The Coalition for Space Exploration today launched its Think Outside the Circle campaign with the release of an online public service announcement featuring the space shuttle Discovery on its final “rollout.”
The 60-second online video depicts Discovery in unexpected settings while on a dramatic journey across America to begin its final mission and secure its legacy. The PSA pays tribute to the space program, highlights the direct benefits of space exploration and looks to the future of space flight.
“The importance of space exploration to our nation’s future cannot be overstated,” said Coalition Chairman Glenn Mahone. “With this campaign and initial PSA, we are sharing a message that evokes pride in what we have accomplished and inspires us to continue the journey, reaching farther than ever before.”
“Think Outside the Circle” is an online, multimedia campaign of the Coalition that encourages viewers to consider how America’s space program positively impacts life on Earth when making choices about our future and our national priorities.
Video is available here:
http://spacecoalition.com/benefits-of-space/think-outside-the-circle
but the commercial space needs to be safer x.co/Jeb4
You’re certainly right that the importance of space cannot be overestimated. But your Benefits of Space page needs a little more work on it in order to properly reflect this. So far you’ve only got spinoff, inspiration and weather forecasting. What is needed, I suggest, and what NASA has been failing to act on for several decades (having been unable to think outside the circle), is an appreciation of the natural resources of space and their potential impact on the economy. First off is the attraction of space as a place to visit in its own right. We’ve been seeing private visitors to space at the rate of one per year over the past decade; this traffic needs to be vigorously encouraged to grow, so that as many people as possible can share the inspiration first-hand, at the same time as the increasing traffic volume and diversification of flight operators drives down the cost of access per passenger. Next is the almost limitless flood of solar power, clean and sustainable over at least the next 5 billion years, which could be used to power Earth from space — with the current concerns about CO2 and radioactive waste pollution, testing the space solar power concept with a prototype satellite must be a high priority for any socially aware space agency. Meanwhile, the material resources of the near-Earth asteroids are sufficient to start up an in-space refuelling industry, able to free lunar and planetary flights from having to use giant and unsustainably expensive Saturn-V-class launch rockets. These concepts are the foundation of a strategic approach to space exploration.
I wish you every success in opening the frontier of space for new generations of travellers.
Stephen Ashworth, Oxford, UK