Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771 

ENGINEERING COLLOQUIUM 

Monday, March 27, 2000 / 3:30 PM, Building 8 Auditorium 

W. Burrows

ABSTRACT -- The space race of the '60's is best known for what it taught us about the science of the Moon and of Space.  However, the space race can also teach us much about earthbound politics.  The author observed the space program closeup as a reporter and will bring his experience to bear on a number of issues.  These include:
    1. The downside of Apollo and the changeable nature of public opinion;
    2. Military-civilian interconnections;
    3. The uses and abuses of PR;
    4. The need for long-term planning and steady-state budgets.
The steady-state budgets needed for long term planning will only occur when Congress and the public are educated that a presence in space (including exploration) is a necessity, not a luxury.  The talk will also describe a proposal to use space as a way of "backing up Earth's hard drive."  The project, dubbed the Alliance to Rescue Civilization (ARC) would involve storing copies of important knowlege and technology (even including DNA) in manned bases on the Moon or Mars.  In the event of a global catasrophe (for example, asteroid strike, pandemic, or nuclear war), these records could be used to "jump start" the rebuilding of civilized life back on Earth.  Even if the stored records were never used, this project would benefit Earth by encouraging international cooperation and by boosting our floundering space program.

SPEAKER -- William Burrows has been a professor of journalism for the past 25 years at NYU, where he founded and directs the graduate Science and Environmental Reporting Program.  This program trains people with mostly hard science backgrounds (notably biology) to be science communicators for the print and electronic media.  He has reported for The New York Times; The Richmond Times-Dispatch; and The Washington Post.  In the sixties, he reported on space and aviation news for The Wall Street Journal.  Among the magazines in which his articles have appeared are Foreign Affairs; The New York Times Magazine; Harvard Magazine; Harper's; and The Sciences.  His eight books include This New Ocean: The Story of the First Space Age (a finalist for the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for history); Exploring Space: Voyages In the Solar System and Beyond; Deep Black: Space Espionage and National Security; and (with Robert Windrem) Critical Mass: The Dangerous Race for Superweapons in a Fragmenting World.  Mr. Burrows majored in political science at Columbia, obtaining a BA and an MA.