Banned
Back in the Apollo era it seamed logical that by 1985 we would land on mars it seamed like the second step. But really the Apollo program wasent about space exploration. It had one main goal to beat the soviets. What happened with the publics interest in space exploration. I ask people at my school they think space exploration is "boring" or when it comes to the moon they say "been there done that." What happened man. What do they find so disinteresting about exploring space.
Order of Kilopi
I blame it on the Media....
Then again I blame everything on the media.
Banned
What do you mean on the media.. Do you mean they dont broadcast enough stuff about space exploration and rather would like to broadcast how a cat fell out of a hundred foot tree and survived.
Order of Kilopi
Well, more like too much, AT FIRST, they took the imagination out of society, not just about this but about everything, they say oooo...wow, look everyone, we can go beyond EARTH! And everyone was like "WOW! Look at that, amazing!" And then the media just drooped it, so people lost interest quickly, I mean, while you watch TV, do you ever get excited by what you see on the news? No, why? Because technology is here and developing, it's no longer amazing to everyone that we can explore space, or the importance of getting off this rock.
You know that something like 93% of the people on earth don't even know what galaxy they live in? Ask some of your friends what a Black Hole is, and a short answer to how it works, I bet you will be amazed.
How sad indeed...
Order of Kilopi
I have a similar opinion about warning labels.Originally Posted by Dragon Star
Unfortunately, that takes knowledge that does not affect thier daily lives. To most people, that information is Trivia and doesn't matter. It's up to the eggheads to know it. They don't know the relationship to their lives because it is not a direct one. Now, if a black hole can get them to work faster... that's a different story. (actually, I think I heard someone on the board just say "I thought we could")
Newbie
The importance of "public interest" and "media attention" is of course debatable and contentious. In the long run, the money for expanding the frontiers of knowledge does come from the public, but does the public really know what is necessary in a global context? It is true that, concerning a landing on the moon, we have "been there, done that" and that grade 3 students may find this boring compared to "The Great American Race," but I hope that there was a huge audience for that wonderful programme on "Nova" this week, about the Cassini-Huygens Project. CNN even promoted the programme, and this media attention is very very good for those of us who believe that unmanned science expeditions are the way to go, and that manned landings on the moon and Mars may have dramatic intensity, but the investment in money, lives and energy is not worth the effort. In addition, let us not forget, as "Nova" made abundantly clear, that the way to go is through international cooperation, and that NASA is only part of humanity's attempt to discover who we are, where we came from, and where we are going. It is not only Americans who are seeking answers, and this type of international cooperation could finally break down iniquitous national and racial barriers, and prove that we all evolved from the same protozoa, and that we will never reach the furthest reaches of the universe as long as we consider ourselves to be Americans, Arabs, Chinese or whatever, rather than members of humanity.
Established Member
Well By the time Apollo 14 was on the interest was waning bad already, then they brought on the moon buggy, sparking some minor interest but the shock value was gone. Sad to say, but people prefer dumb shows and reality tv than space exploration. They had actually people calling the TV stations complaining about where was their football game and get this moon thing off the air already.
However in the age of the internet, it might be different. I know that the Olympics we're watched most and foremost over the Web or Specialized services here in Québec than on regular TV.
But the public interest in anything is notoriously something that just flares and goes, for better or worse...
The impossible often has a kind of integrity the merely improbable lacks. -Douglas Adams
Order of Kilopi
I think the moon had a large part to play as well after reading the last post by Mantiss, everyone was like "wow, the moon!" We got there and it was just a big rock with dust on it, and everyone was like "WOW!..wait, that sucks, Space is boring and pointless."
Established Member
To get public interest, you have to make it "dramatic". Either make it soap like, with the focus on the characters, or make it sportslike. My preference (if I have to choose one) is the latter.
Look at the interest the X-Prize got, or the NASA buggy challenge (forgotten the correct name though). Nothing compared to Apollo 11, of course, but we will never get that back.
Now, imagine that instead of "NASA will get people on Mars by 2030" or so, it would be "The Mars Challenge". Every country and private corporation can subscribe, and qualifications are orbiting by 2010 and moon landings by 2020. Always unmanned first, manned second. Follow the different teams, support your "local" (continent?) favourite, admire the tests, get shocked by the failures. Explosions in Technicolor. The winners get fame, fortune, statues and ticker tape parades. The world gets new technologies, exciting prospects, ...
I know, this is not scientific, and perhaps not realistic (certainly my timeframes are purely imaginary), but I try to describe how you can get more interest in the exploration of space. This will make it more commercial, probably less safe (that's why we need good rules and judges), and way more entertaining. And I do believe that in the long run, we will get more results by this approach.
I'm not asking for a removal of government payed space agencies like NASA and ESA, they are needed as well, but they should be complementary to the private industries, and perhaps more aimed at fundamental research and so on.
Order of Kilopi
It wouldn't hurt to involve private industries more indeed.
Next to that, indeed we should keep the official agencies. They ae doing advanced research in fields that are too risky for most private companies. Those researches require huge amounts of money and have quite some possibillity to come out with a "nope, sorry not possible" result.
For those who think the official agencies aren't much involved in this kind of research: they certainly are. Of course, you only hear about many of them after the results are in. In case of negative (theoretical) results, you hear little to nothing about it. Not because they keep it quiet, but because it is only interesting to a limited amount of people.
But apart from agencies for the big missions and fundamental research and development, I think private industries like SpaceX, OTRAG can be/could have been very interesting players in the space market. It would certainly put some tension into the space business.
Established Member
I can see how people get bored when TV programmes all use the same footage and cover everything at such a basic level. For Apollo you might get 15 seconds of film from orbit and an astronaut or two walking about a bit. There is of course much more to it than that, but you have to go looking for the information and then make some effort to learn about the science involved to really appreciate it. Many of the really interesting books are not easy to get hold of either, although some are online, for example Apollo Over the Moon: A View from Orbit, which contains photos of many different features taken from the Command Modules in orbit, with interpretations by geologists working for NASA and the US Geological Survey.
Order of Kilopi
And there lies the problem because when you make something dramatic thats really not, it backfires and makes it that much worse.
How many time have you went to see a movie everyone said was the best movie ever made and it sucks because it didn't live up to your expectations?
Order of Kilopi
It has been over 30 years since NASA did any real "space exploration", at least involving manned systems. Twenty-five years ago today, the first Shuttle mission was launched. Other than the occassional loss of a crew, the Shuttle program got so boring as to be lampooned on "The Simpsons" - bolding going where everyone had gone before.
The unmanned probes have done some very interesting space exploration but a that doesn't seem to capture as many people's imagination like the early Apollo missions. It's true that interest in the Apollo missions wained pretty quickly. TV networks were getting complaints from housewives because their soap operas were being interrupted by moon coverage, and this was well before Apollo 17.
If you want to get people interested, you have to do something interesting. Going up into low Earth orbit yet again and spending months in a space station just aren't all that interesting to most people. Even back during Apollo 11, NASA had a way of screwing up public relations. I remember some wag saying, "NASA took the most exciting event in human history and made it boring."
Established Member
True, that's why I compared it to sports. As long as it is a competition (and a high speed, high tech and preferably (mediawise) high risk one), you will have a huge bunch of people watching all the boring "games" waiting for that one exciting moment. Look at Formule 1 racing (or Indycar, that's closer to space travel, with all the ellipses they do)... It's better than a boring movie, because it's live, and that means that it is unpredictable (even if in reality it mostly is predictable).
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote