennial substitute for fossil fuels. "We should explore the possibility of generating electric power through single cycle fusion process using Helium-3 on the moon," Kalam said.

The former president, who led India's successful missile programme, said energy production through fossil fuel generates 30 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide annually and countries should look for cleaner energy.

He said enhanced technological strength has given rise to the creation and expansion of space markets and the time has come to evolve a "World Space Vision 2050" so that mankind benefits most from space applications.

The former president said a unified approach will enable the world to see a quantum jump in the progress in space science and technology for the benefit of all nations.

Emphasising the need for multilateral approaches to ensure security of outer space, Kalam suggested creation of an international Space Force made up of all space-faring nations to protect space assets.

Multilateral approaches are required to ensure that the use of outer space is in conformity with international law and in the interest of maintaining peace and security. "Hence, I suggest creation of an International Space Force made up of all space-faring nations wishing to participate and contribute to protect world space assets to enable peaceful use of space on a global cooperative basis," he said.