Discussion: More Hits Than Humans

[Fraser]

SUMMARY: Well, just to show how much of an interested there is in space out there, NASA reported that its Mars website passed the 6.3 billion hit mark since its Spirit rover landed on the Red Planet (averaging 135 million a day). Essentially, the same number of hits as people on Earth. Webmasters will roll their eyes when you count web statistics since it's a pretty misleading metric. Just visiting the homepage of Universe Today will generate a few dozen hits when you include all the graphics (for perspective, the site gets 285,000 hits a day). But still, it's a colossal number. Congrats to them. :-)

I've been maintaining Universe Today for nearly five years now (March 22, 2004 will be its fifth anniversary) - it's older than both my kids put together. And although I don't have any hard numbers to provide you, I'm really getting the sense that interest in space and astronomy is starting to take off with the general public. Not since the days of "Cosmos", has space been so cool.

I think we've entered a golden age of astronomy; a time when interest in space and astronomy is matched with incredible technical advances and leaps of understanding. I can't wait to see where this all goes next.

What do you think? Come give me your feedback in the forum.

Fraser Cain
Publisher
Universe Today


What do you think about this story? Post your comments below.

[Guest]

I sincerely hope interest is increasing. Our whole future depends on getting into space and colonizing it. Never again can a disaster on earth plunge the human race back into barbarism and a dark age if we have booming colonies in outer space serving as repositories of our history and technology. The fools who say there is no value in space exploration are equal in ignorance to the fools who think our future depends on the return of Jesus, something that will never happen, and wouldn't do any good if it could.

Al Dexter

[deltaangel]

I think it&#39;s absolutely right that space and astronomy are becoming popular among the general population. I used to be the only one among my friends to talk about astronomy, and they would all give me a blank stare until I stopped or elaborated. But now, they are beginning to talk about it more, and understand more. Although they have some concepts wrong, it makes me happy :lol: . Myself, I aspire to become an astrphysicist one day. I love astronomy and physics.. I&#39;m a natural science geek. (A band geek too <_< , but that&#39;s off topic.) Astronomy has always fascinated me. I have a job shadow next week with the planetarium director at Mt. Hood Community College, I&#39;m so excited :lol: . Anyways, I&#39;m getting a tad rambly here, so maybe I shall stop. Later gaters.

[damienpaul]

I have had a similar experience Monica, we discuss astronomy as much as we discuss the footy or work....

[Rene/Australia]

Well, I&#39;m so interested in space and have been,
I&#39;m going to build my own space ship and fly away.... :)

[Tinaa]

I know I check out the web site every day. I&#39;m afraid I&#39;m gonna miss something if I don&#39;t. I rarely get the strange looks anymore&#33; People are actually interested in space.

[J9]

I know I definitely check the Nasa website almost everyday. Mankind certainly needs to reach for the cosmos. I do believe there must be some sort of other civilizations out there in the universe. It would be amazing to make contact. Wonder what they would look like?
I also believe in God too. There has to be a creator to EVERYTHING. Some people believe aliens created us…..Hmmm, then who created the aliens is my reply (God, duh).
Also I think we need to stop these world wars & work together to get to the cosmos. Instead of having one president for one country. Why not have one president for the world. Then human kind should all work together to explore the universe…..interesting, but then what would happen after that? Hmmm…

[damienpaul]

We had a class discussion about the popularity of astronomy (me the teacher and them the students = we the class) we came to a couple of conclusions - mainly that the media, including movies have placed astronomy higher in priorities and for many of my students and presumably their families, astronomy is by far one the most &#39;accessible&#39; science.

[setiman]

:) It is good to see this interest growing even though many people were really upset by each one of the shuttle losses. I think we are beginning to understand that their are serious risks involved. More importantly, we seem willing to take those risks.

:unsure: I am not sure our education systems (primarily 5th through 8th grades) are doing the best job in teaching about our solar system and the universe. Right now it varies teacher by teacher. If we improve this area, we will see even more interest in space exploration. Its the young people who are going to lead and decide in future years. They need to have the best understanding we can give them.

:D setiman

[tycho1981]

it does rings a bell , it tell we must go to travel to mars :D

[devilmech]

I&#39;m glad that people are interested in space, although I fear that much of the interest is the same as anything else media-driven. Once there&#39;s nothing new every day for a while, the media frenzy will die down and people will forget about it.

Hopefully, in the meantime we can inspire a few new souls to reach for the stars :)

[Nick4]

This is a neet story i like it. :D

[sadist]

What drives humans is the challenge to do something unthinkable and very difficult. We die and live for a challenge. The current hype about have 3 reasons which i was able to think out:
1. After the columbia accident, space got its first attention. Space travel is very risky job to do and common people came to know about it, though by a sad incident. Its again the risk that aspire people to do it again. In past, apollo and challenger accident were not able to get the same attention as columbia did, due to lack of communication facilities at that time (no internet).
2. Travelling to Mars is just out of dream for common people and achieving that feet is completely amazing(though traveller were just rovers). Just look up at sky and how much you can relate with it is really make the bond. Expedition to mars was really that link by which people were able to relate what they see.
3. Media hype is here a important factor. A lie spoken 100 times becomes a faith then space was after all is a truth and speaking that again and again will make it even more believer.
i love the sky not only because its there but because I am part of it. Hope more and more people realise this.
:rolleyes:

[Beverly]

Im 63 years old.Igrew up in the inner city of Baltimore.When I was about 5years old, I got a glimpse of a star(not easy in the city) and my Father told me what it was. I have been excited about Astonomy ever since.I remember going to school with kids who thought the sun revolved around the earth and that it would be wrong for people to go to the moon;not that we ever would&#33;I was furious when Sputnik was sent up,but I was so proud of the US Space Program when it evolved.I have kept my eyes on the skys all these years and marvel at every new discovery.I recently found this site and I really enjoy reading about all the new findings.Im especially blown away by the Mars adventure.Thanks Dad for telling me about all those marvelous places so long ago and opening my eyes to the Universe.

[Rupucis]

Online space news sites, such as this one, have been instrumental to raising my own interest and knowledge about space. I assume the same is true for other people. Go Universe Today&#33;

[big steve]

I always thought that I was weird until I subscribed to this site Now I know that I am "normal". My boys are really interested in space and all it`s wonders,there is a new generation out there that is learning more than we older ones ever would dream of and at a far faster,more reliable pace.
We need to educate the political leaders of our own countries(I am a brit)and get them to fund more research into space exploration so that future generations can benefit and then maybe we could "Boldly go where no-one has gone before"

[Guest_Brian]

The cosmos free of Earthly surroundings is an extremely harsh environment for humans. As we move off into space evolution will undoubtly change humans into something different unless we can completely replicate earth environments on spaceships and planets/moons through teraformation. Without an artifically mother nature around us as we know it now we&#39;ll cease to be humans because evolution will make us humaniods and then perhaps something unimaginable. Use your own brand of science fiction to ponder it.

Regardless of our human fraility space is our future&#33;&#33;&#33;

[Peter Canuck]

The newfound interest is bound to open the eyes of the next generation of leaders in space exploration.
Many of those in charge of today&#39;s missions (Mars and others) began dreaming their first dreams of space exploration and science when the NASA program was in its hey-day in the late 60&#39;s and early 70&#39;s.
Then came the space shuttle program. Humans finally could leave earth and land and leave again in the same craft (GO BUCK ROGERS GO) ... Now the new data and science we bring back in a remote way from Mars will drive the next generation.

No fad folks. Its growing. Now if we could just find a way to channel all those dollars spent on making and going to Adam Sandler films into the space program.
:P
Mmmmmm&#33;

[om@umr.edu]

A great topic, Fraser&#33; :D

Understanding our place in the universe seems to fill an innate need. :rolleyes:

The popularity of NASA&#39;s website and our shared interest in the homepage of Universe Today likely reflects this common need. :rolleyes:

However in my opinion, NASA should not be given more public funds until there is some much needed reorganization of that agency. <_<

Specifically, NASA has focused too much on Public Relations (PR) and too little on the basic principles of good science and engineering. :unsure:

Politicians will be interested to know that NASA&#39;s "Mars website passed the 6.3 billion hit mark since its Spirit rover landed on the Red Planet (averaging 135 million a day)", but public funds given to NASA should not be used to try to influence politicians&#33; :angry:

Can NASA justify recycling public funds to try to generate more public funds? :unsure:

In my opinion, this basic flaw has plagued NASA over the past four decades. :(

With kind regards,

Oliver :D
om@umr.edu
http://www.umr.edu/~om/

[Nicholas Eftimiades]

Originally posted by fraser@Feb 20 2004, 09:31 PM
SUMMARY: Well, just to show how much of an interested there is in space out there, NASA reported that its Mars website passed the 6.3 billion hit mark since its Spirit rover landed on the Red Planet (averaging 135 million a day). Essentially, the same number of hits as people on Earth. Webmasters will roll their eyes when you count web statistics since it&#39;s a pretty misleading metric. Just visiting the homepage of Universe Today will generate a few dozen hits when you include all the graphics (for perspective, the site gets 285,000 hits a day). But still, it&#39;s a colossal number. Congrats to them. :-)

I&#39;ve been maintaining Universe Today for nearly five years now (March 22, 2004 will be its fifth anniversary) - it&#39;s older than both my kids put together. And although I don&#39;t have any hard numbers to provide you, I&#39;m really getting the sense that interest in space and astronomy is starting to take off with the general public. Not since the days of "Cosmos", has space been so cool.

I think we&#39;ve entered a golden age of astronomy; a time when interest in space and astronomy is matched with incredible technical advances and leaps of understanding. I can&#39;t wait to see where this all goes next.

What do you think? Come give me your feedback in the forum.

Fraser Cain
Publisher
Universe Today


What do you think about this story? Post your comments below.
Federation of Galaxy Explorers (http://www.foge.org)neftimiades@foge.org

[Guest]

Originally posted by Nicholas Eftimiades+Feb 22 2004, 02:29 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Nicholas Eftimiades @ Feb 22 2004, 02:29 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-fraser@Feb 20 2004, 09:31 PM
SUMMARY: Well, just to show how much of an interested there is in space out there, NASA reported that its Mars website passed the 6.3 billion hit mark since its Spirit rover landed on the Red Planet (averaging 135 million a day). Essentially, the same number of hits as people on Earth. Webmasters will roll their eyes when you count web statistics since it&#39;s a pretty misleading metric. Just visiting the homepage of Universe Today will generate a few dozen hits when you include all the graphics (for perspective, the site gets 285,000 hits a day). But still, it&#39;s a colossal number. Congrats to them. :-)

I&#39;ve been maintaining Universe Today for nearly five years now (March 22, 2004 will be its fifth anniversary) - it&#39;s older than both my kids put together. And although I don&#39;t have any hard numbers to provide you, I&#39;m really getting the sense that interest in space and astronomy is starting to take off with the general public. Not since the days of "Cosmos", has space been so cool.

I think we&#39;ve entered a golden age of astronomy; a time when interest in space and astronomy is matched with incredible technical advances and leaps of understanding. I can&#39;t wait to see where this all goes next.

What do you think? Come give me your feedback in the forum.

Fraser Cain
Publisher
Universe Today


What do you think about this story? Post your comments below.
Federation of Galaxy Explorers (http://www.foge.org)neftimiades@foge.org [/b][/quote]
QUOTE]The popularity of space has been growing since Hubble photos gave the public another view of the universe . The new space initiative also fuels the imagination. We can not even keep up with our program&#39;s expansion [/QUOTE] [/QUOTE]

[Spacemad]

Originally posted by fraser@Feb 20 2004, 09:31 PM


I&#39;ve been maintaining Universe Today for nearly five years now (March 22, 2004 will be its fifth anniversary) - it&#39;s older than both my kids put together. And although I don&#39;t have any hard numbers to provide you, I&#39;m really getting the sense that interest in space and astronomy is starting to take off with the general public. Not since the days of "Cosmos", has space been so cool.

I think we&#39;ve entered a golden age of astronomy; a time when interest in space and astronomy is matched with incredible technical advances and leaps of understanding. I can&#39;t wait to see where this all goes next.

What do you think? Come give me your feedback in the forum.

Fraser Cain
Publisher
Universe Today


What do you think about this story? Post your comments below.

Congratulations to you to, Fraser, for maintaining such an interesting newsite over the past 5 years&#33; :). I, myself, have only been a subscriber for a little more than 8 months or so.

I´ve only had access, from home, to the Internet for a little more than a year & in that time I´ve subscribed to 6 or 8 newsletters, (at least, I´ve lost count from memory&#33;) on Space or Science. Although some news is, inevitably, repeated, each covers some aspects that the others don´t. But this is the first forum I´ve subscribed to, (at the moment at least), & I´m enjoying people´s company & find many postings of great interest&#33; :)

I find your choice of news very good & really look forward to your newsletter everyday. I miss it at weekends, but we can´t expect you to prepare the newsletter 7 days a week/365 days a year&#33; ;) :P

I´m so glad that interest in Space & Astronomy is growing so much. I, myself, have been interested in Space ever since I can remember, & most things scientific, &, as I have said in other postings, my father used to say, when I was a boy,I walked around with my head in the clouds, he wasn´t quite right, it was higher up, it was in Space&#33; (& there it continues&#33;). So when I subscribed to this forum & had to choose a name, what could be more appropriate than Spacemad&#33; :D

[goddardrocketry]

It bothers me on an astronomical scale that there is no "space" section in the newspaper. Hollywood stars have a section, yet space is usually a small "blip" on a back page. Part of the problem is, in my opinion, that many reporters do not have the technical knowledge to properly report on science so they stick to stories that have to do with non-scientific events. Alas, until the knowledge base of reporters increases, science will not become major news. Most people don&#39;t know we haven&#39;t landed a man on the moon in over 30 years (and the even less informed believe that we haven&#39;t been there at all&#33;) I hope Frasier&#39;s site influences some young people to become reporters after they get degrees in Astronomy, Physics, etc. I have all of my Scouts do the Space Exploration merit badge. They sign up to this site to find out what&#39;s going on in Astronomy. It&#39;s definitely the best part of my "morning paper".

[Dan Bennett]

As time goes on we discover more worlds. The possibility that we are not alone increases. In time we will be acustomed to the idea of habital planets and extraterestrial life, not just as a sci-fi construct but as the every day reality. This is good because our selfish and short-sighted leaders may begin to wake up to the very real notion of alien life being real. We little humans need to support our uniqueness and quit fighting so much. When we all really, finally realize that we are not alone, things will change. Space is where it will come from. People know that. We space crazy folks will remind them, from time to time.
:rolleyes:

Thank You Fraser, for the awsome website
You rock&#33;

[Guest_alfchemist]

Let me congratulate those brave men who risked and are risking their lives in space exploration, and also those scientist and engineers who make things possible what seemed impossible, and to those people who take great pains in telling the world what&#39;s going on outside it. Thanks Mr. Cain&#33; :-) Space exploration or interest in it is primarily curiousity and human benefit is secondary. I&#39;m an avid viewer of STARTREK and though this is sci-fi, there&#39;s much to learn from " the encounters" ( of things or beings). As I view pictures of supernovae, galaxies, etc, the beauty and the "power" behind these fantastic phenomena are just overwhelming. The big question that I learned from STARTREK is " ARE WE READY FOR WHAT IS OUT THERE?" or maybe, just maybe , we are just like the fly hovering around a burning lamp, too curious about the brightness of the light which could spell our doom&#33; Hell, we couldn&#39;t even patch that hole up north&#33; This is not to discourage anyone but caution not to be carried away by excitement and other powerful emotions, riding the bandwagon... I for one , would like to reach the star vega. That&#39;s one of my fantasies but i&#39;d like to go there on a safe vehicle...

[John]

Hi Fraser:

This is one of my favorite sites. Keep up the good work. Of particular interest for me is the Mars (Opportunity and Spirit) missions. The Rosetta mission is pretty bizarre&#33;

Another site I like is www.heavensabove.com for the satellite sightings such as the ISS and Iridium flares.

John

[Weaselbunny]

The thing with humans is that, to a certain extent, we&#39;re empiricists, and like to see things to believe them. We&#39;ll put our faith in a supreme being, but are less keen to put it into &#39;dreaming&#39;.

As technology advances and certain concepts start to move away from &#39;dream&#39; towards &#39;inevitable reality&#39;, it becomes less of a stretch for society as a whole to accept them.

So if you take a very interesting subject, remove the fantasy aspect, put in realistic hope for the future and tangible short term achievements... it starts to capture more imaginations.

Good news... because of the whole supply and demand thing. If more and more people demand to know more about what&#39;s out there, maybe the powers that be will take steps to supply that information (or something) :blink: .

[Guest]

Thank you for bringing us the news. I have been interested in space since the day my Dad first showed me how to spot a satellite going overhead some 35 years ago. Wasn&#39;t a whole lot to look for then. Now it looks like rush hour.

Thanks again.
Jerry

[John Vara]

I just wanted to say, that 8 months ago my wife and i purchased our first computer (i know,we&#39;re behind) Anyway, i became obsessed with all the great space sites out there. There are no words to describe the utter beauty of our universe, and the fact that we soon(15-20 years) will be able to take a vacation in orbit and to the moon&#33;&#33;&#33;&#33;&#33; It is truly a wonderful time to be alive. Thank You Fraser for a wonderful site and BRAVO to all the men and women who&#39;ve dedicated their lives to space exploration. You have my heartfelt respect.

Sincerely,

John

[Aditya Pancholi]

B) Well you are true. This is the first time in history that so much excitement and interest is being shown in space science.
I give my vote of thanks to you on the fifth anniverary of Universe Today.

[waldomi]

man once looked up to see the birds. Now man looks up to see the stars.