Keith’s note: I have been watching some back and forth on Twitter where journalists are questioning the value of space and biased space people are responding with talking points. IMHO … the National Space Council (NSpC) needs to make an attempt to put space – logically – into a larger societal context – and do so right out of the gate in the very first presentation on 1 December. This societal context needs to be one wherein we make big decisions – with big budgets – so as to do things (like space) – in a time of limited resources and societal upheaval. And it must be made crystal clear why we do these things in space i.e. to provide real, measurable value to actual people – not focus groups that PR firms create.
The gee whiz, “exploration is in our DNA”, “isn’t space inspirational” thing works for a short time – but only on a subset of the populace. If the value of space, as put forth by this Administration, is not instantly obvious – and pre-briefed to cynical media/stake holders in advance – then the whole NSpC effort – and the Biden/Harris Administration’s chances of doing something valuable in space – will evaporate before they even start. There are really no second chances to get things right in DC any more.

Biologist, Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA Space Biologist and Payload integrator, Editor of NASAWatch.com and Astrobiology.com, Lapsed climber, Explorer, Synaesthete, Former Challenger Center board member...

15 replies on “Space Team Biden Needs To Get The Space Council Thing Right The Very First Time”

  1. Hopefully a gifted speaker will be able to do this. So far, the Admin is a tad thin on gifted speakers.

  2. Frame it as a simple question.

    Is the United States of America a space faring nation or not? If so, Is the manifest destiny of the United States to expand out into the solar system taking with it who we are as a Nation?

    My answer is yes!

    If not the United States, whose job is it? Russia? China? Who will be establishing the “rules of the road” as the Nation currently expands into the solar system?

      1. A proposition does not have to be limited to one. We want to lead down our rabbit hole and as the Greek pilopspher said question question question . truth .

        How to Win an Argument – Dos, Don’ts and Sneaky Tactics

        “Ask questions. If you can ask the right questions you can stay in control of the discussion and make your opponent scramble for answers. You can ask questions that challenge his point, ‘What evidence do you have for that claim?’ You can ask hypothetical questions that extrapolate a trend and give your opponent a difficulty, ‘What would happen if every nation did that?’ Another useful type of question is one that calmly provokes your foe, ‘What is about this that makes you so angry?’”

        https://www.lifehack.org/ar…

  3. Im afraid that this could be a real issue, but mainly for human space. Utilitarian spaceflight, weather, comm, and some others is easy to provide evidence. Unmanned exploration, Hubble, and planetary, are pretty easy to rationalize, though something like Webb is tougher to explain. The big issue is human space. Shuttle, which was the most action packed, many NASA have said was a big mistake. ISS, NASA now seems to be trying to ditch. The big claim for 20 years was the marvelous science, but there have been few real or significant discoveries, and most of the science seems to have been the same handful of ‘experiments’ repeated over ad nauseum and most of those are not new. They were holdovers from earlier programs. Commercial cargo and crew seem to work and have demonstrated that the key to economic human spaceflight is to keep NASA, the government, out of it. Orion and SLS, and the decades and $$billions sure are not positive evidence. So good luck.

    Maybe the most important rationale are in STEM educational schooling. Those could put ‘educational’ rationale in front of hundreds of millions of citizens most easily and inexpensively. But for that NASA needs some its space experts to be trained in education to be able to develop the lessons. Its OK to do this because education is a legitimate government function even if spaceflight is questionable. NASA has totally missed the mark on this with few genuine educational products for few students.

  4. If any messaging to reach the broader public is linked to any form of nationalism, then I feel it has missed the mark. I think it has to move beyond the wishy-washy political/nationalistic rhetoric and more towards something that is clearer, necessary and logical. The whole “we should go there before someone else takes it all” is a bit negative for me.

  5. The way I frame it is pretty simple: Forget all that dreamy stuff. There are resources in space we need that will make us and the entire world wealthier and healthier. In other words, it will put money in all our pockets and give purpose to generations of hardy, practical, bustling people as they go up against an endless frontier. It might also have the side benefit of letting our planet rest up for awhile.

  6. At the end of the day it doesn’t matter what people say it’s what they do. And the people with the resources to do work at SpaceX. And the leader of those people, Elon Musk, want’s to go to Mars so it’s going to happen.
    It doesn’t matter what the chattering classes say. At worst they can slow him down.a bit, but there’s no stopping the man with the vision and the money to make it happen.
    So my advice. Ignore the chattering classes. They don’t count.

    1. People don’t count? Now there’s a winning strategy. And you wonder why there isn’t more public support?

  7. Given the damning OIG report on Artemis, the FAA slow rolling Bo a chica orbital test and the Russian sat test the council definitely will have it’s hands full to provide leadership if that is what they are going to do.
    What will the administration do to put it’s stamp on Artemis beyond person of color requirement, especially in light of the latest $93B budget cost and schedule slips?

    How will the space council ensure the space tourism stays safe after Virgin galactic off nominal corridor flight?

    And how is space force protecting our assets in space from future Russian or Chinese blown up satellite debris clouds?

    How !much bloviating will the council do instead of real work to keep things moving from commercial and military sides and help guide nasa to return to the moon? Is 2024 slipping to a nebulous date further out or will the council and president hold the feet to fire to get back asap by any means necessary.

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