Does NASA terminate all educational programs?
Once having tasted the flight, you will always walk on the earth with eyes turned to heaven - for you have already been there, and you are irresistibly drawn to return there.
- Leonardo Da Vinci
The last week was quite saturated, and, taking into account the last two posts concerning the Planck spacecraft [about which I’ve already talked about on Habré] , I didn’t plan at all to write today about anything else. In the end, the amount of information that can be digested in a week is not unlimited, and over the past couple of days we have already learned a lot of new things about our Universe.
Perhaps the fact that the main source of funding for Planck is not NASA is, after all, not so bad. Because even though it was beautiful - to receive all this interesting information from NASA, to replenish your knowledge of the Universe and share this knowledge with the world - from today it will all end.
')
It will end, because there will be no more NASA educational programs, so if earlier you thought that the cuts in the Agency’s budget would not affect you personally, then perhaps you should reconsider your opinion. Next, I will give the text of NASA's internal document establishing a new regulation for public relations.
As you know, we have already begun to take the first steps towards cost reduction in accordance with the Budget Control Act of 2011. This law introduces a number of ubiquitous spending cuts that will help save a total of about $ 1.2 trillion over the next 10 years.
Now we will have to take a number of additional measures, as well as introduce a number of policies in order to try to minimize the impact of these reductions on works that are of critical importance for our space programs. We have already issued a document on new, relevant to today's budget realities, rules on holding conferences, travel and training. However, part of the staff asked for more specific instructions regarding public relations. These instructions are given below.
From now on, all public relations, educational and outreach activities should be stopped and wait for approval.
This includes all activities aimed at providing detailed coverage of the goals, objectives, missions and programs of NASA to the public. The concept of “public” in this case includes employees, partners, educators, students, and, in fact, the general public. In turn, education activities include, but are not limited to, the following:
More detailed instructions will be issued by the heads of public relations and education departments. The agency has already made a number of difficult decisions regarding conferences and travel. At the same time, an exception will be made for those scheduled for the period between the release of this document and April 30, 2013, and considered critical for the Agency's programs.
With regard to future activities, the departments of education and public relations have developed a procedure to determine which programs (taking into account the current budget situation) will be considered crucial, and, therefore, should be continued. Heads of all missions must provide lists of such educational programs for review. These lists should be sent to David Weaver, Head of Public Relations, no later than April 15, 2013. With regard to educational activities, the lists should be sent to Leland Melvin, also no later than April 15, 2013. The public relations and education departments will jointly conduct an audit of the data and decide which of the programs will be continued.
This document should be brought to the attention of all NASA employees, as well as freelance and contract employees. Heads of missions, centers, as well as program and project managers are appointed to ensure that all public relations work is suspended and submitted for approval. This document is valid at least until the end of the 2013 tax year.
As the situation with budget cuts develops, this process of coordinating public relations activities will be subject to adjustments and clarifications. We are grateful for your cooperation throughout this difficult period. Any questions related to this document should be directed to David Weaver, Head of Public Affairs, Leland Melvin, Head of Education, Dr. Elizabeth Robinson, Chief Financial Officer, or David Radzanowski, Human Resources Director.
NASA, through its Twitter account, urges not to panic ( one , two ), stating that an audit will be conducted to determine the most important areas in which public work will continue. Nevertheless, the collection of signatures has begun (registration is required) in support of the current NASA educational programs. There are not so many signatures yet, but they are.
Let us hope that the situation is not as dire as it seems at first glance, because the closure of educational programs will deal a great blow to the popularization of science.
Thank you Zelenyikot for the tip on the material.
Please report errors and typos in PM.
- Leonardo Da Vinci
The last week was quite saturated, and, taking into account the last two posts concerning the Planck spacecraft [about which I’ve already talked about on Habré] , I didn’t plan at all to write today about anything else. In the end, the amount of information that can be digested in a week is not unlimited, and over the past couple of days we have already learned a lot of new things about our Universe.Perhaps the fact that the main source of funding for Planck is not NASA is, after all, not so bad. Because even though it was beautiful - to receive all this interesting information from NASA, to replenish your knowledge of the Universe and share this knowledge with the world - from today it will all end.
')
It will end, because there will be no more NASA educational programs, so if earlier you thought that the cuts in the Agency’s budget would not affect you personally, then perhaps you should reconsider your opinion. Next, I will give the text of NASA's internal document establishing a new regulation for public relations.
As you know, we have already begun to take the first steps towards cost reduction in accordance with the Budget Control Act of 2011. This law introduces a number of ubiquitous spending cuts that will help save a total of about $ 1.2 trillion over the next 10 years.
Now we will have to take a number of additional measures, as well as introduce a number of policies in order to try to minimize the impact of these reductions on works that are of critical importance for our space programs. We have already issued a document on new, relevant to today's budget realities, rules on holding conferences, travel and training. However, part of the staff asked for more specific instructions regarding public relations. These instructions are given below.
From now on, all public relations, educational and outreach activities should be stopped and wait for approval.
This includes all activities aimed at providing detailed coverage of the goals, objectives, missions and programs of NASA to the public. The concept of “public” in this case includes employees, partners, educators, students, and, in fact, the general public. In turn, education activities include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Programs, seminars and other public events
- Speeches, presentations and public speaking, with the exception of scientific and technical presentations at relevant symposia
- Video and multimedia products under development (as well as updating current products)
- Social media pages and websites under development (excluding those that already work)
- Internal and external publications, with the exception of technical and scientific publications
- Any other activity whose purpose is to communicate information about NASA programs and activities to stakeholders and the general public.
More detailed instructions will be issued by the heads of public relations and education departments. The agency has already made a number of difficult decisions regarding conferences and travel. At the same time, an exception will be made for those scheduled for the period between the release of this document and April 30, 2013, and considered critical for the Agency's programs.
With regard to future activities, the departments of education and public relations have developed a procedure to determine which programs (taking into account the current budget situation) will be considered crucial, and, therefore, should be continued. Heads of all missions must provide lists of such educational programs for review. These lists should be sent to David Weaver, Head of Public Relations, no later than April 15, 2013. With regard to educational activities, the lists should be sent to Leland Melvin, also no later than April 15, 2013. The public relations and education departments will jointly conduct an audit of the data and decide which of the programs will be continued.
This document should be brought to the attention of all NASA employees, as well as freelance and contract employees. Heads of missions, centers, as well as program and project managers are appointed to ensure that all public relations work is suspended and submitted for approval. This document is valid at least until the end of the 2013 tax year.
As the situation with budget cuts develops, this process of coordinating public relations activities will be subject to adjustments and clarifications. We are grateful for your cooperation throughout this difficult period. Any questions related to this document should be directed to David Weaver, Head of Public Affairs, Leland Melvin, Head of Education, Dr. Elizabeth Robinson, Chief Financial Officer, or David Radzanowski, Human Resources Director.
NASA, through its Twitter account, urges not to panic ( one , two ), stating that an audit will be conducted to determine the most important areas in which public work will continue. Nevertheless, the collection of signatures has begun (registration is required) in support of the current NASA educational programs. There are not so many signatures yet, but they are.
Let us hope that the situation is not as dire as it seems at first glance, because the closure of educational programs will deal a great blow to the popularization of science.
Thank you Zelenyikot for the tip on the material.
Please report errors and typos in PM.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/174121/
All Articles