Every year or so the nonprofit Pew Research Center conducts a survey about Americans' views of the country's involvement, priorities and performance in space. With about 10,000 people responding from across the U.S., the most recent survey done in early June gives the "space bubble" a look at how outside taxpayers perceive the often insular industry.
Let's start with how Americans view the importance of U.S. leadership in space. Of adults surveyed, 69% described it as essential for the U.S. to be a leader – but that's higher among men, at 75%, than women, at 63%. It's also seen as more important to older generations, with 74% of those 65 and above seeing U.S. leadership in space as essential, versus 62% among those between the ages of 18 and 29.
One important caveat on the government side of things: There's no mention of the Space Force, FAA, FCC, NOAA or other federal agencies with significant budgets and influence in space. Most of the questions are focused on NASA. I'd guess that's because, other than Space Force, few people outside the industry know the important roles those agencies play in space, especially when it comes to regulations. Still, it'd be great to have that data in future surveys.
Even regarding NASA, one massive discrepancy stood out: Exploring the moon with astronauts ranked as the second-lowest priority for NASA among those surveyed, at 12%, only just ahead of sending astronauts to explore Mars, at 11%.
Meanwhile NASA's headline program these days focuses on getting astronauts back to the moon. The agency this week revealed that the Artemis 3 mission – currently planned to be the first landing of astronauts on the moon since the Apollo era – is likely to slip to 2026 (an unsurprising revelation) and may fly "a different mission" than reach the lunar surface (a surprising revelation).
If the Americans surveyed by Pew were in charge, it's doubtful the Artemis moon program would exist at all. The value of sending astronauts to the moon and Mars is still not clear to most Americans – and NASA should probably stop thinking about it "as a jobs program" – but that's up to the space industry to keep improving that value-add pitch.
So, how do taxpayers think NASA should be spending their money? Well, as has been the case in prior surveys, the top priority by far, at 60%, was monitoring asteroids and objects that could hit our planet. That's followed by monitoring Earth's climate, at 50%; researching the effect of space travel on human health, at 29%; and searching for life and planets that could support life, at 16%.
On the private sector side, the reviews for space companies were largely favorable – more so than I expected – especially among those who are more familiar with the landscape.
Among Americans who have "a lot" of familiarity with the sector, 74% of those surveyed had a "mostly good" view of space companies building safe and reliable rockets and spacecraft, compared to just 12% saying "mostly bad."
About 70% of respondents said space companies offer a "mostly good" contribution to space exploration, and 63% saw companies as helping open up space travel to more people.
The private sector's most mixed result was in limiting debris in space – split into thirds between a "mostly good" contribution, "mostly bad," and "not sure" – I believe that's fairly close to how those within the industry see it, too. There's an understanding of the need for significant progress in mitigating space debris.
Those who have only "a little" familiarity with space companies were less likely to return positive reviews of the sector — more likely to say they were "not sure" on many of the questions — highlighting how much more needs to be done to communicate the value companies create in the sector.
You can read Pew's full study results here.
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