The Space Force and the New NASA Space Directives: A Thought Experiment
Hello Steemians! We've got another episode of the Today In Space podcast for you
***OPINIONS OF A SCIENCE COMMUNICATOR. NOT A POLITICAL EXPERT. JUST AN OBSERVER USING SCIENCE TO DISCUSS SPACE POLITICS
I'm sure by now you've heard that the President of the United States wants to create a new branch of the military called the "Space Force". Given the state of US politics in today's day and age, it was a really stressful and interesting thing to prepare this episode. Both sides in US politics are just that - sides, teams, tribes, etc. The whole conversation around politics in the US is from the perspective of a side or team. As a science communicator, it makes it difficult for me to even discuss any space policy because of the current state of the discussion.
I am a VERY optimistic individual when I am discussing the future of the Space industry. When I first started talking with people about this topic, and figuring out what I was going to say for the show, I found that a good amount of people got very critical and seemed to take an emotional side against my opinion. A few times people got sidetracked on a rant about something different, but related to the current President of the US. I was trying to figure out why this was happening, but more specifically, when I didn't change my position (being positive about the future of Space) why did it get received so differently?
The answer to my problem came in realizing that as a science communicator, I have to make sure I am sharing the science and not necessarily my opinion. I knew that if I found a way to tweak what I was already going to say, then I could help put out a podcast that is useful and valuable to everyone. The most valuable thing I could do as a science communicator was to approach this with science. I decided to pull my inspiration from Einstein and use one of his favorite tools for exploring ideas - the thought experiment!
I approached the setup like you would approach a science research paper.
State your biases:
Everyone, every human being has their own "organic" biases that we have taken on based on our personalities, environment, genetics, and so many more variables. You've got to know where I'm coming from so you know why I might phrase something or say something a certain way. It's very important in science to do so, otherwise, it is inherently misleading and nonscientific.State the facts:
I pulled some facts from each of the three Space Policy Directives that NASA has received from the President that realigns the goals of NASA. This happens with every new President. All of the links to the sources I used will be at the bottom of this post, as well as in the description for the video on #Youtube or audio podcast on #ApplePodcasts.
I also wanted to give some historical context to NASA's life in politics, since it has been inevitably tied to it since it's origin after Sputnik was first launched and the Space Race began. Knowing where NASA has come from and seeing the trend of change over time gives us a better idea of why the new Space Directives are focusing on going to the Moon and then to Mars. It will also give us a better idea of where the trend may go in the future.Pros VS Cons:
Instead of focusing on my optimistic outlook of what may come for the American Space Industry, it's important as a science communicator to give a wide range of logical Pros and Cons of the new plan. Interestingly enough, I came up with more Cons than I thought I would. Even though the weight of the Pros puts me at a net positive for the future of the American Space Industry, it was a good exercise in seeing my own opinion challenged. I definitely changed on a few points in the process of this thought experiment.
The whole idea of using a thought experiment is to model a different way to discuss politics, all be it space politics. If we can all be more honest with our own biases, we can approach data and facts smarter. By doing so, we are giving a clearer sense of where someones thought process is coming from and allowing facts to influence us as they are and not figuratively painting them a color (red or blue). Basically, I wanted to model a different way of talking about politics that could remove as much of the tribal political nonsense as possible. I hope you find it useful - I know I did.
Now for the best part - the thought experiment! Please watch this episode, learn the facts on the Space Force and the new Space Policy Directives for NASA, learn a bit of the history of NASA, and then some Pros and Cons of the Space Directive and the Space Force. THEN, I want you to give your thoughts in the comments below:
What do you think about creating a Space Force?
What do you think about the new Space Policy Directives for NASA?
What do you think the effects of both will be on the Space Industry, the US Military, and NASA?
Let's create a discussion around the facts and share our own wonderfully organic human biases. Not in the reverse order, which seems to happen all the time in US politics today. Let's change that with some science