Pacific Archives
Pacific Archives
19 Years Ago In Pacific Magazine...
Kiribati will again be making headlines in the Pacific and beyond, not because of its controversial fishing deal with the Russians, but now with a different development that is quite unique amongst the tiny islands of the Pacific. Sometime soon, if Kiribati gives the green light, a big space center and a space university will be operating on one of its many scattered islands, possibly Christmas Island, the largest atoll in the world and the largest island amongst the 36 inhabited islands in the whole Republic of Kiribati.
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Japan is considering this multimillion dollar development. Kiribati's secretary to Cabinet, Mr. Ata Teaotai told the Kiribati press that a letter has been received from Kiribati's Honorary Consul in Tokyo, Mr. T. Kuribayashi, who wrote on behalf of a Research Council of the Japanese governing Liberal Democratic Party. The Japanese would like to build a space center somewhere in Kiribati.
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Teaotai says that Kiribati has sent a reply showing great interest in the proposal. Overseas reports of the proposed space center say Japan, if Kiribati approves, would make Christmas Island a space center, fully equipped with the most advanced and high tech facilities for launching satellites. The center would be used for weather, broadcasting, communication and other space projects, but not for military projects.
It will be used also for the manufacturing of scientific components such as semi-conductors. But most interesting of all, it will also serve as an emergency site for rescue and recovery of manned space flights.
Reports also said Kiribati was being considered because of its geographical location very near the equator, which reduces orbital maneuvering and velocity loss during the launching of geostationary satellites.
