The Exciting NASA Economic Impact Report That No One Seems To Care About (UPDATE)

Economic development projects to bring 510 new jobs to Huntsville area, Made in Alabama (Alabama Department of Commerce)
“The Huntsville/Madison County Chamber today announced that new economic development projects will bring 510 new jobs and more than $71 million in investment to the community.”
Keith’s 27 Sep 10:54 am EDT note: This release was issued on 25 September 2020 – the same day as the NASA economic Report came out. The Made in Alabama (Alabama Department of Commerce) website makes no mention of the NASA Economic Impact report. NASA HQ makes no mention of this news from Alabama. NASA Marshall makes no mention of this local economic news or the NASA economic report on their website but their twitter account retweeted @JimBridenstine’s tweet – once.
NASA’s Impact on Economy Is No Secret to Space Coast, MyNews13
“In Florida, NASA employs 33,000 workers and makes a $5.9 billion impact on the Space Coast, according to Space Florida’s Dale Ketcham. Planned missions to return to the moon and to go to Mars for the first time are responsible for a lot of that impact, he said.”
There is no mention of this report (or a link to it) on the Space Florida website but they are responding to media requests. There is no mention on the NASA Kennedy website but they did retweet @JimBridensine’s tweet – once. No mention is made on the Florida Governor’s website or the Department of Economic Opportunity. Rep. Bill Posey has posted nothing on his website or his Twitter account. Sen. Rick Scott makes no mention on his website or Twitter account. Sen. Marco Rubio has nothing on his website but he does make mention on his Twitter account. Given the immense amount of money NASA has sent to Florida over the past half century you’d think that the folks there would be a little more interested in spreading the good news – especially when the economy is in such dire shape. Its baffling that NASA Kennedy is not making more of this good news.
Oddly, while Johnson Space Center makes no mention of this NASA economic impact report on their homepage, they do have an old link prominently featuring their own report: “Texas Comptroller Releases NASA Economic Impact Report“. I mentioned this report back in September 2019 when JSC did a stealth launch of their own:
“Look at this Texas portion (larger image) of the list of companies that are suppliers to SLS/Orion/Artemis: “2019 Deep Space Exploration Systems Supplier Locations”. These 182 companies are located all over Texas. I’ll be willing to bet that nearly all of these companies have no idea that there is a NASA website that lists all of the small business that work on this project. The Texas Comptroller seems not to know about it. JSC does not mention it either. Why go through the time and expense of collecting this information if no one is told that it exists?”
While JSC still features this old economic news from a year ago on their website, JSC makes no mention of the new report – but they did retweet Jim Bridenstine’s tweet – once.
There is no mention on the NASA Ames website; none at NASA Armstrong’s website; nor any mention at NASA JPL’s website – this despite the fact that the report cites California having “69,725 jobs in the California economy were supported by NASA activities in Fiscal Year 2019” and that “The total income impact of NASA in California was $6.3 billion in Fiscal Year 2019.”
Keith’s 28 Sep 12:21 pm EDT update: NASA Langley just issued this press release today at 12:13 pm EDT. NASA’s Moon to Mars Economic Impact Study Shows Significant Benefit for Virginia – but no mention on their homepage.
No mention is made by the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology or the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation (Jim Bridenstine will be testifying there on Wednesday – maybe he will mention the report).
No mention of the NASA report is made at the Aerospace Industries Association, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, the Space Foundation, the Commercial Spaceflight Federation, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce – or the National Space Council. To their credit, the Coalition for Deep Space Exploration does make brief mention on their website and links to the NASA report. And of course none of the space advocacy groups have bothered to say anything.
I could go on and research the PR given to this report for all 50 states. A simple Google news search will show how underwhelming the response has been. Let me be clear: this report is overflowing with great news for NASA and hundreds of communities across the nation. I hope NASA publishes more things like this since they have only scratched the surface of what NASA provides to this nation. America needs good news right now. The inspirational aspect of what NASA does as part of this good news is an added bonus in these dark times. But it is downright depressing to see NASA drop the ball when it comes to promoting its own good news – once again.
What happend to all of that presidential “Make Space Great Again” hoopla? Or was that just for campaign ads?
– NASA’s Economic Impact Study Misses Much Of NASA’s Economic Impact, earlier post
– NASA Economic Impact Report Released, earlier post
– NASA Report Details How Agency Significantly Benefits US Economy, earlier post