Description

In short: Numerous research experiments are performed on the ISS each day that only a fragment of humans on Earth know about. Let’s change this and make the cause of the initiative “Die Astronautin” known to the public: everyone can be a creator, engineer, thinker if given the right tools! The tool here: knowledge of the research that already exists. University students will craft “blinks” - short, easy to read texts - of the experiments on the mission “Die Astronautin”. These texts assembled in an app could then be read by German actors or the scientists themselves. Not only for space geeks this will be the perfect knowledge boost during breakfast or before going to bed helping to create new ideas naturally and educate the public about “Die Astronautin” and space research. Problem: In order to come up with new ideas for space applications and spin-offs, students and the public need to know what is possible right now and what areas are being researched on the ISS. Since reading through papers to get an overview can be arduous, there should be an app to quickly acquire new knowledge on ISS experiments as a kind of appetizer. Solution: Blinkist does exactly this with books: editors shorten the book’s content to about 15 minutes worth of reading material and present it in an enjoyable manner (written and spoken). My idea is to give university students of the fields corresponding to the experiment (physics, medicine, biology, geology, engineering) a framework to work out “blinks” for one experiment on the ISS so that the public can effortlessly understand it. This will not only foster the support for “Die Astronautin” but hopefully render the quest to explore space understandable for everyone. In order to gain more publicity, these blinks could be read by German (female) actors or scientists. Die Astronautin could contribute through photos of the respective experiments or technologies and in some cases even work together with the students to help them really understand the experiment. She could read her favorite experiment short texts and present the app during conferences. Sponsoring: If the project receives positive resonance, a cooperation with Blinkist, radio stations, universities, iTunes or even magazines like “GEO” should be thought about as they may be interested in promoting their brand while contributing to enabling the public to access cutting edge scientific research. Possibly even institutions like the DLR or ESA might be happy to support/cooperate. This would make “space” more accessible to the public as well as present a flawless image of cooperating parties (private and public) in Germany working on the ISS. Bigger picture: One could even think so far as to create an app “Die Astronautin” that not only presents the research performed during the mission but also has categories such as Flight Preparation, Astronaut Training & Nutrition, How to Contribute to Die Astronautin and Event Reminders. I believe university students will be enthused to take part in this opportunity as it is much less of an effort compared to designing a whole new experiment to fly/drop/centrifuge and still motivates them to become an expert in a certain space research field. This in turn can enable them to come up with new ideas to improve life in space! For the app, this means a notes section should be added so that one can immediately jot down any innovative thought that crosses the mind. This is a project that will take a lot of work in the beginning but has the potential to be the root for experiments from German (and perhaps international) university students for years to come and change the mindset of many space-lazy Germans and companies!