Check out this video on saving NASA’s Constellation program and Ares rocket (the program that was going to replace the Space Shuttle and take us back to the moon, and then Mars). In his proposed budget Obama wants to raise NASA funding by about 2%, but cut the Constellation program (and basically manned space flight), leaving that area open for private companies to take over.
This has been a pretty low note compared to Obama’s announcement to push for science and engineering education. Nobel Prize winning physicist Steven Weinberg thinks it’s the right thing to do, arguing that “the only technology for which the manned space flight program is well suited is the technology of keeping people alive in space. And the only demand for that technology is in the manned space flight program itself.” And I’m sure robots everywhere are cheering when he says for the cost of one manned mission to Mars you could send 100 robots.
Of course if we ever want to have a future that doesn’t permanently restrict humans to remaining on Earth (which I hope is not the case) then we’ll need all that technology and knowledge that comes out of manned space travel.
I think a far more intangible benefit of manned space travel is marketing. Marketing for interest in science. Marketing for exploration. Marketing to future generations and inspiring people to explore science and technology and continue the journey into the final frontier.
There’s an inspiring article written by Calvin Turzillo (the guy who made the video above) marking the 40th anniversary of man walking on the moon. You should definitely read it.
With the Space Shuttle retirement just over a year away, now is the time to dream big, take chances, and really let our imaginations guide us. Now is the time that we as a generation need a vision. We need a vision like that of generations past, to once again return to the moon. However, we cannot stop there. We must continuing pushing that frontier, pushing forward, onward to new worlds. We must explore and learn, create and innovate, conquer tough challenges, and once again see our world as one whole instead of many pieces.
I thought of a solution that would definitely motivate private companies to invest in manned flights to Mars. Just tell them there’s oil on it.
Obama should launch his own moon shot. What the country needs most now is not more government stimulus, but more stimulation. We need to get millions of American kids, not just the geniuses, excited about innovation and entrepreneurship again. We need to make 2010 what Obama should have made 2009: the year of innovation, the year of making our pie bigger, the year of “Start-Up America.”
Obama should make the centerpiece of his presidency mobilizing a million new start-up companies that won’t just give us temporary highway jobs, but lasting good jobs that keep America on the cutting edge. The best way to counter the Tea Party movement, which is all about stopping things, is with an Innovation Movement, which is all about starting things. Without inventing more new products and services that make people more productive, healthier or entertained — that we can sell around the world — we’ll never be able to afford the health care our people need, let alone pay off our debts.
If you ignore the political slant in this piece if it’s something that doesn’t sit well with you, the overall message is still valid.
The country needs to create excitement in youth about making things and being innovative, about having outlandish ideas and goals and trying to reach them, so the future is not just a culture of passive media ingesters.
Kids should aspire to have a robot built after them and installed in Spaceship Earth, like the Steve Jobs one I saw this past weekend.
“Everybody’s trying to teach preschoolers how to read and nobody is trying to teach them how to do math”…
In some ways the new program is standard children’s fare. The main characters are miniature superheroes — a boy, a girl and a break-dancing robot — who zoom about fixing simple crises in their city, whether a shortage of milk, a lost kite or a subway system stalled by a dropped mitten. But the show is infused in all aspects — down to character Milli’s pony tails that turn into a ruler — with concepts from an interactive math curriculum that the characters tap to solve their problems, including shape-matching, counting, simple computation and measurement.
No idea what an Umizoomi is in Nick’s new show “Team Umizoomi,” but it’s cool that they’re aiming to teach kids math, which they say is an area left pretty opening in children’s television, aside form Sesame Street. Plus it stars a robot.
Earlier this morning President Obama gave a speech pushing for better STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) education in middle and high school. Well if you’re looking for a documentary about all of that then look no further because that’s what Bots High is all about.
The MythBusters were in attendance (way cool!) and the winning robot from the FIRST robotics competition gave a demonstration.
Some good quotes and initiatives:
As President, I believe that robotics can inspire young people to pursue science and engineering…
And today, I’m announcing that we’re going to have an annual science fair at the White House with the winners of national competitions in science and technology. If you win the NCAA championship, you come to the White House.
Well, if you’re a young person and you’ve produced the best experiment or design, the best hardware or software, you ought to be recognized for that achievement, too. Scientists and engineers ought to stand side by side with athletes and entertainers as role models, and here at the White House we’re going to lead by example. We’re going to show young people how cool science can be.
Hopefully with BattleBots making it’s return to TV on December 10th the winners from next year’s competition will be invited to the White House (though a BattleBots demonstration might be considered a threat to national security).
Bots High is a documentary following high school robotics teams throughout the year as they build fighting robots to compete in the 2010 BattleBots Championship.
To the left are posts on the production of the documentary, as well as articles from around the web relating to science and robotics. Click here to just view posts relating to the film Bots High.
Help out Bots High and buy the crew a cup of coffee!
