50,000 People Jam Planetary Society Website to Take Space Survey ab

Both the questions and answers were quite depressing from an ssi_list
point of view:
* intense focus on planets,
* very little interest in asteroids,
* lots of interest in Europa and other places we'll never develop
economically

One bright point was that "Search for any potential danger to Earth from space" ranked high. It is quite interesting that that was the case, given
that interest in missions to asteroids was so low. Contradictory.

Ron

baalke@...
02/04/02 01:05 PM
Please respond to stardust-owner

NASA Priorities

Note: Survey results are appended at the end.

Ron Baalke

http://www.planetary.org/html/society/press/survey_results.htm

50,000 People Jam Planetary Society Website to Take Space Survey about
NASA Priorities

PLANETARY SOCIETY NEWS RELEASE
For Immediate Release: February 4, 2002
Contact: Susan Lendroth

"The public responded loud and strong when we asked them what they want to
see next in planetary exploration," said Louis Friedman, Executive
Director
of The Planetary Society. "Even more important than what they said is how
many said it -- over 50,000 responses in just two short weeks. This type
of
public interest should weigh heavily in Congress' consideration of the
President's proposed NASA budget which is being made public today."

The huge public response was perhaps one of the most important results
from
the Decadal Survey questionnaire about setting priorities for U.S.
planetary
research programs. At NASA's request, the National Research Council (NRC)
is
conducting a planetary science community assessment of what these
priorities
should be for the next 10 years. The NRC appointed steering committee
asked
The Planetary Society, the worlds largest space-interest group, to poll
the
public for their views about planetary exploration.

The results of that public poll are especially interesting to The
Planetary
Society since the new NASA budget -- the first developed by the Bush
Administration, with major direction from its new NASA Administrator, Sean
O'Keefe -- is being released today.

In the two weeks that the questionnaire was posted on the Society's
website,
over 50,000 people weighed in with their opinions. For many of the
questions, those opinions vary widely, but a few definite favorites did
emerge.

"More than 90% of survey respondents ranked exploration of Mars among the
top five mission priorities for NASA, thus outpacing all other Solar
System
mission categories" said Bruce Betts, Director of Projects at The
Planetary
Society.

The rest of the top five favorite exploration destinations and the
percentage of respondents who ranked them in the top five were: our own
moon
(65%), Jupiter's moon Europa (62%), Pluto and the Kuiper Belt (37%), and
Io
(34%).

Opinions were fairly evenly divided, however, on prioritizing the ultimate
purpose of US planetary exploration, and choosing whether it is preferable
to mount missions to new bodies not previously visited by spacecraft or to
send missions to explore previously visited objects in greater detail.

The final two questions of the survey asked how the public in general, and
educators in particular, preferred to learn about the results of
exploration
missions. Not surprisingly for a web survey, respondents were eager to
receive the latest information via the Internet, as well as through more
traditional media, such as newspapers and television.

-o0o-

THE PLANETARY SOCIETY:
Carl Sagan, Bruce Murray and Louis Friedman founded The Planetary Society
in
1980 to advance the exploration of the solar system and to continue the
search for extraterrestrial life. With members in over 140 countries, the
Society is the largest space interest group in the world.

CONTACT INFORMATION:
For more information about The Planetary Society, contact Susan Lendroth
at
(626) 793-5100 ext 237 or by e-mail at susan.lendroth@...

http://www.planetary.org/html/survey/survey_results.htm

Public Survey for Input to the Planetary Decadal Survey

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 was asked to assist
this
"decadal survey" by seeking input from the general public about planetary
exploration. Data were gathered through January 31, 2002.

Missions and scientific objectives are decided upon based on many
considerations, including anticipated scientific return, cost,
feasibility, and
public interest. This survey represented one opportunity for members of
the
public to tell NASA how they would like to be informed about their
missions and
about their priorities for planetary exploration.

Thank You For Your Input!
We received an overwelming response to this survey of
over 54,000 replies!

Your replies are tabulated below.

1 The Future of NASA's Planetary Exploration Program
What, in your opinion, should be the ultimate purpose of the U.S.
planetary exploration program? Rank each on a scale of 1-10 on the
basis
of its importance to you, with 1 being the most important and 10
being the
least important.

Percentage
who
ranked it
Choice Overall Rank 1st
Scientific Exploration-learn
everything we can about the planets 4.0 23%

Search for any potential danger to
Earth from space 4.2 25%

Determine the suitability of other
planets for human colonization 4.2 25%

Search for resources in space for use
in space or for export to Earth 4.3 19%

Look for life on other planets 4.5 20%

Establish permanent robotic outposts
on other planets 4.8 12%

Learn lessons about the Earth by
studying other planets 4.8 11%

Understand the origins of the Solar
System 5.4 9%

2 Which is preferable?

A) missions to new bodies not previously visited by spacecraft 48%

B) missions to explore previously visited objects in greater
detail? 51%

3 Choose five of the following missions that you think are most
important
for space agencies to accomplish in the next decade.

Mars Missions 91%
Moon Missions 65%
Europa Missions 62%
Pluto/Kuiper Belt Missions 37%
Io Missions 34%
Comet Missions 30%
Titan Missions 28%
Venus Missions 21%
Jupiter Missions 19%
Phobos Missions 12%
Saturn Missions 12%
Asteroid Missions 12%
Mercury Missions 8%
Neptune Missions 5%
Uranus Missions 4%

4 How Do You Want To Find Out About Space Mission Results?

Please indicate in what ways you currently receive news and
information
about U.S. space exploration activities. On a scale from 1 to 10,
place a
number next to each indicating how important or useful each one is
to you,
with "1" being most important/useful, "2" being less important, and
so on.
You may use the same number more than once.

Percentage
who
ranked it
Choice Overall Rank 1st

World Wide Web Sites 2.8 57%

Television 3.5 32%

Newspapers/News Magazines 3.7 25%

Science or Special Interest Magazine
(e.g. Astronomy, Sky & Telescope) 4.6 17%

Electronic Mail (Listserv, newsletter,
etc.) 4.9 21%

Radio 5.1 12%

Books 5.2 11%

Museums/Planetariums 5.4 9%

Space Interest Organization Publication
(e.g. The Planetary Society, Mars 5.6 10%
Society, etc.)

Lectures by Scientists 5.9 9%

Posters 7.3 6%

5 For Teachers

Please rank the following in order of their usefulness to you for
classroom instruction in space science, with "1" being most useful
and "7"
being least useful.

Percentage
who
ranked it
Choice Overall Rank 1st

Videos/DVDs/Laserdiscs 2.3 51%

World Wide Web-based reference
materials 2.8 32%

NASA-developed hands-on activities 2.9 30%

World Wide Web-based tutorials 2.9 26%

Photographs 3.5 17%

Slides 4.5 10%

Posters 4.6 8%

6 Demographic Information

What is your age?

under 15 2%
15-25 25%
25-35 38%
35-45 20%
45-55 11%
55-65 3%
65-75 <1%
over 75 <1%

Gender?
male 91%

female 9%
no response <1%

What is the highest level of education that you have completed?

some high school 6%
High School Diploma or GED 16%
2 or 4 year college degree 50%
advanced degree 25%
no response 3%

About how often do you access the World Wide Web?

Less than once a week 2%
Once a week 1%
Once a day 13%
Several times a day 83%
no response