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Growing The Next Generation Of Space Explorers

By Keith Cowing
NASA Watch
October 2, 2015
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Growing The Next Generation Of Space Explorers

How Matt Damon could rocket NASA to Mars in real life, MarketWatch
“Public support is seen as crucial to the agency as it works to make due on a promise to send humans to the red planet within 20 years. As excitement regarding the potential to travel to, land, and possibly even live on Mars grows, scientists say it could prop up NASA’s missions and help secure ongoing funding. This week, a number of scientists heralded the film’s factual accuracy, NASA announced a breakthrough discovery regarding flowing water on the red planet, and a rare blood moon on Sunday attracted a significant amount of attention on social media sites. The momentum has set the film up for a solid opening weekend, with Fandango reporting that pre-sales for “The Martian” are exceeding those of the 2013 sci-fi thriller “Gravity.” Box office tracking company BoxOffice.com estimates the film will rake in $56 million this weekend.”
Keith’s note: OK, so lets just say for a moment that a visually stunning movie about an adventure on a strange new world sets box office records and goes on to make a billion dollars or more. In the process media visibility is relentless and the movie sells itself through word of mouth and a creative PR campaign. And oh yes, the real NASA is part of the PR effort. Well, take out the NASA part and the film I was describing was “Avatar”. A couple of years later “Gravity” had a smaller, but similar effect. And Last year’s “Interstellar” made its mark with some distinction as well.
Where is the budget bump for NASA directly (or even indirectly) attributable from these films? Did NASA’s astrobiology and extrasolar planets budget get a big bump? (“Avatar”). How about human spaceflight? (“Gravity”) Breakthrough propulsion and astrophysics? (“Interstellar”). Did Congress introduce bills inspired by any of these bills? Did the White House initiate any new legislative efforts? Did a citizen’s movement arise and deluge Congress and the White House with letters asking for more support for space exploration thus causing a policy pivot? No.
Ignoring recent history (as space advocates regularly do) the usual space advocacy suspects have been trumpeting “The Martian” as a game changer for NASA and space exploration. Will it have an effect on inspiring young people? Of course it will – as did all of the other films I mentioned plus others. Decades ago like “2001: A Space Odyssey” and “Star Trek” shaped my future career (and still do). And the inspiration in the near term may grown and evolve into something more pervasive and real in years to come. No one doubts that these movies can affect people in a life altering way. But there’s not going to be special congressional committees called into existence to respond to citizen demands as a result of “The Martian” – since there will be no such demands.
NASA has been closely linked to PR and education and public outreach in connection with the movie – a wise, excellent decision. So far NASA has conducted itself perfectly, using the film to help explain basic things that it does and when drama trumps science, why this was done and what the real science is. They also helped the producers make it as close to reality as is practical with any scifi drama. There is no downside to this. Well, actually there is: NASA has nowhere near the budget for the Mars stuff in the film and what work it is already engaged in is beset with cost overruns and significant delays. But the movie goers aren’t going to see a budget presentation. They are going to see a story. Maybe they will walk out of the theater with that story playing in their head. And perhaps some time in the near (or far) future when asked about space in a poll, or to vote for someone who mentions space, they might see their actions driven by this film (and others). But signing petitions and engaging in organized lobbying? I think not. Its just a movie.
But if people make humans to Mars something that they own as a result of seeing this film – something that they internalize personally – or see as what their children want to do, then you have to nucleus of a chance to sway policy decisions. This only happens if you plant the seed and nourish it. And this interest should not be forced to conform to the tired, broken tactics that Space advocates use (i.e. talking to one another but not the 99.999% who are not in the room). Rather it should be sought out in poor inner city schools or farming communities – not just magnet/charter schools in rich suburban communities. If space advocates want to so this space stuff for all humanity then they need to involve all of humanity.
This magical change that the space advocates expect will arise and will alleviate all of NASA’s woes will not happen. Movies – even the most popular and successful – have yet to affect NASA’s space policy. As my long-time friend Alan Ladwig noted, no one makes movies about NIH (or NSF) but their budgets go up without that cinematic boost. As far as NASA is concerned I (and Alan!) would sincerely love to be wrong – but I do not see it happening with “The Martian”.
But this film will have a positive impact even if it’s impact invisible at the moment. And other movies will follow with similar impacts. NASA will derive its best benefit from this and future scifi movies in terms of soft power – not from an onslaught of loud space advocates doing a march up the Mall in Washington demanding money for NASA. Rather, it starts with a student paying a little extra attention to a hard class in school this month – or changing their major next year. Maybe its a new merit badge in scouting or an interest in greenhouses or hacking an Arduino board to do something new. Maybe its a parent picking a different birthday present. Or maybe its a slowly building gut feeling that there are things out there that need to be explored. And the secret to this is education. Alas, NASA’s education system, however well-intentioned, has been underfunded, uncoordinated, and mismanaged for decades. That needs to be fixed if NASA wants to have the next generation equipped and able to engage in the adventures the agency wants to embark upon.
Space exploration supporters in general need to take a lesson from “The Martian’s” Watney – and “Insterstellar’s” Cooper: become farmers and grow an army of supporters no matter where the potential supporters may live. The place to start is where those supporters actually are in terms of their dreams and interests. You can’t force your dreams onto someone else.
When you set out to grow a tree you do not hammer a stick of wood into the ground and just walk away. You plant a seed or a seedling and then wait. And you nurture when needed. Space advocates need to put aside their hammers.

NASA Watch founder, Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA, Away Teams, Journalist, Space & Astrobiology, Lapsed climber.

9 responses to “Growing The Next Generation Of Space Explorers”

  1. James Lundblad says:
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    Looks like we could use the fiscal stimulus of a Mars program.

    http://www.bloomberg.com/ne

    Instead we have the sequester.

    http://www.wsj.com/articles

  2. Citizen Ken says:
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    The inchoateness of Keith’s angst seems to be growing, but I think I can see whereby.

    Keith’s last paragraph touches on something that I’ve been harping on for a while, which is cultivation of the next generations. This is something best done in local communities, but based on Keith’s responses to some of my prior comments here, it seems that he feels that if it is not a nationwide effort then it’s not important. Hence, the fixation on a fictional movie that is going into wide release. It is something that in theory could spark a renaissance of interest in space activities. I’m not buying it, but then again I don’t need fiction to get me passionate about something.

    It appears to me that this is somewhat of a generational issue, with the Baby Boomers still holding all of the cards. They’re a generation that grew up in the experimental phase of real mass marketing and franchising (driven mainly by television), and an age when government was solving big problems (communism, civil rights, the Moon). They’re all about the bucket lists, and here we are six decades later still trying to fulfill Von Braun/Disney’s Space Station/Moon/Mars bucket list from the ‘World of Tomorrow’. It’s why periodically you’ll get a new coalition of groups saying ‘Let’s petition Congress’, not realizing that unless they bring cash or votes, and not promises of future prosperity, then their efforts are largely futile. It’s why NSS leadership focuses on national and international projects, like Space Ambassadors or Kalam Solar Power Initiative, and largely ignore their chapters even though they do things like Moon Day (http://www.flightmuseum.com… which is doing exactly what Keith is talking about. – cultivating the next generation.
    (http://www.dallasnews.com/n
    (http://www.dallasnews.com/e

    [Insert space movie here] is not likely to be the next Star Trek, the way [Insert space plan here] will likely not be the next Apollo. Our current generation of leadership (corporate and governmental) is deep into the pillaging and looting of the economy (any economy), and the space sector hasn’t developed enough to have much to loot. Eventually the cultural pendulum will swing back towards real investment and infrastructure creation as a foundation for business growth, and there are encouraging signs that the youngest generations, who are being bequeathed a hollowed-out economy and country (any country), are starting to move in that direction.

    So long as the current generation remains in charge, little will change. Last I checked, NASA was still about 50% Baby Boomers (just like in the early 1990s), even though the youngest Boomers hit 50-years old in 2014. (I shudder to think what the payroll looks like) Look at the space conferences, filled with grayhairs.

    You want youngsters interested in space? Show them an industry where youngsters are making a difference. One where they can see their peers and near-peers leading projects, making the news, and otherwise shaping the future. Note the picture at the Moon Day website above. Those Girl Scouts are talking to an undergrad in physics at TAMU-Commerce studying stellar magnetic fields. She’s not too far removed from where those Girl Scouts are, and she’s doing cool space science. We’ve seen that over the years – exhibits with younger staffers -tend- to get more attention and engagement than those exhibits with grayhairs. So long as the Baby Boomers refuse to cede the future to the future, they will continue to become less and less relevant as future generations keep rising to the fore with their own dreams and ambitions. As they’ve always done; as they always will.

    • kcowing says:
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      Ken is putting words into my mouth again. He says that I think that I “feel that if it is not a nationwide effort then it’s not important. I never said that. If Ken took the time to read what I wrote instead of looking for ways to be insulted and toot his own horn, he’d see that what I am advocating is the polar opposite it of that. Ken also seems to take everything I say as a personal insult – so to alleviate him of that angst he’s taking a 30 day hiatus from posting here. He can stop using NASAWatch to complain and update his own blog at http://www.outofthecradle.net/ which has laid dormant for more than 2 years. Oh speaking of NSS, Ken – there is no mention of “The Martian” on their website or Twitter feed. Has your entire organization fallen asleep?

      • Michael Spencer says:
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        Maybe he’s putting words into your mouth Keith but they are BIG words! ‘inchoateness’!

        I read Mr. Murphy’s post as a reasoned response, Keith. These sorts of back-and-forth between knowledgeable people are valuable, especially to those of us out here in the hinterland keenly interested but very separated from policy and space. Personally I’d rather see you tear Mr. Murphy a new one- figuratively, of course- than ban him. Nothing gained, a voice lost.

  3. Michael Spencer says:
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    Those are funny-looking potatoes. Just sayin’ 🙂

  4. VLaszlo says:
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    Bravo, Keith. This is one of your finest posts. The value of art like Avatar, Gravity, and The Martian will not be clear immediately, but in the coming decades when we meet the leaders they inspired.