Today's NASA -- Training Tomorrow's Marketing Execs Today
Many a child from my generation fantasized about becoming an astronaut who would be among the first to land on Mars as a part of NASA's first interplanetary research expedition. Those of us who didn't believe we had the physical fortitude to go through the insane, and rigorous, physical trials we saw in THE RIGHT STUFF, imagined that we could become the inventors of the awesome technology that would allow for such a mission.
In my memory, NASA was right there with us. They encouraged us to participate in science fairs, and to become creative and innovative inventors. They used the space program as a gateway drug into the study of science and mathematics. It worked for many of my friends, some of whom work at JPL on super cool space tech stuff. That's the proper engineering term for what my friends do...super cool space tech stuff. You know...lasers and rovers and super telescopes. Things that help us to understand the universe where we live.
We were inspired by the thought of going to outer space ourselves, or aiding others in their journeys. We were inspired because NASA told us this was what the future held. Yes, NASA talked about the things that had been invented as spin-offs of the space program, but they also asked us what we thought the next generation of spin-offs should be.
This is not the case for the next generation, their journey lies in looking back at the past and making commercials about the cool ideas that NASA promoted during the space age. NASA recently announced the winners of their "Optimus Prime: NASA Spin-Off Award."
At first glance, I thought this seemed like an ideal way to inspire youth and to promote science and technology. But then I looked at the rules of the contest. The participants aren't supposed to come up with ideas for inventions that could become spin off products. They aren't supposed to build home versions of the spin off technology. No, they are supposed to create commercials for the products that discuss and promote them. NASA wants the next generation to become Marketing Executives like the cast of MAD MEN. You can see the grade 3-5 winner for 2010 at the video below. There is nothing wrong with the kids in the video, they are doing a good job of providing what they were asked to provide. Sadly, they were asked to provide what amounts to an uncritical news report or commercial.
I guess that's for the best, since there is no longer a public space program worth mentioning any longer.
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Oct '11
Re: Today's NASA -- Training Tomorrow's Marketing Execs Today
I think John Derbyshire of National Review summed NASA up nicely when he called it a "glorious, soul-stirring folly!" I guess we grew up thinking of space exploration as something only the government did.
What do you think of science fair projects? I feel like they do some of the science-as-application function. When I was in engineering school we had a science day for grade school kids, where we provided simple engineering projects like a G.I. Joe elastic band drop, egg drop, paper plane toss, silly putty creation station, trebuchet launch, and Coke bottle water filter build. They were nice as an introduction, but they never wowed the kids like space exploration or solar car operation did.
In fact, I can't really think of many new inventions that would have amazed me as a kid, at least that I could understand. It seems like a lot of innovation is focused on information-sharing and efficiency. A smarter world isn't always a more interesting one.
Jul '10
Re: Today's NASA -- Training Tomorrow's Marketing Execs Today
Is "UV Protection" reaching out to Muslims?
Aug '10
Re: Today's NASA -- Training Tomorrow's Marketing Execs Today
Too shameful to consider . I'm with Derb.
Jan '11
Re: Today's NASA -- Training Tomorrow's Marketing Execs Today
NASA? Abolish it.
Dec '11
Re: Today's NASA -- Training Tomorrow's Marketing Execs Today
NASA became a victim of making space flight routine, it lost its soul. I have no better metaphor than comparing a race car and a big rig truck. A race car costs more, is more advanced, and is constantly pushing an envelop. I think just the chassis alone has this years indy car at 350K. A big rig can cost a similiar amount and will last you twenty years, has field replacable parts, and can be repaired without an army of engineering majors, oh and it will haul a bajillion pounds of stuff. Which one does your 12 year old son (thanks to a former coworker for this standard) think is cooler?
Apr '11
Re: Today's NASA -- Training Tomorrow's Marketing Execs Today
I think that really NASA still does a lot of good work through their funding of scientific research. The simple truth is that flying through space is cool, but not the best use of funds when it comes to obtaining data. I think what NASA should encourage is just an understanding of cosmology and astronomy. I don't see how people could not find it interesting. Just yesterday the Kepler telescope confirmed the existence of a planet orbiting a Sun like star in the "inhabitable zone". Hubble still takes some of the best pictures ever taken, and new telescopes will give us new insights into the origins of our universe and its workings.
Aug '10
Re: Today's NASA -- Training Tomorrow's Marketing Execs Today
I agree that NASA does good work, but having kids make commercials is lame. They should be talking about exactly the kinds of things that Valiuth mentioned. They should be looking at all the cool stuff our telescopes are finding out in the vast reaches.
This stuff is really exciting.
Then again, unlike a business that had to worry about costs vs performance, they keep delaying the James Webb Telescope to add new and better toys. This has quadrupled the cost of the telescope, and means it won't launch until 2018. Of course, by that time there will be better processors and optics and...
Just get it up there already!
Dec '10
Re: Today's NASA -- Training Tomorrow's Marketing Execs Today
Have you really listened to the culture of the last thirty-five years. There is a hatred expressed against science and mathematics. Only aesthetics is OK. Law and Medicine are alright because they help people overcome those bad logical types who undertand complicated things. Steve Jobs is great because he made a computer for "the rest of us" meaning those of us who couldn't get past algebra. It doesn't matter that the computer for the rest of us costs on average about 4 times as much to own. It's really important to bypass anybody that might wear a tie like that IBM nerd in the Apple commericials. Men are OK only if they remain adolescents and wear only blue jeans and tee shirts just like young boys. Adult men are threatening, they might know something important that we "the rest of us" don't. And of course they do.
Edited on Dec 6, 2011 at 5:22pm