I agree that there's lots going on.

Couldn't there be more? For every project that gets an opportunity, there must be half a dozen that are turned down. Not all of them lose because they're scientifically inadequate, but because of the economic realities of a political climate in which the average person doesn't care about space exploration.

Why isn't the public imagination fired up about space, except when the latest Star Trek Wars movie comes out?

Robotic exploration has given us some stupendous images and really interesting information. Some of this information will, I have no doubt, turn out to be vital to Earth. Why is it always on page 5 of the newspaper, or right above the weather map on the back?

What I want to know is, can there be a new public relations initiative? Keith's work is excellent, but if you aren't already interested in space, you don't go there, do you? Can people who are interested and understand the science find the time to excite the general public about this potentially unifying subject? NASA develops curriculum, but who picks it up and takes it to the local school and says, "Here. It's free. Let's put a little pizazz into the Earth Science curriculum."?

Recently, I have been reading/hearing reviews of a book about the Chinese discovery of America, before Columbus. The author contends that the Chinese circumnavigated the globe and established settlements in the Americas, but that disasters at home caused the Emperor who sponsored the voyages to abdicate. The mandarins, says the author, subsequently wiped the records out of Chinese history, and China turned inward in a kind of official forgetting.

I'm concerned that space exploration continue to be in the public eye in a positive way, so that when we get our act together -- and we will, if we don't kill ourselves first -- it's the first thing we think of, the thing that makes us want to improve other conditions in support of it. I don't want to contribute by neglect to a kind of official forgetting in a time when our memories aren't very disciplined anyway.

The beauty and charm, the excitement of space, is obvious to everyone who visits this board. The importance of learning about the Great Out There is taken for granted. But you don't hear conversations about space in the supermarket or at the airport. Without greater positive public awareness, no future support will be forthcoming.

Except from dictatorships. And I'm sure we all agree that that would be unfortunate.

Regards--
Mary Anne