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NASA, OSTP, NSpC, UAG, NAC Etc. Will Ignore This Report

By Keith Cowing
NASA Watch
June 29, 2022
Filed under ,
NASA, OSTP, NSpC, UAG, NAC Etc. Will Ignore This Report

People Unaware and Concerned When It Comes to Space, Finds Landmark Report by Inmarsat, Inmarsat
“The world is largely unaware of key activities in space, with Gen-Z twice as likely to associate space with aliens, Star Wars and billionaires like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos than older generations, according to the largest representative survey of global consumer attitudes towards space1, unveiled by Inmarsat, the world leader in global, mobile satellite communications.
The report, What on Earth is the value of space, found that those aged 65 and above, who were teenagers when humans first walked on the Moon, are more optimistic and hopeful than Gen-Z. They are more likely to associate space with research and exploration, rockets, and satellites – with their understanding of space more rooted in science than science-fiction.
Only a quarter of the public (23 per cent) said they feel space exploration is ‘important’. Almost half (46 per cent) consider satellites when thinking of space, while 37 per cent think of expeditions to the Moon and Mars, 21 per cent think of aliens, and almost 1 in 10 think of Star Wars (9 per cent). Fewer than 1 in 10 people globally think of communications and connectivity.
This focus on Hollywood rather than Halley’s Comet fuels how respondents feel about space. Only a third of people feel ‘excited’ about space (34 per cent), while 18 per cent feel nervous – just 38 per cent wish they knew more about ‘up there’. A quarter (24 per cent) of people feel ‘overwhelmed’ by space, which comes as no real surprise with films like Don’t Look Up recently capturing the public consciousness.”

Keith’s note: If NASA was actually in tune with what the public really thinks (as opposed to the slanted view that they imagine that the public has since everyone at NASA thinks space is great) then you’d see an ongoing adjustment in how NASA public Affairs, Education, and mission outreach efforts communicates. Instead, it is the same old stale approach that only transmits – but never listens. This is the basic take that this report has on the public’s perception of the influence and importance of space in their daily lives – or lack thereof.
– A majority of people surveyed are unaware of ground-breaking things happening in space.
– 97% of people see space as a threat – with space junk and pollution the biggest perceived threats.
– 1 in 9 people are ‘terrified’ of what could happen in space – just 1 in 3 are excited or hopeful.
– Younger generations associate space more with science-fiction than science and they’re considerably more concerned and nervous about the impact of space on our lives.
– However, older generations are much more hopeful and optimistic about what space brings to life on Earth.
– Gen-Z is twice as likely to associate space with aliens, Star Wars and billionaires like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos than members of older generations.

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

22 responses to “NASA, OSTP, NSpC, UAG, NAC Etc. Will Ignore This Report”

  1. savuporo says:
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    This is Bill Maher rant fodder about how zoomers know nothing about anything, unless there’s a tiktok trend about it

  2. tutiger87 says:
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    This is nothing new. And putting people on the Moon won’t help. Things won’t change until the average Joe, not some celebrity or rich person, can go into the black. And we are still some ways from that.

    • savuporo says:
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      Don’t tell that to Katya Echazarreta

    • james w barnard says:
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      “- 97% of people see space as a threat – with space junk and pollution the biggest perceived threats.
      – 1 in 9 people are ‘terrified’ of what could happen in space – just 1 in 3 are excited or hopeful.
      – Younger generations associate space more with science-fiction than science and they’re considerably more concerned and nervous about the impact of space on our lives.
      – However, older generations are much more hopeful and optimistic about what space brings to life on Earth.
      – Gen-Z is twice as likely to associate space with aliens, Star Wars and billionaires like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos than members of older generations.”

      You know, I wonder what the statistics would have been if a poll was taken of the general Spanish population when Columbus and some of the other explorers got back from the New World. I’ll bet most of them would not have been willing to jump on the next ship to sail West. I mean, regardless of what Chris said, everybody “knew” the Earth was flat, and you’d probably just sail off the edge! And, even if it weren’t, there were probably dragons and all sorts of risks involved (of which there certainly were some).

      When commercial airliners first appeared, the cost per seat was such that very few could afford it…mainly business people who had to get somewhere faster than the train or automobile could get them there.

      Get the costs of commercial space get low enough and the profitability high enough, and you will see interest in space increase dramatically. It will take a while, and there will be stumbling blocks and pitfalls along the way. And, besides, if we don’t do it, someone else will.
      Ad Astra!

      • Bob Mahoney says:
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        That you are credibly comparing the general public today (post-Renaissance, post-Enlightenment, post-centuries-of-general-public-&-private-primary-education, post-modern Progressivism) with the general population of Spain circa 1500 is quite telling. [That the educated then knew full well that the Earth was spheroid is another matter.]

        The import of this your observation goes far beyond the matter of engaging the broader population with spaceflight. It (rightfully) brings an ocean of our current society’s supposed givens into serious question.

  3. Winner says:
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    It’s possible that NASA needs a new committee to manage the information from all the other committees and studies that inform its wise decisions. Call it WASTE – Wise Accumulation of Studies and Technology Exercises.

  4. mfwright says:
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    Old guy here, I associate space with Apollo, Shuttle, GOES, planetary spacecraft. I also associate space with activities of SpaceX, BO which for the new stuff is geared mostly for very wealthy. While interesting I find it all as distance of activities like the Ferrari Club.

    • JJMach says:
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      I can see how that can look with the efforts of Bezos and Branson to sell seats on a ballistic flight to the edge of space and minutes of weightlessness, marketed to the super-rich, but I think SpaceX should not be lumped in with them. The value offered by the Falcon9 has allowed tiny countries to launch their first satellites. With Axiom and the Inspiration4 crews, we’ve seen firsts of civilians, not nations, finally being able to fly to space, which will not be the last of their kind.
      Starship, once operational, will utterly change the equation, bringing launch costs down, not by an order, but by ORDERS of magnitude, since they are trying to drive the cost down to only a nominal amount (for verification) above the cost of the Methane fuel (partially selected because it is significantly cheaper than RP or H2) and LOX. Launch costs that put 100 tons into orbit for “low millions” of dollars suddenly makes space accessible to a lot more people. Can you imagine going into orbit for the cost of a decent honeymoon?

  5. Chris Owen says:
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    The youth of today is far too engaged with their virtual worlds. That is their escape. Once, when I was a kid, the way to escape reality was space. Not any more. It’s tragic really, one sees the most mundane things on Instagram getting thousands and thousands of likes and a NASA post getting raging accusations of incompetence. I wonder what would happen if you took one of those accusers to a real launch. Maybe they’d be too engaged with their iPhone to catch it.

  6. james w barnard says:
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    One would think that “an escape” would be something many people would want given rampant inflation, concern about COVID variants, worry by college students and recent grads about paying off college loans (in spite of promises of relief by politicians…that aren’t happening). Sadly, the opposite appears to be the case.

    Most people are unaware of the benefits to the general public of space research and technology developments…i.e., spinoffs. For example, how many women who have had breast cancer detected at least three years or more than the old mammograms are aware that digitally-enhanced and now 3-D digitally-enhanced technology came from the cancelled Strategic Defense Initiative (aka “Star Wars”)? Unfortunately, NASA has been prohibited from “advertising” by Congress, so they haven’t put out this information in a PSA. Independent organizations, such as the National Space Society, try, but don’t have the funds to pay for advertising of such things.

    The ironic thing about SpaceX is that they have been having such great success launching satellites and recovering the boosters, that it seems to be like airline operations to many people. Even back in the days of Apollo, by the time Apollo 12 was launched, people were complaining that the launch pre-empted their regular daytime soap operas!

    I’m not sure what it will take to rekindle interest in space. Maybe if China puts taikonauts on the Moon before the United States, it will create a “Sputnik moment”! Until then…????
    Ad Astra!

    • Bob Mahoney says:
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      I believe Frank Borman reported that at least one person thanked him and his crew for ‘saving 1968’. Time magazine made them their Men of the Year, reflecting that this sentiment wasn’t an isolated reaction.

      I’ve written numerous essays over on The Space Review addressing the issue of public engagement with spaceflight and its greater transcendent value to our society and culture. Substantive and lasting success won’t come from any transient event such as any given nation landing a person on the Moon ; such an impact would only be fleeting. The core to long-term engagement is effective storytelling through as many means/media as possible.

      Until the broader public is given repeated and persistent opportunity to genuinely connect to the narratives that make up space exploration and development via emotional & intellectual investment in the persons actually doing it (by embracing their excitement , worries, and their thrills of accomplishment & pains of disappointment), space will remain an incidental and peripheral distraction to most.

    • Brian_M2525 says:
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      NASA used to have a program in which college marketing and communications students competed to develop and publish/air PSAs. NASA managers did not think it was worthwhile so they cancelled it. https://www.youtube.com/wat

  7. cb450sc says:
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    In the past people used to respect that I worked for NASA. Now they heap scorn on it. I have been called all sorts of names – people don’t seem to respect or value expertise or anything else anymore.

  8. mmealling says:
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    IMHO, it is OK that large percentages of the population don’t know or care about space. Only 35% of men follow competitive sports but that industry seems to be doing just fine even with its doping scandals and misogyny. How many other industries get completely bent out of shape when they find out not every human on the planet is a fan?

    • Bob Mahoney says:
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      Space is more than an industry. The global emotional/intellectual experiences of Apollos 8, 11, and 13 (and other instances of such broad public engagement/investment) illustrate this reality.

      ‘Fan’ does not adequately capture the nature of how space can and has touched a substantial percentage of the public. That it is not doing so today as it has in the past is an unfortunate circumstance deriving from a long history of lost (sometimes consciously neglected) opportunity.

      Space exploration and accomplishment evidently ennobles and lifts the human spirit. The more folks given such opportunity (through effective storytelling and other avenues), the better off we all will be as a society and a people.

  9. rb1957 says:
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    Maybe a large CME will wake people up (to the importance of space in their daily lives).

  10. Nick K says:
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    I find the discussion interesting. Bob Mahoney refers back to the Apollo era and the heros of that time as the stuff tnat makes space legend. Apollo 8, 11, 13…Apollo was more than 50 years ago. Fewer than 30% of the population experienced it. No one is taught about it. That memory is fading.

    Then we have the reference to new tech and how it stemmed from the space program. ‘There have been studies’…aerospace did some studies and put out some marketing. I dont think most people believe the studies. I dont thinkmost people care. They care if their satellite antenna loses its signal or if the GPS doesnt give accurate position info.

    NASA established itself as a government agency that does good things. NASA is in the information creation business. It still is…Hubble, Perseverance, Ingenuity. ISS is mainly a bore; main job on ISS is schoolkid downlinks demonstrating weightlessness which kids have been seeing for 60 years. For that we spent $100 billion and worked 45 years. Meanwhile Elon Musk is creating new rockets, spaceships, spacesuits on a near continuous basis. Where would you want to work? NASAs reputation is sullied and if it werent for a dysfunctional Congress at least the human space part would be out of business. Astronauts have been pushed as heros for 50 years. NASA pushed so hard, NASA itself began to believe it. Astronauts are really bus drivers, maybe a bit higher tech. Put them in charge? We’ve seen how that can go wrong as Garver’s new book amply shows. Most of them are clueless. Most have as sophisticated thoughts as movie stars.

    Space is important as it becomes a part of everyday life; part of the economy; part of normal people’s experience. NASA is living on the coattails of long past experiences. Its time to move on.

    • Bob Mahoney says:
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      Regrettably you have mischaracterized my point by referring to it as being about heroes and legends.

  11. Alan Ladwig says:
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    There needs to be more public engagement with current and future missions and less obsession about Apollo Anniversaries.

    • Nick K says:
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      Apollo was great for those of us who lived it. Aside from tne A11 50th a couple years ago, its not being taught, not being celebrated; no one is obsessing over Apollo. A large fraction of the people dont even think it happened. There is a bit of interest when a movie like A13 or the Martian come out. NASA public engagement for human space hardly exists; have you seen a NASA Facts in the last 25 years? Have you seen the NASA HSF websites? Its like when the internet began, someome at NASA decided it was no longer necessary to engage the public. No wonder no one knows what an Artemis or Orion is.