Slashdot Mirror
Public Survey For NASA's Planetary Research Priorities
StephenMesser writes: "At the request of NASA, the National Research Council is conducting a planetary science community assessment of the priorities for the U.S. planetary research programs for the next 10 years. The Planetary Society has been asked to assist this "decadal survey" by seeking input from the general public about planetary exploration. Data must be input by January 31, 2002 to be counted on the survey.
CNN has a story
on the survey."
1) Roughly speaking, where is space?
2) Is space (a) like a big hole or (b) more like a big black curtain with holes poked in it?
3) Aliens come from (a) space or (b) Mexico?
4) When was the moon landing faked? (a) 1962 (b) 1975 (c) 1992
5) What film do you think portrays space most accurately? (a) ET (b) Star Wars (c) Bring It On.
6) When we meet aliens from space, how should they be killed? [provide brief description]
Thank you for your time. You may never have to think about space again.
But I think if we look more closely right under our noses at the moon, we'll see that big black monolith. Listen to what it says though and stay away from Europa.
The future isn't what it used to be.
Bah.. why find a cheap way to escape gravity when we could simply do away with it.
Dear Nasa,
Please find a way to destroy the earth so that all of mankind can have a chance to goto space -- and fast.
Rod Taylor
Most poeple do not have the education or time to provide good input to surveys like this. NASA should provide a broad set of possible future directions/goals and allow people to pick amongst them.
Given that most people are not familiar with current scientific research, but are quite up-to-date on blockbuster sci-fi movies, I modestly propose an improved NASA survey....
Where do you want the USA to be 200 years from now?
1) Star Wars. We at NASA get to work on personal high-performance spacecraft, cool blasters, and the search for cute, intelligent extra-terrestrials.
2) Star Trek. We work on big Navy spaceships, womens' rights, and the search for aliens made of pure energy, etc.
3) Babylon 5. We will design big ass space stations that are like New York only in space.
4) 2001. We will build cool spaceships, smart computers. You won't understand and we don't care.
5) Buck Rogers. We'll make cute robots. We'll hire hot babes. Everyone wins!
6) Dark Star. Hey, we admit it: we're just another government agency that does the best in can with limited funds.
7) Capricorn 5. You want cool video? We'll provide it.
8) Armageddon. We will protect you against incredibly improbable things.
9) Independence Day: We'll really ramp up our Area 51 research project. Crop circles? Cow anus mutilation? We're ON IT!
10) Apollo 13: We'll stick people in tin cans, throw them into hazardous environments, and see what happens. More exciting than Survivor!
What if space is four-dimensional? How could we tell?
Oh crap! I think I might have voted to send Pat Buchanan to Uranus!
NASA should start on this task immediately.