Shanthi Chandrasekar, Kolam – Aishwarya (Earth), 2018, acrylic on canvas, 40 x 30 inches.

Events

How Do Moon Missions Reflect Changes in Science’s Social Contract?

Artemis II’s recent launch and circuit around the moon showed how NASA’s missions communicate powerfully across the nation’s divides. Since the space agency’s formation during the Cold War, it has worked to connect the public to its complex engineering feats and role in national security. The Apollo missions mirrored the postwar “social contract” between science and society, ensuring that federally funded scientists worked in the public interest. But by the 1970s, falling public support required that NASA reconsider how it connected to society. As the public’s expectations changed, the agency evolved to incorporate them in its missions and day-to-day practices. Today, NASA does much more than fly missions to the moon: it also contracts with businesses to build rockets and with universities to experiment with payloads—and partners with toy companies to extend the agency’s iconic brand. 

Recent funding cuts, layoffs, and administrative changes at federal science agencies are reconfiguring the social contract for science that has been in place for the past 75 years. Examining NASA’s experience could offer insights about how the public’s participation in the contract has shifted. 

On May 20 at 3:30 PM ET, join us for a conversation on how space missions have reflected changes in science’s social contract—and how they might inform its future.

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Chat Transcript

This transcript has been edited. Please also note that the opinions and perspectives of commenters, writers, interviewees and guests do not represent an official statement, policy or perspective from Arizona State University.

Kimberly Quach: Welcome everyone! We’ll get started in a few minutes. While we wait, visit our archives for more on the social contract. Also check out Amy’s book, The People’s Spaceship, which is about public engagement and NASA. Read our review of it here.

Valerie Taylor: The oldest American trick in the book. BRANDING! I teach it in my design courses.

Kimberly Quach: Here is a link to the article Zach mentioned: Myth-free space advocacy part I—The myth of innate exploratory and migratory urges.

John Eldon: When my plasma physics PhD elder son was 4, he always wanted us to borrow library books on “dinosaurs, volcanoes, and space.” 🙂

Darshan K: could the appeal of space be the fact that for most people, there’s little to be done with it other than admire and wonder?

Megan Nicholson: My 2-year-old son is obsessed with his water bottle covered in dinosaurs in space. A maximalist.

William Sullivan: I think people also love NASA because it has a peaceful mission. or at least compared to private aerospace companies.

Hallie Thompson: As a lover of science fiction I can’t help but wonder if that is part of NASA’s public image and success. Other fields don’t tie in to fiction themes as frequently.

Reba Bandyopadhyay: And because there is “public ownership” of NASA – it belongs to all of us.  Not just to a private company and billionaires.

Benjamin Brümm: The central theme is imagination. It is important to captivate the public’s imagination, enabling young individuals to envision a future beyond Earth.

Martin Stacey: I’m old enough to have grown up wanting to go see the galaxy. How many modern kids still have the dream? We wanted NASA to get us there.

Tressa Arbow: Museum of Flight store’s children’s books.

Sarah Kirn: Books for kids: Marc Kuchner’s books on collisions!

Mia Armstrong: Because there’s a lot of sci-fi fans in the audience, I thought I’d share the Future Tense Fiction project, which Issues publishes in collaboration with ASU. It’s a speculative fiction series that uses imagination to explore how science and technology will shape our future. You can stay up-to-date on the project in our newsletter, the most recent edition features a space story (it follows the first judge sent to the moon to settle legal disputes there).

Benjamin Brümm: The central theme centers on imagination. Engaging the public’s imagination and inspiring young individuals to envision a life beyond Earth are of paramount importance. Additionally, this approach is beneficial as it provides the public with additional mental space from the challenges faced on Earth. Elon Musk has effectively developed a long-term plan for colonizing Mars. I believe that the enthusiasm once prevalent for NASA has, to some extent, shifted toward the private sector in the United States—and this shift may not be unfavourable.

Zachary Pirtle: Does Science Policy Matter? by Dan Sarewitz

Zachary Pirtle: Hail the maintainers by Andrew Russell and Lee Vinsel

Lindsay DeMarchi: I’m loving this conversation! I have a curiosity I’d love everyone’s take on: does a social contract include ethics? Do you feel like ethics is the product of a social contract, or part of writing the contract? Both? Do you feel NASA happens to address them, or is it more intentional?

Jack Kaye: In thinking about how NASA can engage the public (here and globally) it’s worth remembering the value of NASA’s “Earth-related” work – not only looking at the whole planet with equivalent quality data everywhere, but engaging the public (e.g., the GLOBE program – more than 30 years old, over one quarter billion observations, over 1 million citizen scientists, and over 125 countries).

Zachary Pirtle: totally agree Jack, hope we talk the virtues of NASA Earth Science in Action

William Sullivan: the story of Paula Cain in the Goddard blanket lab is an extraordinary technician story. she made rise and the Hubble blankets. . . background is a fashion degree and pattern making

Amy Weldon: Thank you for the thoughtful answers! If anyone is interested in learning more about blue collar and skilled trades jobs in science, check out my podcast, Blue Collar White Coat! It’s available anywhere you get your podcasts and on YouTube and I am starting to record episodes for Season 2 so connect with me on LinkedIn to collaborate!

Sarah Kirn: Amy K, what a great opening for your continuum of engagement from awareness to contribution…

Amy Weldon: I talked to a NASA comms person on the Soil Moisture Active Passive satellite out of Wallops Island Flight Center. He saw a farmer struggling with a crop on his drive to work and literally knocked on the farmhouse door with data from the SMAP the next day to help them out. We need more action like this and the stories being told!

Valerie Taylor: I’m giving a talk tomorrow that touches on many of these topics: Please RSVP 12pm EST zoom.

Benjamin Brümm: Regarding the social contract, I believe NASA provides a single key service: government functions in outer space. This includes earth observation data, AIS tracking, and GPS. The private sector cannot perform certain services, so we should keep NASA but rethink its role in the future of the space economy. Think of it as having a Department of Transportation that supports roads and highways, but not manufacturing the cars and trucks that use them.

darshan k: but isn’t the necessity to demonstrate “economic benefit” of, say, going to the moon, a fundamental change in the reason for going back to the moon?

Benjamin Brümm: NASA’s projects will not be profitable, as they are public services. We often don’t make a profit on government services, which is why we have taxes.

Ken Ruffin: I believe that NASA is widely appreciated and understood – but only among the relatively small minority of people working in the space industry, space industry affiliated, and “fans” of NASA from the public. When I have presented about the space industry to about 250 audiences of the general public in the DFW Metroplex, the vast majority of people do not even know that the “Space Shuttles” are not still being launched!

Ken Ruffin: Therefore I started Didymos Consulting so that I contract to present to audiences across the USA and around the world, to inform the public in layperson terms, what is happening in the space industry, and why the space industry is crucially important to our lives. kwruffin@didymosconsulting.com

Zachary Pirtle: Artemis, Ethics and Society: Synthesis from a Workshop. I wanted to mention his as an example of people thinking on ethics — and being proactive about it– for space activities

John Eldon: Katie is spot-on regarding the positive role models provided by those involved in this effort.

Kimberly Quach: Subscribe to our magazine to read more from Issues! Thank you all!