Keith’s note: NASA’s global branding reach is astonishing with immense soft power projection potential – if only NASA knew how to take full advantage. Have a look at this video of a landslide in Sri Lanka. Someone wearing a NASA logo t-shirt pops in and out of view. Yes, a landslide in Sri Lanka – on Twitter. Even when it is passive or unintentional, NASA’s branding constantly shows up. Oh yes: you don’t see the Chinese Space Agency CNSA’s logo on people’s t-shirts. So we’re winning the space race on that front. But isn’t global reach what it’s all about in the end? Just sayin’.

Keith’s note: There is a little global softpower projection on ABC Australia’s ABC Arts about the Artemis Accords with Jess Bush from “Star Trek Strange New Worlds” and Mike Gold from Redwire Space. You can view it here on Instagram or here on Facebook.

Keith’s note: Yet another example of the global interest in space exploration – between Colombia and Poland – and yet they are half a world apart. Oh yes: note the logo on the boy’s hat. NASA’s reach is global and usually beyond its own understanding since the agency passes on capitalizing on innumerable soft power options to help empower the Artemis Generation – everywhere. The one glaring exception is the NASA Space Apps competition which is only promoted in a substantive way by some portions of NASA SMD – but not the rest of the agency (sadly). This is from A space camp’s cultural exchange, Science (subscription): “The camp’s instructors—including author C.O.D.—had come from Colombia to conduct research at Poland’s Analog Astronaut Training Center (AATC). As the head of the camp, which is run by AATC, I had invited them to share their knowledge with the campers. We worked together to translate the scientific concepts from Spanish to English to Polish. As we planned the lessons, they shared the Colombian traditions of integrating movement, art, music, and ancestral knowledge into scientific work. For example, one activity demonstrated how scientists are extracting the pigments from Colombian fruits and trying to incorporate them into green solvents that could be used to make organic solar panels. During a break, we played salsa music over a loudspeaker and encouraged the campers to dance.” More on NASA branding.

Keith’s note: Looks like there was a high level meeting last week of the NASA Deputy Administrator, State Department, National Space Council Executive Director – and the Mongolian Prime Minister. But no one seems to care except Pam Melroy. The only place any of this is mentioned is on @Astro_Pam – an account with only 13,000 followers. @NASA has 75 million followers – but makes no mention. But PAO AA Marc Etkind and his crack social media squad could not be bothered with using that account to spread this international news INTERNATIONALLY or use NASA.gov to tell the folks here in the U.S. Of course, NASA OIIR never updates anything online. And forget about National Space Council – they do not even have telephone/email contacts on their useless home page. And the Mongolian Embassy Twitter mentions everything that their Prime minister did in Washington, DC last week – except the NASA thing. And don’t even bother with the search engines on NASA’s old or new (beta) websites. All they have to say about Mongolia has to do with forest fires 10 years ago. Meanwhile the Mongolian Prime minister was at the White house signing a “Strategic Third Neighbor Partnership”. The joint statement says “The United States and Mongolia also discussed ways to increase U.S.- Mongolia space and technology cooperation, including through the development of a bilateral space dialogue. Both countries are working towards advancing space situational awareness cooperation and ensuring a peaceful, safe, secure, and sustainable space environment.” But other than Pam Melroy no one at NASA seems to care. Yet another example of Squandering NASA’s Immense Soft Power. Just sayin’

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.

NASA Releases Equity Action Plan to Make Space More Accessible to All

“In support of the Biden-Harris Administration’s efforts to advance racial equity in the federal government, NASA has released its first-ever Equity Action Plan. The plan establishes key focus areas that will allow the agency to track progress toward improved diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility both internally and externally to NASA. “At NASA, all of our missions depend on our steadfast commitment to equal opportunity,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “The Equity Action plan deepens our commitment to further identify and remove the barriers that limit opportunity in underserved and underrepresented communities. This framework anchors fairness as a core component in every NASA mission to make the work we do in space and beyond more accessible to all.”

The Power Of Ten: Meet The 10 Winners Of NASA’s 10th Annual Space Apps Challenge “The level of global participation and team dynamics underscored NASA’s efforts to ensure that the Space Apps Challenge community reflected the level of diversity that exists globally. The challenges spanned a wide range of topics, talents, and interests creating an environment where anyone and everyone could participate and add value. Of the participating 4,534 teams, […]

Keith’s note: The 2021 NASA Space Apps Challenge winners were announced today. I have posted an annotated list below. This is one of the finest worldwide outreach efforts that NASA has ever done over the half century of its existence. It is a superb example of the use of NASA’s global branding in a synergistic, soft power fashion. Alas, while Thomas Zurbuchen at SMD has openly embraced this effort, over […]

Remarks by Science Advisor to the President and Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Dr. Eric Lander to The World Academy of Sciences, OSTP “The United States can and must do more ourselves. We’re proud to directly support local scientific researchers: from physician-scientists in Ghana studying if a certain gene increases risk of preeclampsia in mothers-to-be, to tropical forest ecologists in Colombia working to institute […]

#NASA PAO will continue to ignore an immense #softpower capability that NASA quietly developed over the past 10 yr. You'd think that @Pinballme Marc Etkind, the Biden pick to run @NASA outreach with his global TV experience, would see this potential & run with it #BuildBackBetter https://t.co/BiIhwrcJ4p — NASA Watch (@NASAWatch) September 8, 2021