Swiss Review 3/2019

Swiss Review / May 2019 / No.3 3 Anyone and everyone who enjoys science fiction will have heard of Jules Verne (1828–1905) – a pioneer of the genrewho described things that no one really else could. He travelled around the world in 80 days, jour- neyed to the centre of the Earth, and flew to themoon. In purely literary terms, Verne set foot on the moon in 1865, a good century before US astronaut Neil Armstrong. Fromafar, the Earth looked like a “cloudy light” and a “dark spot, drowned in the solar rays” according to Verne. This is incorrect – we live on a blue pla- net. Blue becausewe nowknowwhat the Earth actually looks like fromspace. Space science has transformed our understanding of things. Take the first moon landing 50 years ago, for example. Thanks to the Uni- versity of Berne’s solar sail (or Solar Wind Collector), Apollo 11 was also a ma- jor Swiss event. Astronauts Armstrong and Aldrin made sure that this expe- rimental device was in place even before they thrust the American flag into the lunar soil. As youwill learn in Berne-based journalist Dölf Barben’s lead article, the reputation of Swiss space science has gone from strength to strength ever since. Metaphorically, Berne’s physicists have travelled fromthemoon to the stars. Their research continues to help change our viewof the universe – from taking high-resolution images of Mars, to searching for planets outside our solar system. Former astronaut Claude Nicollier fromVaud notwithstanding, Switzer- land has remained a nation of space researchers to this day rather than becoming a space travelling nation. Science is first and foremost a story of delving into the vast unknown. It is about the beauty of knowing, learning, understanding and comprehending. This ethos ismore important than ever as a counterpoint to the growing clamour among thosewho viewnear-Earth objects as a potential source of rawmaterials. Especially, it is also an antidote to the global superpowers hell-bent on militarising space – talks in Geneva to prevent an outer-space arms race ended in spectacular failure at the beginning of April. The lesson fromBerne is that we shouldmaybe attend to some of themuch more pressing and urgent problems on our own planet first. And that we should probably let science fiction writers worry about mannedmissions to the red planet. In thewords of one of the Berne physicists whoworked on the solar sail 50 years ago: “The red planet is so far away. Most people don’t even knowwhere it is in the night sky.” So why fly there? MARC LETTAU, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Editorial 5 Mailbag 6 Focus The first moon landing was one giant leap for Berne’s space science programme 10 Politics No other country consults its people more frequently than Switzerland The Swiss gold industry is under scrutiny 14 Sport Sport climbing at the Olympics – Petra Klingler is aiming high News from around the world 17 Literature series 18 Society Women’s strike across Switzerland – what are today’s activists demanding? Civilian service is popular – now the government wants tomake it less attractive 23 OSA news 25 news.admin.ch The number of Swiss Abroad has risen to 760,000 28 Images The village photographers whose body of work resembles a long-term anthro- pological study 30 Books / Sounds 31 Top pick / News Contents From the moon to the stars Cover image: Astronaut Buzz Aldrin deploys the University of Berne’s solar sail on the moon, 20 July 1969 Photo: Nasa/Keystone “Swiss Review”, the information magazine for the “Fifth Switzerland”, is published by the Organisation of the Swiss Abroad (OSA).