Artemis II landed on earth on the 11th of April. It was the first crewed mission of the Artemis program with four astronauts that went on a journey around the moon and back to Earth, for the first time in over half a century. This was an important step toward long-term return to the moon and future missions to Mars. Mars is the one of the only other places where life may have existed in the solar system, which is why it’s such a huge goal for human exploration. Artemis II attracted our interest in space science which made us wonder how others our age feel about space and their future.

According to the article “Space science: The view from European school students” (Space Awareness, December 2017) most students had a positive attitude towards space science and found it exciting. Looking through a telescope, stargazing and learning about planets and astronauts were space related activities most of the students had engaged in. Students’ view of space science careers was that they are difficult, needed a long degree and they mainly only knew of jobs like astronauts or scientists. Still the youth found space science to be important because it helps us understand the universe, improves technology on earth, inspires discovery and innovation and it can help solve global problems.

And what does this mean for the future? The survey made the researchers concerned because it showed that the pupils’ interest in space had dropped as they got older which could lead to a problem for the future science workforce. This in combination with the narrow view on careers made the report suggest that Europe needs to encourage more students to pursue science, engineering and technology and educate them to more careers connected to space.

Why is space science important for our future? Why should we care about it?

“Through space exploration, we gain a new perspective to study Earth and the solar system. We advance new technologies that improve our daily lives, and we inspire a new generation of artists, thinkers, tinkerers, engineers, and scientists.” - NASA

Space science is important for our future as it helps us learn about Earth, make new technology which can help us prepare for future challenges and solve them. By exploring space, we can improve life here on earth. Through space we already have daily tools like GPS and satellites that can track weather, climate change and dangerous asteroids. And by further exploring space we can make discoveries and develop new inventions and solve problems that effects people on earth. NASA explains that exploring space encourages people to become scientists, engineers and inventors. Just like for us, big space missions can make people, especially the youth, curious about the future.

To further understand how the youth feel about space, we decided to interview local teenagers. We interviewed two students at our school, Anna Whitlock, which is a highschool in Sweden, and asked them a couple of questions about space and space science. We asked a girl: How do you think space affects you? 

The solar system. Image: olenchic/pixabay.

“It’s a part of our world, and it affects us in some way, but we are protected by the atmosphere”, she answered.

The student is aware of the importance of the atmosphere that protects our earth but don’t know exactly how space affects us. We asked a boy the same question and he answered:

“You can breathe and the sky is pretty and the stars are cool. The sun is quite important, it helps us a lot and you get tan I the summer”

The boy highlighted the importance of the Sun but also the visible parts of space that we can observe here from earth, such as the stars in the sky. We also wanted to know if there was anything about space that the students want to know more about, so we asked: Is there anything about space that you would like to know more about?

The girl answered: “Maybe, how it looks further away in space, like the planets outside our solar system and how it would be on these planets. I feel like I have little knowledge about space”

She expresses curiosity about what exists further away in space and what the planets outside our solar system might be like. This is a very interesting question that we can’t answer today but we are closer than ever to getting humans to Mars, which may answer whether life exists beyond our home planet.

Earth. Image: wikiimages/pixabay.

“I want to know more about big bang, because it’s hard to understand. I know that the universe expands very fast, we think it’s started at big bang, and I want to know if it will continue to expand and if it’s actually infinite or if it’s a cycle", the boy said.

The last question and the one we were most interested in was: How do you think space research will affect your future?

“It can help us understand how we can work against global warming how to save our planet", the girl answered. It’s a very relevant answer because of the global warming driven by human activities that affect us every day. By using satellites, we can observe the atmosphere, climate, ocean levels and temperature which helps us understand and counteract global warming.

“More about utilizing hydrogen and make fusion. Maybe we will make it possible for a human to make it to Mars”, said the boy.

To conclude, space science affects young people’s future by inspiring curiosity, innovation and interest in science and technology. The Artemis 2 mission and research from “Space science: The view from European school students” show that many students think space is exciting and important for understanding the universe and improving life on Earth.

The students we interviewed from Anna Whitlock were interested in topics like the Big Bang, planets outside our solar system, climate change and future missions to Mars. Many also believed space research could help solve global problems and create new technology for the future.

Satallite. Image: wikiimages/pixabay.

Overall, space science encourages young people to think about the future and inspires careers in science, engineering and exploration.

‘We explore because we are curious, not because we wish to develop grand views of reality or better widgets.’ - Brian Cox