Congratulations!!!! Since you asked, I'd like NASA to show me how we/TPS can help with their outreach program to supplement the cuts. (if possible - reg's etc usually are the show stoppers)

I'd like NASA to educate the public that there may well be (probably is) life on Europa, Enceladus etc, and that we could reasonably cheaply find out. Then we'd have the public clamouring (well, ok, at least a decent subset of them) to do that. More money for Planetary, more money for NASA!! Shouldn't be unattractive to NASA you'd think.

Oh: and that although it's perfectly feasible to find out, that if it's not started asap, they ain't gonna find out in their lifetimes. 'Cos it takes ages! I know heaps of scientists who don't know it's probably true; don't know it's easily within reach to find out; and don't know it would, however, take ages. But are always interested. What hope the general public?

Here is a problem NASA has and it is frustrating. I know because I experience where I live, in a backwards looking State. The other day I heard this on the radio. A DJ needed a few seconds of news feed filler and he found a blurb (sound bite) which he read. Scientists think the red lines on Jupiters moon Europa are bacteria caused. Okay, that's the problem. That one sentence tells the general public: a) we are studying Europa and we know that science point already; b) therefore we don't need to go there; c) they're already onto the local sports and won't listen to anything you want to say on the subject since it is a 'who cares? not me' attitude. This State really is backwards. Space science may get a 20 - 30 blurb on the news, including Curiosity if there is one new interesting photo maybe once every 2 months. Every night local schools major games (all levels) get 4 - 6 minutes on sports and the TV people cover the games from start to finish then airplay fantastically detailed coverage for each game on the 5, 5:30, 6, 10 and 11 pm news casts. That totals to about 30 minutes vs 30 seconds (one time) for NASA. Sheesh! Yet they can't figure out why they are 46 in 50 for education in the country! Granted they came up from 50 but it took just over 10 years.

I take it this post is compatible with continuing to lobby Congress?

I don't want to get too far off Mr Nye's and Mr Dreier's original topic, but maybe this is still slightly relevant: Bob Ware you have just depressed me further ('tho it might cheer you a bit), 'cos you've just confirmed something. You document that yours is a low-end US State. But I'm in Australia. A range of indicators would probably indicate that Oz, despite a relatively tiny population, was not significantly "behind" the US on some sort of "science/technology per capita" indicator, from say 1900-1960's. (The delusion still prevails). But the situation you describe in your low-end State is now much worse here. The radio/TV you describe is utterly familiar - with this exception: I can guarantee Europa's bacteria would not make ANY radio news, and that space-science does not get TV coverage every 2 months. I think there was (maybe) one photo from Curiosity, after landing, in the papers - nothing since. The US problem with STEM education etc is even bigger here. Not sure what the answer to this Western disaster is.

I think that NASA should find ways to directly correlate Math & Science to the projects that they are working on. Maybe showing us how the Laws of Physics apply to working on ISS. It would be fun and interesting!