Press Conference for Victoria Crater? |
Press Conference for Victoria Crater? |
Guest_Sunspot_* |
Jul 31 2006, 11:29 PM
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#1
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Guests |
We haven't had a press briefing or conference in months... anyone else think Opportunities eventual (hopefully) arrival and exporation at Victoria Crater deserves one? If oppy makes it ok, it would, in my opinion at least, make it one of the greatest achievements in the history of planetary exploration and certainly deserves some public/press recognition. Doug, maybe you could ask if the rover team are planning anything?
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Aug 1 2006, 02:39 AM
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#2
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Member Group: Members Posts: 115 Joined: 8-January 05 From: Austin | Texas Member No.: 138 |
The MER team needs a big splash to ignite the public's interest in this project again -- Victoria has the best shot of doing that, but they need to generate some press.
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Aug 1 2006, 03:59 AM
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#3
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Member Group: Members Posts: 530 Joined: 21-March 06 From: Canada Member No.: 721 |
The MER team needs a big splash to ignite the public's interest in this project again -- Victoria has the best shot of doing that, but they need to generate some press. Those who care about such things have never lost interest. They have followed the project from the beginning. As for the rest.... who cares? Their attention will be held for a nanosecond, then they'll find another ball to bounce around their playpen. Science should not have to resort to being the Flavour of the Month. Brian |
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Aug 1 2006, 04:49 AM
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#4
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1591 Joined: 14-October 05 From: Vermont Member No.: 530 |
Those who care about such things have never lost interest. They have followed the project from the beginning. As for the rest.... who cares? Their attention will be held for a nanosecond, then they'll find another ball to bounce around their playpen. This isn't really true. There are plenty of folks that may have been visiting the official NASA sites at the beginning of the mission that have just let checking up on Mars slip from their daily routines, and there are those that really only do get their news from traditional sources. Don't assume that everyone who finds this endeavour worthwhile also finds it worth paying close attention to. |
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Aug 1 2006, 01:32 PM
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#5
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Member Group: Members Posts: 530 Joined: 21-March 06 From: Canada Member No.: 721 |
This isn't really true. There are plenty of folks that may have been visiting the official NASA sites at the beginning of the mission that have just let checking up on Mars slip from their daily routines, and there are those that really only do get their news from traditional sources. Don't assume that everyone who finds this endeavour worthwhile also finds it worth paying close attention to. I didn't say you had to be a Marsaholic. Whether you check on a daily or weekly or monthly basis, whether you get the information on-line or from newsmagazines or science shows on TV, you are still interested and following the mission, and you are finding ways to get the information at the level that interests you from a variety of sources. The comment was made, we need a big splashy press conference to revive "public interest". The point I wanted to make without being overly verbose, was that trumpeting the pictures from the rim of VC through CNN or the BBC or the front page of the daily papers will have very little effect on generating sustainable interest in the project, or space exploration in general. Most people will view it with a "Well, isn't that neat?" sort of perspective, then not give it another thought. On the downside, it will invariably draw the ire of a handful who feel that money would have been better spent feeding the poor or curing cancer instead of going to stare into a big hole in the ground. Sure a big public announcement will be a nice thing to do. I'm not saying, don't do it. Just don't have this expectation of a big upside. If the goal is to have the public at large keen on such missions, and being vocal in their support of providing sufficient funding, I just don't see a press conference from VC making much difference. We already have a staggering amount of information available to the public that wants it. Brian |
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Aug 1 2006, 04:11 PM
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#6
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1591 Joined: 14-October 05 From: Vermont Member No.: 530 |
On the downside, it will invariably draw the ire of a handful who feel that money would have been better spent feeding the poor or curing cancer instead of going to stare into a big hole in the ground. True, but it's better press than the "$400M Mars Mission Fails" Don't you love how when anything goes wrong, the total mission cost makes the first sentence, but when things go right, the information is irrelevant? Just ONCE I want to see the total cost trumpeted in a press article reporting good news. "$400M Mars Mission Fantastic Bargain" rather than "NASA Shows off Crater Photos." |
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