Annex 1
POTENTIAL BENEFITS FOR SCIENCE EDUCATION
OF DEVELOPING PASSENGER SPACE TRAVEL
A1.1 There has been an accelerating decline
in physics education in Britain in recent years [1]. For example,
examination entries for A-level physics have fallen from 7.6%
in 1982 to 6% in 1990, and to only 3.8% in 2004 , and they are
predicted to fall further, as widely reported in the press [2,
3]. This problem is not unique to Britain; a similar problem is
reported in other rich countries.
A1.2 For decades, space agencies in many
countries have spent considerable resources trying to encourage
children to study scientific subjects. Typically they make use
of the spontaneous interest that most children have in space to
get them to study related topics—watching videos of astronauts,
playing with water rockets, and so on. Unfortunately these activities
have not been very effective.
A1.3 In view of the great popularity of
the idea of traveling to space shown by surveys, the possibility
of actually traveling to space for themselves can be expected
to be much more stimulating to children than watching videos of
other people doing so. The sharp rise and decline of physics education
in the USA in the 1960s and 1970s is attributed by Professor Richard
Smalley to the start and end of the Apollo project [4]. He argues
that, for as long as young Americans believed that they might
be able to travel to space themselves, many of them became keen
to obtain relevant qualifications. However, once it became clear
that this was extremely unlikely, due to the cancellation of the
project, they lost interest in studying physics. The author has
argued on similar lines that space tourism could be part of the
solution to the "crisis in aerospace" shown in
Table 1 above [5].
A1.4 Consequently, there is reason to anticipate
that the development of passenger space travel, starting with
sub-orbital services of which the price could fall to a few thousand
pounds/passenger [6], could act as a catalyst to keep young people
interested in studying science. Certainly, preparing for space
travel can be used as the basis for interesting lessons on many
subjects, from biology, chemistry and physics to mathematics,
astronomy, ecology, law, economics, psychology and others. The
"Teachers in Space" project started recently
in the USA aims to make early use of this idea [7].
A1.5 HMG's failure to address the issue
of passenger space travel for more than six years since the Trade
and Industry Select Committee raised it in 2000 has not only led
to continuing failure to benefit economically from Britain's large
investment and business potential in the field of space travel,
but has also wasted an important educational opportunity. Both
space science and science education have suffered from the decline
in the pool of talent trained in relevant disciplines, from which
space scientists and science teachers are recruited. Moreover,
the failure to exploit space commercially in this way, far from
strengthening space science by preserving it from "contamination"
by commercial activities, has surely damaged it by reducing the
overall interest of the general public. These educational benefits
might themselves exceed the cost of developing sub-orbital space
tourism. By contrast, pursuing the existing "anti-space
tourism policy" would continue to waste this opportunity
to make this popular experience available, which requires children
to understand more science, and physics in particular.
A1.6 Longer-term potential
The growth of the passenger space travel industry
to 1 million passengers/year or more taking sub-orbital flights
will create a large and growing cohort of people who themselves
travel to space. The subsequent development of orbital flights
and hotel services, now in the early stages of development, will
create an industry requiring large numbers of staff to work in
space, as shown in Figure 1. The vision of this will surely
inspire large numbers of children to obtain relevant qualifications.
A1.7 It is worth noting that these educational
benefits can be expected to extend far beyond sub-orbital travel
through the progressive development of orbital travel and accommodation
services, to include even lunar travel. The author was invited
to speak on this subject to the International Lunar Exploration
Working Group (ILEWG) [8], to the Committee On Space Research
(COSPAR) [9], and subsequently to turn that presentation into
a journal paper [9]. That paper argues that it would not be good
for lunar science to try to stop commercial lunar development,
which could grow into a major business within a few decades, and
that this could be very beneficial for the world economy and for
the terrestrial environment.
REFERENCES
| 1. | University of Buckingham, 2005, "Physics Crisis Linked to Lack of Qualified Teachers", www.buckingham.ac.uk/new/newsarchive2005/physics.html
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| 2. | Anon, 2006, "Physics Teachers Face Extinction", News Bulletin, Daily Telegraph, August 11, p 10.
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| 3. | E Brockes, 2006, "Sir, can we do something easier?", Guardian newspaper, August 17, p 7.
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| 4. | R Smalley, 2003, "Nanotechnology, Energy and People", http://americanenergyindependence.com/energychallenge.html
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| 5. | P Collins, 2001, "Space Tourism: A Remedy for `Crisis in Aerospace'", Editorial, Aviation Week & Space Technology, Vol 155, No 24, p 98.
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| 6. | D Ashford, 2003, "Spaceflight Revolution", Imperial College Press.
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| 7. | www.teachersinspace.org
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| 8. | P Collins, 2004, "The Future of Lunar Tourism", in International Lunar Exploration, American Astyronautical Society, Volume 108, pp 467-480.
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| 9. | P Collins, 2006, "Space Tourism: From Earth Orbit to the Moon", Advances in Space Research 37, pp 116-120.
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