Informing NASA’s Asteroid Initiative: A Citizen Forum
In its history, the Earth has been repeatedly struck by asteroids, large chunks of rock from space that can cause considerable damage in a collision. Can we—or should we—try to protect Earth from potentially hazardous impacts?
How about harvesting asteroids for potential economic benefits? Could asteroid exploration be used to boost our capabilities and help clear a pathway to Mars? How should we balance costs, risks, and benefits of human exploration in space?
Sounds like stuff just for rocket scientists. But how would you like to be part of this discussion?
An innovative project between NASA, the US government’s space agency, and a group led by Arizona State University called ECAST—Expert and Citizen Assessment of Science and Technology—is planning to do just that: allow ordinary citizens a say in decisions about the future of space exploration.
ECAST will hold forums this fall to engage ordinary citizens in active dialogue about NASA’s Asteroid Initiative. Discussion will cover topics from how to detect threatening asteroids and how to defend against them to strategies for human exploration of asteroids and the space beyond the moon.
The citizen forums will engage diverse publics in respectful, reflective and informed conversations, both face-to-face and online. The goal is to enable participants to learn about such issues, develop their own questions, and make recommendations based on their own values and interests.
How you can participate
Two live, in-person, forums will be conducted in November, one in Phoenix on November 8, the other in Boston on November 15. Residents in or near those cities can apply online next week. Qualified participants in the all-day event will receive a small stipend for the day.
Anyone in the United States can participate in the online forum, which will take place in parallel with the in-person forums. Sign-up forms for the online forum will also be available here next week.
“Public engagement is crucial to the effective development of science and technology policy,” said David Guston, Co-director of the Consortium for Science, Policy & Outcomes (CSPO), one of the founding members of ECAST. “It is essential to consider input from diverse constituents and nowhere are citizens’ values, hopes and dreams more important that in the future of the planet and the future of humans in space.”
About ECAST
ECAST is a network of different institutions, launched in 2010 to provide a 21st Century model for technology assessment. It combines the research strengths of universities like Arizona State University with the skills of nonpartisan policy research organizations and the education and outreach capabilities of science museums and citizen science programs.
Three of the five ECAST founding partners, the Consortium for Science, Policy and Outcomes (CSPO) at ASU, the Museum of Science, Boston and SciStarter.com (in partnership with the Science Cheerleaders) are working with NASA to design, convene and evaluate two forums of about 100 demographically diverse participants each in Phoenix and Boston, as well as an online and texting forum open to the general public to collect informed views on NASA’s Asteroid Initiative. The report and assessments from the forums will provide input to guide the initiative’s direction and related public engagement activities.
