Live From Copenhagen: SGAC European summit Day 1: Discussions
Part 5: European Coordinators sub-meeting
Discussion turned to the lack of funds available to fund delegates for SGC- the low delegate level is alarming. It is highly dependant on each country as to what opportunities are availiable, Peter suggested the idea of active, on the street fundraising. Jesper suggested merchandising such as stickers, pens etc-and stressed that this must be a priority (perhaps buy overseas?). This would work 2 fold- make money and raise awareness. Jesper put forward the idea of professional fundraisers. People want something in return for their donation.
There are also courses and workshops available to guide such projects, funded by the European Science Foundation.
There is an astronomical camp taking place in Poland this year. Mateuz (Poland) suggested the idea of a yearly European workshop, A good first topic could be the Moon Mars workshop.
There is a large difference between the space engineer and architectural cultures- this should be utilised for maximum benefit instead of a cause for conflict.
We are not fully utilising virtual communication means, like teleconferencing. Angela (UK) emphasised that these means should be built on to maintain communication between conferences but NEVER used to replace face-to-face meetings.
Jesper asked: What is the use of ESA to the countries who have their own, successful space efforts and can cooperate directly with NASA or Russia? General discussion followed as to the methods of county funding and how this is managed.
Angela (UK) asked what the best way to enter the space industry was in general? Jesper said that it is often good to get some experience within the Defence sector. Careers with ESA often start via work with an affiliated but private company.
Jesper gave a short background into his career and his interest within space. He has completed much research concerning the affect of lack of sensory data, and what affect this could have on performance levels in long term spaceflight. It is the human factor which is the driver of a missions success. There is an American idea that it is possible to select a group, via analysing pyscology, that do not quarrel.
One of the biggest quarrels on Mir was the difference in eating patterns between Americans and Russians.
It was proposed to hold the European workshop in Russia.
The possibility of holding ESTEC II was briefly suggested.
The idea was suggested to hold a 1-2 day conference in London during autumn discussing how to involve the population more in space applications. This could involved professionals and youth alike- and not just the obvious parties already involved in the area. Jesper suggested Peter could raise the topic of space medicine.
Peter asked what the formal procedure was for SGAC membership- suggesting that this is not clear and could appear chaotic.
Marc suggested creating two type of activities- one for people already interested in space, and one for the general public and children. Perhaps this could be organised via another internal project? We need a closer contact to people working in the space sector.
Receive the lastest announcements, discuss space-related topics with other members.
Live From Copenhagen: SGAC European summit Day 1: Discussions
Part 6: afternoon discussion
Point 6 was next on the agenda: How do we raise public awareness in space?
Alex showed a quick excerpt from a recent NPP Symposium: What ambition level should Europe have in Space Exploration?
Is there an overarching theme to Space Exploration?
How to engage communities?
80% of Europeans do not know that ESA exists, and this includes most of the decision makers. The Dutch are trying to find a way to intoduce ESA to the decision makers, who do not, as yet, recognise the importance of space.
Jesper sketched a time dependent graph depicting future growth of space knowledge. If anything, things have got worse over time (30 years ago, with the lunar landings, many people were more interested than they are now).
The principal problem is that education is only implemented at the end of a project, and not during it's growth. The lack of prominence of space applications scares people away from studying it- people dont realise its relevance to them in their everyday life. Without the decision makers, these messages cant get into the classroom.
Coverage of space missions is rather boring and uninspiring. Some of the media gives a negative, uninspiring vibe. What can be done in a four year political cycle? Especially as most space projects are of a much longer term. One thing that can be done is to introduce more topics to do with space, not just with science but also with art or history, into the school curriculum, Angela (UK) addressed the fact that, in the UK, science tuition is focussed on the basic principles and mathematics, instead of studying it in context, for example in space.
There are many ways to get space into the classroom of any age.
The harder issue is to spread awareness to the general public- this could be done via events such as Yuri's night, which are popular with young people. One does not have to go deeply into science to learn more about space. The benefits of space are not apparent, and thus the common conception is that investment into space exploration is a waste of money.
Imagine the chaos that would ensue if all satellites disappeared. We need to appeal to emotions of people. For example-compare the feature of a student team entering a rocket competition on TV with a feature on hurricane Katrina- the latter would appeal infinitely more to the people's emotions. So, by showing how space technology can help in risk aversion management, one could really reach out to people and educate them.
Take, for example, the global warming issue- 10 years ago, this was virtually unknown, and look where it is now!
We need to make the same thing happen for space.
Part 7: Talk concerning the position of European RC.
One of the positions of RC for Europe is soon to become free. The executive members of the meeting gave a discussion as to what the role entails, and how it is different to the role of NPoC.