Science Communication in Space Research
Jocelyne Landeau-Constantin
European Space Agency
Head of Communication Office, ESA Darmstadt, Germany
Dublin
10/07/2012
ESA IN A NUTSHELL
Since 1975, the European Space Agency (ESA) has
been shaping space programmes for its Member
States in Europe.
It implements decisions taken with a strong
involvement of industry and scientific
organisations.
ESA IN A NUTSHELL
ESA is an intergovernmental organisation with a mandate to
• develop space industry in Europe and make it competitive,
• increase knowledge and technology
AND
• inform citizens
• Over 40 years of experience
• 19 Member States
• 5 establishments in Europe, about 2200 staff
• 4 billion Euro budget (2012)
• Over 70 satellites designed, tested and operated in flight
• 17 scientific satellites in operation
• 6 types of launcher developed
• Celebrated the 200th launch of Ariane in February 2011
ESA FACTS AND FIGURES
ESA has 19 Member States: 17 states of the EU (AT, BE, CZ, DE, DK, ES, FI, FR, IT, GR, IE, LU, NL, PT, RO, SE, UK) + Norway and Switzerland.
Eight other EU states have Cooperation Agreements with ESA: Estonia, Slovenia, Poland, Hungary, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania and the Slovak Republic.
Bulgaria and Malta are negotiating Cooperation Agreements.
Canada takes part in some programmes under a Cooperation Agreement.
19 MEMBER STATES AND GROWING
• Space science
• Human spaceflight
• Exploration
• Earth observation
• Launchers
ESA is one of the few space agencies in the world to
combine responsibility in nearly all areas of space activity.
ACTIVITIES
• Navigation
• Telecommunications
• Technology
• Operations
COMMUNICATION ISSUES
• Diversity of activities
• Complexity of themes
• Languages and culture
• Means
• Science communication is new
What are the possibilities to catch the attention?
•Talk to the media•Talk to the public•Talk to students
1. INTERVIEWS
ESA co-ordinates over 2,000 interviews per year in more
than five languages.
Media remains a prime channel for communication, but has
to be carefully selected and dealt with.
Though TV is still the best multiplicator, it is no longer the
preferred source of information, especially among young
people.
Social networks are mandatory but not well understood
among scientific organisations.
COMMUNICATING WITH MEDIA
COMMUNICATING WITH MEDIA
2. SPACE SCIENCE TALKS
A classical format gathering media and scientists around a space mission for two days. The science expected from the mission is detailed and all presentations are worked out with the scientists until the level is acceptable for a non-technical journalist, but high enough for a specialised one.
COMMUNICATING WITH MEDIA
3. ACCESS TO AUDIO VISUAL DATABASE
No science communication without good audio-visual inputs, especially animations.
www.esa.int/gallery
www.dlr.de
www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/
eol.jsc.nasa.gov/
www.eso.org
www.eumetsat.int
www.cnes.fr
www.esf.org
COMMUNICATING WITH THE PUBLIC Social Media on the rise
1st European
Space Tweet up
ESA/DLR
Document title | Author Name | Place | Data doc | Programme | Pag. 12
COMMUNICATING WITH THE PUBLIC Social Media on the rise
In depth podcasts: raumzeit
The podcast in German deals in depth with all sorts of space themes, space debris, earth observation, astronomy, careers during up to 2 hours. It addresses people interested in details of a space-related topics.
The podcast was born 18 months ago and has now reached one million downloads. http://raumzeit-podcast.de
COMMUNICATING WITH THE PUBLIC Social Media on the rise
ESA WebTV
COMMUNICATING WITH THE GENERAL PUBLIC
LONG NIGHT OF STARS/NIGHT OF
RESEARCH/SPACE DAYS
Duration: eight hours
Cooperation with local radio
Benefits: direct access to engineers and
scientists; no limitation of age
Complex programme with thematic
animations, games for children, quizz Research Night, ESRIN, Italy
COMMUNICATING WITH THE GENERAL PUBLIC
Science Day
Combined presentations with astronauts, scientists and local radio stations at a central venue.
Q&A session at the end of the evening.
COMMUNICATING WITH THE GENERAL PUBLIC
Participation in fairs
Heiner Fest, Darmstadt, Germany: 700.000 visitors in four days
COMMUNICATING WITH THE GENERAL PUBLIC
COMMUNICATING WITH THE GENERAL PUBLIC
• Perry Rhodan World Con 2011, Sci-Fi Convention, 3000 participants
• Shopping Malls and Railway stations exhibitions
• Mars exploration exhibition, duration: 3 years, combined information and hands-on, DE, AT
COMMUNICATING WITH THE GENERAL PUBLIC – Entering partnerships
Cooperation with museums
www.esa.int/exhibitions
www.flickr.com/photos/esaexhibitions
ESA has developed exhibitions
concept which can be used by
museums or science houses. The idea
is to create a space environment which
can be adapted to the needs and
specificities or the customer.
COMMUNICATING WITH THE GENERAL PUBLIC – Entering partnerships
The Ecsite Annual Conference is the most prominent meeting of science communication professionals in Europe, bringing together 1,000 professionals in the field.
http://www.ecsite.eu
Ecsite Workshop, Toulouse, June 2012
COMMUNICATING WITH SCHOOLS
Mission-X is being organised for every human spaceflight mission with an aim to foster healthy food and sport habits. Schools are invited to participate for several weeks.
COMMUNICATING WITH SCHOOLS
ESA supports an education programme at corporate and directorate level.
ESA invests in local national organisations, which relay information and organise activities for teachers and schools.
COMMUNICATING WITH SCHOOLS
It does not interfere directly with school programmes and rather invites the faculty to draw upon the existing resources, information centres or web pages with a lot of material available.
At directorate level, specific material is produced around a space mission, for Earth Observation and human spaceflight.
http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Eduspace_EN
http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Education
COMMUNICATING WITH SCHOOLS
Multiply partnerships with foundations and media
Wissen in die Schule, Klaus Tschira Foundation: organises regular courses for teachers on astronomy. ESA has supported several actions on the occasion of the Herschel/Planck Missions.
Esa is offering many possibilities to download
raw pictures for any school students to process
for arts or physics for instance. Have a look at
the Mars Express Webcam website. http://webservices.esa.int/blog/blog/6
COMMUNICATING WITH SCHOOLS
Teachers Workshop
10 -13 July 2012Participants from Europe are presented with innovative and inspiring methods using space as a means for engaging students with the sciences.
COMMUNICATING WITH SCHOOLS AND CHILDREN
Cooperation with Google and Youtube
NASA, JAXA and ESA participated in a space
Competition organised by Google and Youtube
In 2012 inviting 14 to 18 years old to propose
Their experiments to be flown onboard the ISS.
The jury chose the winners among ….. Entries
And the trailers were seen 35 million times.
COMMUNICATING WITH THE GENERAL PUBLIC – using pictures
Herschel shows the marvels of our space environment.
Document title | Author Name | Place | Data doc | Programme | Pag. 28
COMMUNICATING WITH THE GENERAL PUBLIC
Mississipi river
COMMUNICATING WITH THE GENERAL PUBLIC
Phytoplankton bloom across the Barents Sea off the coast of mainland Europe’s most northern point, Cape Nordkinn
COMMUNICATING WITH THE GENERAL PUBLIC – Entering partnerships
Partnerships represent a strong part of the communication policy as the general public needs to be picked up where it is:
•In public transportation: Cooperation with the German Railways, Lufthansa, Air France, the Madrid Tube
COMMUNICATING WITH THE GENERAL PUBLIC – Entering partnerships
• With the media: El Pais, Liberation, T-Online
COMMUNICATING WITH THE GENERAL PUBLIC – Entering partnerships
Games and Promotional items
It is possible to obtain a licensing agreement with ESA to produce branded clothing and promotional items such as:
•Card games (Quartet game) with satellites and rockets
•Planet Hunters, Campagames
•3D Memo, Campagames
COMMUNICATING WITH THE GENERAL PUBLIC – Entering partnerships
Cooperation with toy producer Imaginarium
COMMUNICATING WITH THE GENERAL PUBLIC – Entering partnerships
A planetarium show was developed in cooperation with German-speaking planetarium on the occasion of the launch of the astronomy missions Herschel and Planck in 2009.
Starting with 32 planetariums in Austria, Germany and Switzerland, the show has now spread to over 70 planetariums in the world and exists in 7 languages.
A new show will be prepared for the launch of the Gaia satellite end of 2013.
COMMUNICATING WITH THE GENERAL PUBLIC - CROWDSOURCING