It Turns Out Some Borders *Are* Visible from Space

This picture shows the illuminated man-made border between India and Pakistan,the line snaking through the landscape, as seen from the International Space Station on August 21, 2011. Of the hundreds of clusters lights, the largest are the capital cities of Islamabad, Pakistan, and New Delhi, India. Credit: NASA/Ron Garan

There is an oft-repeated and perhaps beautiful saying that you can’t see political borders from space. Well, it turns out that saying isn’t true; not anymore. ISS astronaut Ron Garan took this image recently which clearly shows the border between India and Pakistan. Since 2003, India has illuminated the border with Pakistan by floodlights in attempt to prevent ammunition trafficking and the infiltration of terrorists.

“Since the beginning of human spaceflight fifty years ago, astronauts have reflected on how peaceful, beautiful, and fragile the Earth looks from space,” Garan wrote on his Fragile Oasis blog. “These reflections are not clichés that astronauts say because it feels good. It is truly moving to look at the Earth from space.”

But seeing this clearly visible political border was sobering for Garan and his crewmates.

“Realizing what this picture depicted had a big impact on me,” he said. “When viewed from space, Earth almost always looks beautiful and peaceful. However, this picture is an example of man-made changes to the landscape in response to a threat, clearly visible from space. This was a big surprise to me.”

Garan added, however, that the point here is not that we can look down at the Earth and see a man-made border between India and Pakistan. “The point is that we can look down at that same area and feel empathy for the struggles that all people face,” he said. “We can look down and realize that we are all riding through the Universe together on this spaceship we call Earth, that we are all interconnected, that we are all in this together, that we are all family.”

Garan said he believes our world is a place where possibilities are limited only by our imagination and our will to act. “It is within our power to eliminate the suffering and poverty that exist on our planet,” he said.

An orange line of fear in South Asia seen from space

THE India-Pakistan border appears as an orange line in this photograph taken by the crew on the International Space Station on Aug 21 and released on Sept 4. The fence between the two countries is floodlit for surveillance purposes. Srinagar (left), Islamabad (bottom-centre), Lahore (centre near the border line) and New Delhi (top) can be seen as brighter spots. WASHINGTON: The distrust and fear that divide India and Pakistan can also be seen from the space — a bright orange line snaking through hundreds of miles across the earth’s surface. The line occupies a centre space in an image of the Indo-Gangetic plain the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) released this week. The crew of Nasa’s International Space Station Expedition 28 took the picture on Aug 21. Expedition 28 is the current, long-duration expedition to the International Space Station, launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on May 23 and is expected to return to the earth later this month. One of the images the crew sent to the earth station shows a line of lights, with a distinctly orange hue, snaking across the centre of the picture. It appears to be more continuous and brighter than most highways in the view. This is the fenced and floodlit border zone between India and Pakistan. The ISS crew took the image with a Nikon D3S digital camera, using a 16 mm lens, which provides the wide field of view, as the International Space Station was tracking towards the southeast across India. This space picture of northern India and Pakistan also shows numerous cities, large and small. Of the hundreds of clusters, the largest are those of Islamabad and New Delhi, separated by 700 kilometres, and Lahore. The lines of major highways connecting the cities also stand out. The Himalayas, nature’s indelible mark on the Indo-Gangetic plain, is also visible, even at night, showing its subtle but definite presence from the clouds. Allama Iqbal aptly described this towering presence on the subcontinent’s horizon as the “rampart of the realm of Hindustan”, noting that “the sky bows down to kiss your forehead.” Deprived of “the turban of honour” that, in Iqbal’s words, crowns the snow-covered Himalayas, the humans decorated their boundary wall with thousands of electric lights that hurt eyes. Gracefully, Pakistan has no contribution to erecting these hideous floodlights across the border. They were put by the Indian government. In 2003, the Indian government sanctioned a proposal to fence and illuminate the border to prevent smuggling and arms trafficking. In total, the Indians plan to cover 2009 km of the 2900 km India-Pakistan border with floodlights. Officials have so far erected floodlights along 460 km of border in Punjab. The extensive floodlighting continues for 1,022 km across Rajasthan, 176 km across Jammu, and 202 km through Gujarat. So far 1,861 km of the border have been floodlit. Plans are in place to erect a total 2,043 km of fencing along the border. The Indian government hopes to complete the floodlight operation by March 2012. A similar fenced border zone operates along India’s eastern border with Bangladesh. http://www.dawn.com/2011/09/06/an-orange-line-of-fear-in-south-asia-seen-from-space.html

“An orange line of fear...”
“Gracefully, Pakistan has no contribution to erecting these hideous floodlights across the border. They were put by the Indian government”

These statements are pretty telling of where the author’s sympathies lie, and it ain’t with the Indians. Considering how many attacks India has suffered which originated in Pakistan, and the ongoing discovery of violent factions in Pakistan which are closely intertwined with the Pak government, I would say India is completely justified in putting these lights up. Cockroaches tend to run for the shadows when the lights go on.

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