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| "While civilization is more than a high material living standard it is nevertheless based on material abundance. It does not thrive on abject poverty or in an atmosphere of resignation and hopelessness. Therefore, the end objectives of solar system exploration are social objectives, in the sense that they relate to or are dictated by present and future human needs." – Lunar visionary Kraft Ehricke, 1970 |
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Marketing Space to the General Public and Media
by Jeff Krukin |
The Oct. 18 issue of Space News demonstrated, in both an article and a commentary, the space community's abject failure to help people understand the value of space, and therefore our activity in space.
In the article concerning the debate about our future space program between the proxies for U.S. President George Bush and his challenger in the U.S. Presidential election, Sen. John Kerry, Lori Garver and Frank Sietzen were absolutely correct to criticize "… the space community and NASA for doing a poor job of educating the public about… space science and exploration." This very problem also was demonstrated by one of the commentaries in the same issue "A Journey to Inspire, Innovate and Discover" by NASA Chief of Staff John Schumacher.
After decades of various forms of space advocacy, how many neutral or anti-space people have we enrolled in our vision? How many of these people care in their hearts about space as we do? If they cared, they wouldn't be neutral or anti-space, and there would be a space movement as organized and powerful as the environmental movement. If they cared, we wouldn't need to market space as a journey that will inspire them... because they'd already be inspired and demanding action.
It is important to remember that for most people space does not even come close to what matters most. They may be interested, but space does not define their lives as it does ours.
Why, after almost 50 years of space activity, is this still the case? Why hasn't space been embraced as part of the human condition? Because the space community has marketed space by talking about technologies, missions, programs, government policies and so forth. And yet, after all this effort, millions of people simply don't care about human activity in space, no matter the purpose or destination, and regardless of how excited we may be. If we are going to help these people understand why space matters, we must consider what these people care about.
In this regard they are no different from us, for they care about the same things as you and I: family, war, poverty, hunger, disease, security, jobs, the environment, resource constraints and more. No matter our career, our wealth… or lack thereof, our gender, our faith, our race, and the many other ways we classify ourselves, we are all affected by these fundamental concerns.
These may represent a very broad range of issues, but they all have something in common: they arise from or create many fears, and therefore are powerful motivators for human activity. Such fears, and the associated fundamental concerns, will drive humanity into space… or block the way. But instead of understanding space this way, the space community continues its decades-old way of marketing space with technology spin-offs and exploration, as if that is enough.
Clearly, for most people it does not come close to being enough. Why? Because we have defined space as unique, foreboding, difficult and far away. It is often seen as lifeless technologies and expensive programs, to which most people cannot relate. Technology spin-offs are incredibly valuable in our daily lives, but they are so ubiquitous that people don't give them a second thought, if they are even aware of them. Exploration, while important to some, will never have more than a small constituency as it is currently practiced.
It is time to transform our message. Space must be placed in a new living, human context so those who are neutral or anti-space will find their own personal reasons to care about and feel connected with space. When we think of space as a continuation of our environment, as the place where we live — just as we live in our hometown, our country and on this planet — then what I call the Human-Space Connection reveals itself.
Space is nothing less than the ultimate global economic growth engine, and yet at the same time it is nothing more than another place for people to live, work, study and play.
With a growing global population needing ever more resources, our prosperity, liberty and peace require not just the exploration of space, but also its settlement and the development of its resources. The only question is how long we wait to begin in earnest.
The economies of China and India, the two most populous nations in the world, with a combined total of 2.3 billion people, are growing into 21st century powerhouses that will require vast resources. How will the governments of these nations provide for their citizens? Will China deploy its navy to seize the Spratley Islands and other resource-rich parts of Southeast Asia? What will India do, situated between the oil wealth of the Middle East and Southeast Asia? Is conflict the only answer? Must Earth be the sole source of energy and other resources, the building blocks of prosperity?
Human space activity desperately needs a new and vibrant context. So what is it? A big question, but I can actually answer it with one word: Life. This is the context we must use when marketing our beloved space activities. It isn't just about manned vs. robotic missions, or the Moon vs. Mars, or single-stage vs. multi-stage launch vehicles. It is everything that matters in life.
We need to learn how to explain in easy-to-understand terms why space is essential to global prosperity, liberty and peace. The first and most important step is to stop categorizing all space activities as programs, as if the only way we accomplish anything is through a program. As long as we define our space activities as programs, they will never be accepted as a fundamental part of our lives, because we don't live in a program. It requires a tremendous leap to get from program to understanding that space is all about sustaining human civilization.
The second step is to create easily understood and readily accepted messages for educating neutral and anti-space audiences about the Human-Space Connection. I suggest the following three messages:
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Space is a mere 62 miles above us, and thus a continuation of our environment.
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Space is an extension of the economy, and thus part of our lives.
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Space is a place of abundant resources, and thus crucial to our prosperity, liberty and peace.
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In his book The Ascent of Man, Jacob Bronowski wrote, "In every age there is a turning point, a new way of seeing and asserting the coherence of the world." We must see and assert in a coherent manner that the continuing ascent of humanity requires the exploration and settlement of space and the use of space resources on Earth.
Regardless of the purpose of our myriad space activities, regardless of the destinations, settlement is the unifying theme of all our space endeavors. After all… all human activity is ultimately about where and how we live. And space is all about how we live on Earth.
Jeff Krukin is a writer and space industry analyst in Chapel Hill, N.C.
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