Making NASA Cool

Recently the NASA Langley Center Leadership Council created a mid-term strategic objective of ‘Making NASA Cool’. They actually set several objectives along this same vein, looking into the merits Participatory Exploration, STEM education and Telling the NASA Story. Teams have been formed to make recommendations to center leadership on what the center, and what the agency can do to work towards these goals.

So far the ‘Making NASA cool’ initiative has hosted a whiteboard session, posted a blog on OpenLaRC seeking recommendations,  and created wiki for ideas on how to communicate the cool things that NASA does on a daily basis to the public. Some of the recommendations are included in the attached presentation, though it is only a start. Comments are welcomed and the feedback will help to craft an action plan of how to move forward.

Making NASA Cool
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6 Responses to “Making NASA Cool”

  1. Chris Harrison  on October 19th, 2009

    I think a better motto might be “Making NASA Relevant.” A few of my friends always say that NASA seems like a cool place to work, but follow up by saying they still don’t see NASA as relevant in their everyday lives. We all know that’s not true :) but using ‘relevant’ might bring out a more-focused set of ideas.

    Glad to see the enthusiasm spreading to multiple centers and keep us updated on progress at Langley! I have a few more comments that I will post later this afternoon.

    Reply

  2. KC  on October 21st, 2009

    One way to make NASA cool again is to get the agency to stop shooting itself in the foot – ie the recent LCROSS PR fiasco. NASA produced a slick DVD but didn’t send it until 2 days before the event. Then they told the media that the plume would be visible to the public when it was painfully obvious that it would be daylight across half the country and likely too faint to see anyway in the other half.

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  3. Rolando Quintanilla  on October 22nd, 2009

    Let’s go PAPERLESS, using ebook and tablet technologies. This technology is already developed and is coming into the market (Amazon Kindle, B&N Nook). These ebook companies will need to prove their worth in the Business arena. The fact that they are trying to get into a new market, could be used as an incentive for them to help NASA run a trial with going paperless, for free (or a small cost). If the trial works NASA goes paperless, and the cooperating company gets great publicity and a proof of concept. NASA also gets great publicity.

    Further, this technology will help NASA increase quality while increasing efficiency. It is also good for the green movement (to an extent).

    Going paperless is extremely cool, innovative and high-tech (at least now). Being the first to do it would make us look really cool.

    The technologies needed to do this are most likely in the test phase right now. If NASA collaborates with these companies, we might be able to get the technology before it comes out to market. If collaboration is not possible, NASA needs to be on alert that this technology is coming and needs to be ready to implement it soon after it is available.

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  4. Rolando Quintanilla  on October 22nd, 2009

    Correction. The technology needed to go paperless is already on the market. The B&N Nook has an LCD screen in the bottom that will run Android.

    http://www.computerworld.com/s.....geNumber=1

    Above Article has

    “Lynch also said using Android version 1.5 on Nook “opens up exciting opportunities” for third-party Android applications built by the open source community. While that application capability was not the driving reason for picking Android, Lynch said that Barnes & Noble is planning to put out an SDK for Android developers. He said the Android OS was primarily selected for its navigation and user interface capabilities.”

    Getting the desired output requires a little bit of work, but the technology is available.

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  5. KC  on October 23rd, 2009

    Paperless – good suggestion but my god that is BORING!!

    Reply

  6. Mike D  on December 11th, 2009

    If NASA wants to be cool it needs to get BOLD and be inspiring not just get some baggy pants and turn its hat backwards.

    hate to say but paperless is not bold its just inevitable so let it happen with the market.

    I work in the entertainment industry and the main thing nowadays is 24/7 content content content. NASA needs to churn out digital content as fast as possible have a team making robotics apps for iphone and Android devices to spark the interest of youth. Rovers on the moon that you can drive over a website. Way out of the box space experiments that can be handed over to the public at large to help out with(ex stardust study). People don't care much about NASA because its not working on getting you and me into space fast enough. People have no time or patients they want too much.
    Not too unlike Kennedy wanted from Apollo. I say give it to them. Get Bold or Go Home…

    Reply


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