NASA on a mission to make space cool

Adam Turner
Thursday, 28 December 2006 19:27

Science - Space

NASA is failing to sell the final frontier to America's youth, with Generation Y asking; why bother going to Mars?

Eighty per cent of 18 to 25 year-olds are apathetic towards a manned mission to Mars, despite the general high support for space exploration amongst the American public. More than a quarter of young people suspect the original lunar landing was faked, with 10 per cent believing it is "highly unlikely" Armstrong ever stepped on the Moon.

Perhaps most troubling for NASA, 72 per cent of young people believe money spent on the space agency would be better spent elsewhere. This is a significant problem for NASA considering these people's taxes are expected to foot the bill for the 40-year "The Vision for Space Exploration" program.

The Vision for Space Exploration program - outlined by President Bush in January 2004 - proposes establishing a permanent presence on the Moon and using it as a stepping-off point for further exploration of the Solar System with Mars as the initial destination. Specific milestones include the launch of robotic missions to the lunar surface by 2008, human arrival on the Moon between 2014 and 2020, and the execution of a human Mars mission sometime thereafter.

Surveys conducted by Dittmar Associates in 2004 and 2006 found 80 per cent of 18 to 25 year-olds were "Neutral" or "Not excited or interested" in human missions to Mars. With regard to human missions to the moon, 68 per cent were either Neutral or Not excited/interested.

"One notable exception was that young people expressed interest and excitement about the Mars rovers; the strongest proponents of new Mars rover missions were respondents in this cohort. Several were also thinking about robots on the Moon," according to Dittmar Associates' report.

"Of particular interest to some of them was the idea of being able to remotely control Mars or Moon robots over the internet. These respondents (and others) made a direct link between teleoperation of Mars and Moon robots and exploration."

NASA must embrace new technologies to win over the hearts and minds of young tax payers, recommends the report. The space agency needs to use "viral videos and other new marketing techniques" as well as technologies such as podcasting, blogging and video blogging. It also needs to develop "SimSpace" computer games and use the internet to build collaborative projects.

"Creating motivation in and interest about the Vision for Space Exploration in the 18-25 year old cohort requires a focused outreach campaign designed to make use of all of these media (and more), simultaneously, in a direct and personal way," the report recommends.

"Educational approaches that make use of a broad variety of interactive media and present opportunities for participation in activities that encourage learning and application of critical skills are more likely to engage and sustain interest. In fact, outreach and education programs that fail to do so are likely to be rejected."