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Making One Convert At A Time
Making One Convert At A Time

Keith’s note: I was on Deutsche Welle TV today – twice – once with presenter Phil Gayle. This was my fifth TV appearance this week. I have been on global TV hundreds of times in the past 28 years. Pick a network – I have been on it. Just as the whole notion of talking to millions of people all over the planet becomes something that I do without thinking, I get a comment on my Facebook page that stopped me in my tracks. In this case, it was from someone I have never met – and would likely never meet – Jahwill KaGulda in Soweto, a township of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality in Gauteng, South Africa – thanking me for explaining new technology. Wow. I’m pleased to say that I am still easily humbled by this whole Internet/TV thing – and I hope that I always will be. When I am not, then it is time to turn off the computer. Meanwhile this is motivating in the extreme. An American being interviewed by a Brit on German television prompts someone in Soweto, South Africa to thank us for having taught them something about science. This one Facebook comment is worth more to me than you can possibly know. As Sean O’Keefe was fond of quoting from his Jesuit schooling, he suggested to me that sometimes “you only make one convert at a time”. I guess I did. The Facebook post with the comment by Jahwill KaGulda is below.

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  • NASA Watch
  • January 12, 2024
The Dream Is Indeed Alive: Space Exploration For Everyone – Everywhere
The Dream Is Indeed Alive: Space Exploration For Everyone – Everywhere

Keith’s note: The popularity of space exploration – both real and imagined – is something that those of us in the developed and throughly wired developed world take for granted. What we often do not appreciate is how much of our content leaks out and finds its ways across the rest of the world. And in so doing how it can inspire millions of people – ones that we never stop to think about – to aspire to explore space. [much more below]

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  • NASA Watch
  • January 7, 2024
Millions Of People Are Already Training To Fly Helicopters On Other Worlds. Has NASA Noticed?
Millions Of People Are Already Training To Fly Helicopters On Other Worlds. Has NASA Noticed?

Keith’s note: NASA is currently flying the Ingenuity helicopter on Mars as part of the Mars Perseverance rover mission. As of this posting it has flown 67 times and continues to perform well beyond its intended lifetime. Ingenuity was designed as a technology demonstration to guide development of future planetary helicopters. Newer versions are under consideration for a Mars Sample Return mission and the larger Dragonfly drone will fly in the skies of Titan in the 2030s. The technology described in this ACS press release uses commercial off-the-shelf technology such as a commercial quadricopter and an Arduino computer. The application of drones has exploded – in good and not so good ways. Drones are a technology that is now familiar and routine for many millions of people – many of whom comprise the Artemis Generation. As such, learning to use a drone that you get as a present – or perhaps one that is employed by the farm you live on – now offers a career path in planetary exploration. The technology described in this air pollution quadcopter drone by ACS has direct applicability to the sorts of things that you’d want to have with you as you conduct Away Team mission on other worlds in search of possible locations of past or present life. One would think that NASA would be making the most of this chance to engage a vast cadre of interested individuals – in America and beyond. Just sayin’ More at Astrobiology.com

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  • NASA Watch
  • December 10, 2023
The Artemis Generation Uses Webb To View The Heart Of Our Galaxy
The Artemis Generation Uses Webb To View The Heart Of Our Galaxy

Keith’s note: One of the more profound things generated by the Webb Space Telescope is this view of the center of our galaxy. Contrary to what you’d think, the observation team’s Principal Investigator on this image wasn’t some middle-aged, tenured professor. Instead, he’s an undergrad at UVA. According to a NASA release “There’s never been any infrared data on this region with the level of resolution and sensitivity we get with Webb, so we are seeing lots of features here for the first time,” said the observation team’s principal investigator Samuel Crowe, an undergraduate student at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. “Webb reveals an incredible amount of detail, allowing us to study star formation in this sort of environment in a way that wasn’t possible previously.” The Artemis Generation is making its mark. See “UVA’s Young, Rising Astronomy Star” for more about Samuel Crowe.

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  • NASA Watch
  • November 26, 2023
Career Pivot
Career Pivot

Keith’s note: I am making a totally unexpected – but still exciting – career pivot effective 30 October 2023. After more than 25 years today is my last day with SpaceRef – not by choice. So now I am technically unemployed or semi-retired. Either way I am now going to focus only on what interests me and nothing else. More to follow. Here’s a hint. True Star Trek fans should be able to piece this together from the pics above. If you comment – wrong answers only 😉 FYI: I have Dan Goldin, Gerry Soffen, Barry Blumberg, Jill Tarter – and so many others – and (of course) ALH84001 to thank for creating the field that I will be focusing the rest of my career on. NASAWatch.com will continue albeit in a much more focused form and Astrobiology.com will continue in a more expanded form while I re-engage (and finish) with my book on Astrobiology. There will probably be no TV things for me for a while as the news outlets are all covering pre-World War III preparations. Otherwise, I am just going to to look up – and beyond. Ad Astra y’all.

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  • NASA Watch
  • October 31, 2023
Dear NASA: Why Are We Going To Europa When Earth’s Oceans Are So Screwed up?
Dear NASA: Why Are We Going To Europa When Earth’s Oceans Are So Screwed up?

Keith’s note: Today’s “Obvious Question Begging An Answer Award” goes to Dennis Lees for his op ed Earth’s ocean is in crisis. Why spend $5 billion to study the one on Jupiter’s moon Europa? in the LA Times which asks “As a marine ecologist, I’ve studied marine sedimentary ecosystems since 1972. My studies show that our current knowledge of these ecosystems is quite poor. Therefore, in this age of existential threats to species habitability and survival on Earth, I have serious objections to spending $5 billion on a project to explore the sea on Europa, a moon of Jupiter, to see if it contains chemicals that might support life. What real good will that do us? Can you imagine how much good it would do to spend those funds here to learn how our own oceans function and how to deal with injuries we humans are causing? What are our funding priorities? What benefits will knowing the chemistry of Europa’s sea create for us here as our planet becomes less habitable?”. If NASA has not explained this mission adequately to the broader scientific community – especially one wherein oceanography is constantly evoked – then maybe NASA PAO (Marc Etkind et al) need to do some clean up. IMHO the first thing you’d want to see is a response to the LA Times from NASA JPL Center Director Laurie Leshin and/or NASA SMD AA Nicky Fox (and whomever does the semi-invisible chief scientist stuff at NASA HQ) – with a broadcast via NASA’s vast web and social media presence. NASA should take these rather simple and credible questions as a challenge to be more transparent to its “stakeholders”. NASA needs to not only speak in a rational way to the scientific community since their support is often needed to keep the NASA science gravy train running but also to the remaining 99.999999% of humanity in the real world who is faced with existential problems right now – and is being asked to pay for these missions.A good place to start would be with the “Artemis Generation” since they are the ones who are going go home with excited questions about space for their parents and the parents need to give quality answers that feed these dreams.. At least that is what happened to those of us who are the “Apollo Generation” and look what we did. Just sayin.

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  • NASA Watch
  • October 23, 2023
How Will We Train The Artemis Generation – Globally?
How Will We Train The Artemis Generation – Globally?

Keith’s note: How are we going to train the Artemis Generation for the worlds that they will one day explore? Not just people in the U.S. – but everywhere on Earth where an aspiring space scientist/engineer/explorer is looking for their chance to join in on this adventure? On NASA TV yesterday some NASA folks checked the OSIRIS-REx SRC at its landing site in a remote desert for damage and moved it to a lab – just like a Star Trek Away Team might do. Where do you go to learn how to do field excursions like this? Think about it. There are thousands of locations on Earth that are analogs for the extraterrestrial environments that we might encounter with our droids and/or ourselves. What would it take to have an analog exploration program in every nation? Dylan Taylor and I put some thoughts together here on how to start to address this: Why The Space Industry Needs A Space College. More info on the concept can be found here. As the JPLers say Dare Mighty Things’.

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  • NASA Watch
  • September 25, 2023
Squandering NASA’s Immense Soft Power
Squandering NASA’s Immense Soft Power

Keith’s note: I just talked about the recent Webb telescope image of the Ring Nebula on Al Jazeera Arabic. Before we started, the interpreter and I had a discussion about this and how excited she was since her son “eats this space stuff up”. I was on Alhurra yesterday talking about Voyager 2. I do this a lot. They were just as interested. Unfortunately NASA pays little – if any – attention to large parts of the global audience that it could otherwise be reaching. NASA branding is ubiquitous globally – but you rarely see anyone from NASA taking the time to talk to the TV networks that these people watch. Is it NASA’s responsibility to inform people in other nations what they are doing? No, it is not. But does America obtain potent, exciting, transcendant knowledge that people around the world seek out? Yes. And when you raise this issue with NASA they ignore you or simply offer a blank stare. Yet they jump up and down for a day or so every time a new country signs the Artemis Accords – then that’s it for that country. And while NASA Space Apps has been wildly successful reaching 162 countries and territories last year, NASA PAO only issued one press release – no outreach to any of the countries involved. I guess the Artemis Generation is only for some of us – and only some of the time – and only if good PR can be made here in the U.S. NASA is squandering its potent soft power at a time when the world could certainly use something uplifting to look forward to.

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  • NASA Watch
  • August 6, 2023
Where Will “Space Collar” Job Training Happen?
Where Will “Space Collar” Job Training Happen?

Keith’s note: According to “High school shop class is back—and it’s showing students alternatives to ‘traditional college’” on CNBC, “Thirty years ago, high school shop class seemed on track for extinction. As school funding became a matter of standardized test scores in reading and math, the budget tightened for classes that taught woodworking and printmaking. … the priority turned toward securing students spots in four-year degree programs. But with more job openings in the trades and more questions around the value of a four-year college degree, high schools are turning their attention back to equipping the next generation with hands-on technical skills.” OK, am I the only one who sees an opportunity for NASA? Why doesn’t NASA push the building of cubesats in shop class instead of napkin holders? You can buy cubesat kits for a few thousand dollars – and much if not all of the tech specs needed can be found online – with components 3D-printed or bought on eBay. The future of space utilization is not just ‘rocket science’ anymore. We’re going to need a much wider array of skills on Earth and offworld in the decades ahead for the Artemis Generation. Where are these new “space collar” jobs going to be taught? According to NASA elementary schools have already done this. Just sayin’

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  • NASA Watch
  • July 27, 2023
Another Potent Branding Opportunity That NASA PAO Will Ignore
Another Potent Branding Opportunity That NASA PAO Will Ignore

Keith’s note: According to a tweet by NASA SMD Nicky Fox the other day Fun Friday night build – some tense moments when I managed to dislodge a critical piece in the sample arm gears but all good eventually! @LEGO_Group @NASAJPL @NASAPersevere and #Ingenuity in the house! @LaurieofMars you may be disappointed by the underside 😉🙃”. Too bad cool STEM education things like this conducted by two of the top female scientists running NASA – JPL Director Laurie Leshin and SMD AA Nicky Fox – go totally unnoticed by NASA Public Affairs, PAO AA Marc Etkind and Education AA Mike Kincaid. Don’t you have a Space Act Agreement LEGO? You used to have one. There is a NASA JPL Mars rover logo on the box that Nicky is holding. Gee, how did that get there? No mention of this outreach opportunity has been made by @NASA (74.9 million followers) or @NASAJPL (3.8 million followers). According to Local Community Engagement at LEGO “Our local community engagement program currently operates in 31 countries, and we are working hard to expand it even further.” Amazon is filled with NASA-themed LEGO products. More than 220 million LEGO sets are sold globally each year. You would think that someone in a position to make creative and strategic decisions would have a way to coordinate nascent outreach opportunities like this. NASA has one of the largest, most ubiquitous branding visibilities on Earth – and it is 100% positive, exiting, proactive, diverse – and hopeful. As such one would think that working with another equally visible entity (LEGO) would only result in a synergistic visibility for the common values shared by both. NASA can certainly get far greater reach than this. But the people responsible for doing so must have to want to see this happen. Oh yes another female leader at NASA Technology, Policy and Strategy AA Bhavya Lal is totally into LEGO as well. If NASA leadership is into the same thing as hundreds of million of people around the world isn’t this something to utilize as an outreach tool? Missed opportunities. Just sayin’.

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  • NASA Watch
  • July 9, 2023
NASA Education & Outreach Needs Recalibration
NASA Education & Outreach Needs Recalibration

Keith’s note: FYI NASA Public Affairs – the next time you try to understand your audiences for the whole outreach thing – based on the reality of U.S. demographics i.e. outside of 20546, 77058, 35812, 32953, etc. – keep this map in mind. Just sayin’.

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  • NASA Watch
  • July 8, 2023
Florida’s Head Is In The Sand While It Sends Things To The Stars
Florida’s Head Is In The Sand While It Sends Things To The Stars

Keith’s note: FWIW I just tweeted this: “Amanda Gorman’s Inaugural Poem “The Hill We Climb” was banned by a Florida school – the same state where @NASA sends missions that climb a great hill – up to the stars. FYI Florida words by @TheAmandaGorman were launched – from Florida – on the #NASA @LucyMission Just sayin’ “

  • NASA Watch
  • May 24, 2023
NASA Gets Much Needed Help From The Department Of Education
NASA Gets Much Needed Help From The Department Of Education

According to NASA PAO: “NASA and the U.S. Department of Education signed a memorandum of understanding on Wednesday, strengthening the collaboration between the two agencies, including efforts to increase access to high-quality STEM and space education to students and schools across the nation.” Keith’s note: Curious fact: Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona and I are both from Meriden, Connecticut. In fact he was principal of Hanover Elementary School – which he had once attended – and where I was also student (before his time during the Apollo years). He used to come into the public library in Meriden where my mother worked at the reference desk. He later accomplished much as he rose through the ranks in Meriden and later for the entire state of Connecticut. He is one of those people you simply never hear anything about except high praise. NASA has an incredible range of inspirational things and a global reach – both of which the agency rarely uses to its fullest potential. If anyone can help NASA achieve its true educational potential it is Secretary Cardona.

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  • NASA Watch
  • May 24, 2023
Stove Piping Astronomy And Education At NASA
Stove Piping Astronomy And Education At NASA

Keith’s note: Check out Using Robotic Telescope-Based Observing Experiences to Boost STEM Enrollments and Majors on a National Scale: “Funded by a $3M Department of Defense (DoD) National Defense Education Program (NDEP) award, we are developing and deploying on a national scale a follow-up curriculum to “Our Place In Space!”, or OPIS!, in which approx. 3,500 survey-level astronomy students are using our global network of “Skynet” robotic telescopes each year.” If NASA’s Education Office (or whatever goofy name they call it now) really stayed on top of all space and astronomy related STEM education stuff then they’d certainly be expected to have a willingness to showcase allied efforts outside of NASA. Well, not so much. I did a search for this project and NASA – on Google and NASA’s own website and turned up nothing. You’d think that NASA Education, the OIIR, SMD and whomever is involved with students, astronomy, and other government agencies, would see this as a “rising tide lifts all boats” thing in an “all of government” way. Guess again.

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  • NASA Watch
  • April 10, 2023
Raising The Artemis Generation In Florida
Raising The Artemis Generation In Florida

Keith’s note: A school principal was fired and/or forced to quit in Florida after a lesson involved Michaelangelo’s nude statue of David. Apparently Florida is going to make all the nude images in history illegal to use in schools. FYI this image was sent to Interstellar space – FROM FLORIDA – TWICE. OMG what will those aliens think? This NASA.gov page points to an image of the plaque on the pioneer 10 and 11 spacecraft. It is also here, and here and a million other places. So Florida’s eventual website censors (you know that is coming following book banning) are going to be busy. NASA Administrator and former D-FL Senator Bill Nelson is a “Florida Man”. I am wondering why he has been so silent about this situation back home. If NASA truly supports the best possible dedication of resources toward the education of the “Artemis Generation” – and wants to have a safe work and living environment for all NASA and contractor employees and their families in Florida (and Texas, Alabama etc.) then you’d think that Bill Nelson would say something. But he and Pam are in Australia and his Education Office is clueless. Just sayin’.

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  • NASA Watch
  • March 26, 2023
NASA Does Not Really Understand The Artemis Generation Thing
NASA Does Not Really Understand The Artemis Generation Thing

Keith’s note: If NASA PAO really wanted to convey the essence of the Artemis Generation meme and its incredible soft power potential they’d use @NASA Twitter to retweet simple, joyful, hopeful tweets by new space travelers like Sultan AlNeyadi that say things such as “Today we fly to pave the way for the next generations” while he lofts his son – also in an astronaut suit – into the air with his spaceship waiting in the background. But NASA PAO won’t do this. They no longer know how.

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  • NASA Watch
  • February 27, 2023
NASA’s Chief Astronaut Is An Actual Teacher
NASA’s Chief Astronaut Is An Actual Teacher

Keith’s note: According to NASA PAO: “NASA has appointed veteran astronaut Joe Acaba as chief of the Astronaut Office at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. A decorated veteran of multiple spaceflights, as well a former U.S. Marine and former educator, Acaba is the first person of Hispanic heritage selected to lead the office.” In May 2004 Sean O’Keefe (an educator) was NASA Administrator. NASA selected 3 “educator astronauts” including Joe Acaba. Now, NASA’s chief astronaut is an actual teacher. Wow. While Acaba has a big job ahead of him, I am looking forward to seeing how this affects the the way that NASA engages with the Artemis Generation and how they are inspired by the example that Acaba and his team set , “as only NASA can” as “the next generation of space explorers” sets out to achieve their dreams on Earth – or beyond.

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  • NASA Watch
  • February 2, 2023
NASA Advisory Council Never Has Young Members. Why?
NASA Advisory Council Never Has Young Members. Why?

Keith’s Note: There is a NASA Advisory Council Meeting (NAC) today and tomorrow. If you have nothing better to do and want to listen to a bunch of people put forth opinions and ideas that NASA simply ignores, then tune in: Oh yes: Why is there never anyone under 40 – or under 30 – on the NAC? With all this talk about Artemis Generation, education, STEM diversity etc. there is no one on the NAC representing the ACTUAL sector of society that is moving into NASA and the global space industry. is there anyone on the NAC STEM committee who is actually a member of the Artemis Generation? No. Meeting info

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  • NASA Watch
  • January 17, 2023