New Mars Forums

Hi Gentlemen!

Being new to this whole process, I've been interested in your discussion so far.  It goes to one of the basic human fears, fear of the unknown.  Zubrin is correct about it's modern manifestations.  We'll always have to deal with it, it won't go away.

My own interest is in how to reach members of the general population and get them to actively support our goals even if they don't want to be involved otherwise.  After twelve years teaching in a public high school and listening very carefully to other teachers talking about ages K-12, I've determined a window which opens when humans can know that the stars in the sky are not just spots of paint on a ceiling, they are places we might visit and closes when the human brain starts to make judgements about the usefulness and validity of information received.  The window seems to open at about age ten, late third grade - early fourth grade.  It seems to start closing at about age fourteen, late eighth grade.  The objectives for the Mars Society Education Task Force say broadly what needs to be done.

I'm speaking on the topic at the Return to the Moon IV conference in Houston in about a month and again at the Mars Society conference in August.  I'd love to meet up with others interested in this area and talk about what we can do.

What I'm doing with my crude web site at Beyond Earth Orbit is very closely related.

Ned Dodds, Founder
Beyond Earth Orbit