Space science writing for the general public
Presenting NASA programs and space science writing to general public
Sexton, W. C.↗
SEARCH · Search NASA
Results for “General public”
Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.
Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.
Lunar and Planetary Science XXXV: Engaging K-12 Educators, Students, and the General Public in Space Science Exploration
The session "Engaging K-12 Educators, Students, and the General Public in Space Science Exploration" included the following reports:Training Informal Educators Provides Leverage for Space Science Education and Public Outreach; Teacher Leaders in Research Based Science Education: K-12 Teacher Retention, Renewal, and Involvement in Professional Science; Telling the Tale of Two Deserts: Teacher Training and Utilization of a New Standards-based, Bilingual E/PO Product; Lindstrom M. M. Tobola K. W. Stocco K. Henry M. Allen J. S. McReynolds J. Porter T. T. Veile J. Space Rocks Tell Their Secrets: Space Science Applications of Physics and Chemistry for High School and College Classes -- Update; Utilizing Mars Data in Education: Delivering Standards-based Content by Exposing Educators and Students to Authentic Scientific Opportunities and Curriculum; K. E. Little Elementary School and the Young Astronaut Robotics Program; Integrated Solar System Exploration Education and Public Outreach: Theme, Products and Activities; and Online Access to the NEAR Image Collection: A Resource for Educators and Scientists.
Source record↗
General Public Space Travel and Tourism: Workshop Proceedings - Volume 2
The Space Transportation Association and NASA conducted a General Public Space Travel study between 1996 and 1998. During the study, a workshop was held at Georgetown University. Participants included representatives from the travel, aerospace, and construction industries. This report is the proceedings from that workshop. Sections include infrastructure needs, travel packages, policy related issues, and potential near-term activities.
ONeil, D.↗
Training programs in remote sensing for professionals, students and the general public
What remote sensing is, how and why it is used, and why more people should be trained in the field is discussed. Suggestions are offered concerning differences in teaching technicians, the general public, and children in schools.
Galeano, R.↗
Energize: An Interactive Evaluation Tool for Engaging the General Public with Energy Decision Making - Final Report
The public has an ever-increasing interest in the economic, environmental, and social impacts of global energy production. To support informed decision making, the scientific community has a responsibility to communicate reliable and straight-forward information to the general public, in an engaging way, regarding energy systems and how choices made at different stages of an energy technology life cycle can impact the cost, amount of materials used, and waste produced. Our objective is to enhance public engagement via an interactive electrical energy game (Energ!ze) through which players interact with one another in their quest to develop an electrical energy portfolio that optimizes economic (e.g., company profit), environmental (e.g., reduced CO 2 emissions), and social (e.g., public opinion) impacts. The design and development of Energ!ze was an iterative process involving an interdisciplinary team of engineers, discipline-based scientists, computer scientists, and education experts. The development objectives were two-fold: (1) Accurate and quantifiable modeling of electrical energy systems and (2) Engaging and interactive user interface within the construct of the game narrative. The major game mechanics in the current playable Energ!ze version focus on economic metrics, and the database is scaffolded to add environmental and social metrics for future versions. This report details the outcome of the funding period (Section 2 and 3) and describes the development process, along with recommendations for future development (Section 4).
29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
General Public Space Travel and Tourism: Executive Summary - Volume 1
Travel and tourism is one of the world's largest businesses. Its gross revenues exceed $400 billion per year in the U.S. alone, and it is our second largest employer. U.S. private sector business revenues in the space information area now approximate $10 billion per year, and are increasing rapidly. Not so in the human spaceflight area. After spending $100s of billions (1998 dollars) in public funds thereon, and continuing to spend over $5 billion per year, the government is still the only customer for human spaceflight goods and services. Serious and detailed consideration was first given to the possibility of space being opened up to trips by the general public three decades ago, and some initial attempts to do so were made a dozen years ago. But the difficulties were great and the Challenger disaster put an end to them. In recent years professional space tourism studies have been conducted in the United Kingdom, Germany and, especially, Japan. In the U.S., technological progress has been pronounced; we have had nearly a decade's experience in seeing our astronauts travel to-from low Earth orbit (LEO) safely, and we expect to commence assembly of a LEO space station housing a half-dozen people this year. Too, NASA and our space industry now have new and promising space transportation development programs underway, especially the X-33 and X-34 programs, and some related, further generation, basic technology development programs. And five private companies are also working on the design of new surface - LEO vehicles. The first professional space tourism market studies have been conducted in several countries in the past few years, especially in Japan and here. The U.S. study makes it clear that, conceptually, tens of millions of us would like to take a trip to space if we could do so with reasonable safety, comfort and reliability, and at an acceptable price. Initial businesses will address the desires of those willing to pay a greater price and accept a greater risk. A two-year cooperative Space Act agreement study has been conducted by our National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the Space Transportation Association. It was conducted by NASA and STA study leaders drawing upon the competence, experience and hard-nosed imagination of a national Steering Group and scores of attendees at a multi-day Workshop. The study has involved scores of professionals and business people from various areas: astronauts; space booster technology and operations professionals; a hotel architect and a hotel operator; an airline planner; insurance underwriters; space sickness experts; space theme park designers; space and travel and tourism association and business executives; a space-related financier; university tourism and space policy experts; present and former space-responsible government officials; space entrepreneurs; space writers; This study concludes that serious national attention should now be given to activities that would enable the expansion of today's terrestrial space tourism businesses, and the creation of in-space travel and tourism businesses. Indeed, it concludes that, in time, it should become a very important part of our Country's overall commercial and civil space business-program structure.
ONeil, Daniel↗
The THOR Project-Reducing the Impact of Thunderstorms on Aviation and the General Public Through a Multi-Agency Effect
Thunderstorms are high impact weather phenomena. They also pose an extremely challenging forecast problem. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA), and the Air Force Weather Agency (AFWA), have decided to pool technology and scientific expertise into an unprecedented effort to better observe, diagnose, and forecast thunderstorms. This paper describes plans for an operational field test called the THunderstorm Operational Research (THOR) Project beginning in 2002, the primary goals of which are to: 1) Reduce the number of Thunderstorm-related Air Traffic Delays with in the National Airspace System (NAS) and, 2) Improve severe thunderstorm, tornado and airport thunderstorm warning accuracy and lead time. Aviation field operations will be focused on the prime air traffic bottleneck in the NAS, the airspace bounded roughly by Chicago, New York City and Washington D.C., sometimes called the Northeast Corridor. A variety of new automated thunderstorm forecasting applications will be tested here that, when implemented into FAA-NWS operations, will allow for better tactical decision making and NAS management during thunderstorm days. Severe thunderstorm operations will be centered on Northern Alabama. NWS meteorologists from the forecast office in Birmingham will test the utility of experimental lightning, radar, and profiler data from a mesoscale observing network being established by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center. In addition, new tornado detection and thunderstorm nowcasting algorithms will be examined for their potential for improving warning accuracy. The Alabama THOR site will also serve as a test bed for new gridded, digital thunderstorm and flash flood warning products.
Smith, Stephan B.↗
NASA Overview (K-12, Educators, and General Public)
This viewgraph presentation provides an overview of NASA activities intended for recruitment of employees. It includes NASA's vision statement and mission, images of solar system bodies and the Sojourner rover, as well as information the Aqua satellite and the Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment III (Sage III). Images of experimental aircraft, a space shuttle, and the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) are shown, and a section on mission planning is included.
Ericsson, Aprille Joy↗
Centennial Challenges Program Overview: How NASA Successfully Involves the General Public in the Solving of Current Technology Gaps
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Centennial Challenges Program, part of the Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD), addresses key technology needs of NASA and the nation, while facilitating new sources of innovation outside the traditional community. This is done by the direct engagement of the public at large, through the offering of Congressional authorized prize purses and associated challenges developed by NASA and the aerospace community and set up as a competition awarding the prize money for achieving the specified technology goal.
Roman, Monsi C.↗
We Are All Potential Role Models: How We Can Support Scientist Engagement with Youth and the General Public
We all have the opportunity to be positive STEM role models. Yet scientists rarely identify themselves as a possible role model. In the training, “Empowering Effective STEM Role Models,” scientists practice research based strategies for engaging youth, particularly girls. This type of training is complementary to science communication, but is focused on equipping scientists with the skills needed to successfully encourage youth to pursue STEM careers. This training has been provided to over 150 STEM professionals at NASA and 14 federal agencies participated in a Train-the-Trainer version, organized by the White House Council for Women and Girls in STEM Working Group. Participants in this training reported that learning and practicing how to connect with and inspire children in STEM made them more confident stepping into further engagement opportunities. Confident, inspiring scientists are a highlight of a successful engagement event, but other factors make a positive experience possible.It’s important that all partners are thoughtful and intentional in preparing for public engagement events. The logistics are crucial, especially now while many engagements have moved to virtual platforms. Additional technology considerations make preparation essential. Two examples of virtual engagement highlight the support provided that led to successful engagements. The GLOBE Mission Earth project engages scientists in virtual classroom visits. To ensure both teacher and scientist expectations are met, a coordinator facilitates up front preparation by providing slide templates for the scientist to customize and providing video and other resources to the teacher and students to prompt student questions. Another example leverages the power of social media, particularly NASA Facebook. The NASA Earth Science Education Collaborative organizes citizen science challenges and engages the public on social. For one event, scientists were asked to share their connection to the investigation, but without access to NASA’s video production studio, the plans shifted. Scientists prepared audio files instead of videos and collaborated with communications leads to help craft their message. This weekly series has been flexible, adjusting to scientist's comfort levels, and has resulted in fresh and creative engagement.
Jessica Elaine Taylor↗
We Are All Potential Role Models: How We Can Support Scientist Engagement with Youth and the General Public
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Jessica Taylor↗
Science Outreach at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center
At the end of World War II Duane Deming, an internationally known economist enunciated what later came to be called "Total Quality Management" (TQM). The basic thrust of this economic theory called for companies and governments to identify their customers and to do whatever was necessary to meet their demands and to keep them satisfied. It also called for companies to compete internally. That is, they were to build products that competed with their own so that they were always improving. Unfortunately most U.S. corporations failed to heed this advice. Consequently, the Japanese who actively sought Deming's advice and instituted it in their corporate planning, built an economy that outstripped that of the U.S. for the next three to four decades. Only after U.S. corporations reorganized and fashioned joint ventures which incorporated the tenets of TQM with their Japanese competitors did they start to catch up. Other institutions such as the U.S. government and its agencies and schools face the same problem. While the power of the U.S. government is in no danger of being usurped, its agencies and schools face real problems which can be traced back to not heeding Deming's advice. For example, the public schools are facing real pressure from private schools and home school families because they are not meeting the needs of the general public, Likewise, NASA and other government agencies find themselves shortchanged in funding because they have failed to convince the general public that their missions are important. In an attempt to convince the general public that its science mission is both interesting and important, in 1998 the Science Directorate at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) instituted a new outreach effort using the interact to reach the general public as well as the students. They have called it 'Science@NASA'.
George Lebo↗
Severe weather study
Current methods of severe weather information dissemination and the impact of this information on the general public are studied. The study is based on the responses of the general public and the local broadcasters to a severe weather incident which occurred on August 14, 1972 in the Dane County-Madison Metropolitan area. The results of the study were somewhat startling. From the sample, for instance, it was found that 45% of the Dane County population was not aware of the severe thunderstorm warning. In this case this may or may not have been critical, but had the storm been extremely severe or had a tornado and flooding been associated with the storm, a large segment of the population would have been in great danger. What this study has shown, is that the real problem with the dissemination of severe weather information is not the lack of it, but the inability to transfer it in useful form to an overwhelming majority of the general public.
Mills, C. J.↗
Northeast Regional Planetary Data Center
In 1980, the Northeast Planetary Data Center (NEPDC) was established with Tim Mutch as its Director. The Center was originally located in the Sciences Library due to space limitations but moved to the Lincoln Field Building in 1983 where it could serve the Planetary Group and outside visitors more effectively. In 1984 Dr. Peter Schultz moved to Brown University and became its Director after serving in a similar capacity at the Lunar and Planetary Institute since 1976. Debbie Glavin has served as the Data Center Coordinator since 1982. Initially the NEPDC was build around Tim Mutch's research collection of Lunar Orbiter and Mariner 9 images with only partial sets of Apollo and Viking materials. Its collection was broadened and deepened as the Director (PHS) searched for materials to fill in gaps. Two important acquisitions included the transfer of a Viking collection from a previous PI in Tucson and the donation of surplused lunar materials (Apollo) from the USGS/Menlo Park prior to its building being torn down. Later additions included the pipeline of distributed materials such as the Viking photomosaic series and certain Magellan products. Not all materials sent to Brown, however, found their way to the Data Center, e.g., Voyager prints and negatives. In addition to the NEPDC, the planetary research collection is separately maintained in conjunction with past and ongoing mission activities. These materials (e.g., Viking, Magellan, Galileo, MGS mission products) are housed elsewhere and maintained independently from the NEPDC. They are unavailable to other researchers, educators, and general public. Consequently, the NEPDC represents the only generally accessible reference collection for use by researchers, students, faculty, educators, and general public in the Northeast corridor.
Schultz, Peter H.↗
Naval Reactors Facility Environmental Monitoring Report (CY2020)
This report presents the results of the radiological and non-radiological environmental monitoring programs for 2020 at the Naval Reactors Facility (NRF). Current operations at NRF are in compliance with applicable regulations governing use, emission, and disposal of solid, liquid, and gaseous materials. The results obtained from the environmental monitoring programs verify that releases to the environment from operations at NRF did not have any adverse effect on human health or the environment. Evaluation of the environmental data confirms that the operation of NRF continues to have no adverse effect on the environment or the health and safety of the general public. Furthermore, a conservative assessment of radiation exposure to the general public as a result of NRF operations demonstrated that the maximum potential dose received by any member of the public was well below the most restrictive dose limits prescribed by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the US Department of Energy (DOE), and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
Naval Reactors Facility Environmental Monitoring Report (CY2019)
This report presents the results of the radiological and non-radiological environmental monitoring programs for 2019 at the Naval Reactors Facility (NRF). Current operations at NRF are in compliance with applicable regulations governing use, emission, and disposal of solid, liquid, and gaseous materials. The results obtained from the environmental monitoring programs verify that releases to the environment from operations at NRF did not have any adverse effect on human health or the environment. Evaluation of the environmental data confirms that the operation of NRF continues to have no adverse effect on the environment or the health and safety of the general public. Furthermore, a conservative assessment of radiation exposure to the general public as a result of NRF operations demonstrated that the maximum potential dose received by any member of the public was well below the most restrictive dose limits prescribed by the US Department of Energy (DOE) and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
Suggestions for Popularizing Civil Aviation
The public generally is taking very little interest in the progress of Civil Aviation, and the time has come to educate the public in aeronautics and to make them realize the far-reaching importance of air transport. Briefly, the whole problem resolves itself into discovering and applying means for bringing some of the many aspects and effects of civil aviation into the everyday lives of the public. The report suggests three principal groups of methods: (1) Bring aviation into daily contact with the public. (2) Bring the public into daily contact with aviation. (3) General publicity.
Source record↗
Weather dissemination and public usage
The existing public usage of weather information was examined. A survey was conducted to substantiate the general public's needs for dissemination of current (0-12 hours) weather information, needs which, in a previous study, were found to be extensive and urgent. The goal of the study was to discover how the general public obtains weather information, what information they seek and why they seek it, to what use this information is put, and to further ascertain the public's attitudes and beliefs regarding weather reporting and the diffusion of weather information. Major findings from the study include: 1. The public has a real need for weather information in the 0-6 hour bracket. 2. The visual medium is preferred but due to the lack of frequent (0-6 hours) forecasts, the audio media only, i.e., telephone recordings and radio weathercasts, were more frequently used. 3. Weather information usage is sporadic.
Stacey, M. S.↗