Destination Station: The hit of the year
2017-10-25
At a glance, some may think of Destination Station as a rock band considering the many road shows it’s had during the past year. This year, the International Space Station (ISS) outreach campaign headlined at South by Southwest, the Essence Festival, Artscape, Super Bowl LI and many more notable events. The Destination Station team also traveled to Charleston, Portland, Seattle and Washington, D.C., for meetups with industry leaders to exchange ideas on how companies could use the microgravity research laboratory to further budding technology and scientific discovery. When not seeking industry connections, the campaign also informs the public about groundbreaking scientific investigations being conducted aboard the space station.
“Destination Station and the Driven to Explore [DTE] mobile exhibit are keys in our ISS toolkit that open doors for us to promote STEM, public awareness and, most importantly, ISS utilization opportunities for research and technology,” said Lesa Spivey, ISS Strategic Communications and Partnerships lead.
The DTE mobile exhibit is a key component to the Destination Station program that uses a collection of interactive features to pull audiences into the gravity of station science. It includes a video about ISS research, a touchable moon rock, spacesuit for impromptu photo ops, astronaut food and a glove and helmet for participants to try on. There are even virtual reality goggles for people who wish to go on a virtual tour of the orbiting laboratory.
Even though the exhibit is a look ahead at the future of NASA, it also inspires reminiscing of past human space exploration. One visitor was moved to tears by the touchable moon rock, recalling how humans went to the moon when he was only in his teens. And though the campaign can spark nostalgia, it often sparks innovation as NASA connects with industry and researchers.
Destination Station partners with the Center for the Advancement of Science and Space (CASIS) to identify cities with a high concentration of industries. CASIS, a nonprofit organization that manages station as a U.S. National Laboratory, is the conduit allowing scientific, academic, commercial and nonprofit entities to get their research aboard the space station.
“Destination Station has provided a collaborative model that truly demonstrates how CASIS and NASA are powered through partnership to fully utilize the International Space Station,” said CASIS Marketing and Communications Manager Patrick O’Neill. “This collaborative model has garnered access to some of the more recognizable companies in the world, allowing the space station to tell its unique research story and, equally, discuss how these companies and researchers can benefit by leveraging microgravity.”
During Destination Station visits, the DTE mobile exhibit, a representative from the ISS Program Science Office, CASIS representatives and an astronaut team up in cities across the country to increase research aboard the station. The team conveys to varied audiences that doing research in space benefits Earth, companies’ products and services and, moreover, their consumers.
“The team is challenged to think out of the box about new and innovative research ideas,” said Dr. Camille Alleyne, associate program scientist for ISS. Research ideas generated must benefit humanity in some capacity.
What excites Alleyne is just how many companies are eager to develop their products further in a microgravity environment. The more industry is aware of this unique test bed, the more experiments can—and will—be sent to space, ultimately leading to a commercial marketplace.
David Brady, assistant program scientist with the ISS Program, went on his first Destination Station stop in Charleston during the Eclipse Across America on Aug. 21. This event attracted a diverse pool of researchers who were excited to learn about doing experiments in space.
Brady took the opportunity to share with those stakeholders that the agency and other entities are conducting research in space that will benefit third-world countries and even help with disaster relief. There are currently about 200 different investigations being performed aboard the space station that will somehow benefit humanity.
Other cities received special attention as well. In Seattle, NASA and CASIS worked with cutting-edge companies such as Blue Origin, Microsoft and Starbucks. With Starbucks, they had a meaningful discussion about remote sensing, plant biology and the enhanced genetics of coffee beans.
While in Portland, Destination Station engaged with the public at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, along with the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts. Additionally, Adidas, Columbia Sportswear and Flir heard more about how to harness the U.S. National Laboratory.
Destination Station rounded out its tour at the nation’s capital. The road show engaged officials at the Pentagon, where about 500 people walked through the DTE exhibit. In addition to the Department of Defense, the team collaborated with the National Park Service and to showcase station at the National Mall in the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Plaza.
At each stop, CASIS works with industry to develop investigations that companies could foreseeably send to the space station. One success story recently emerged. The seeds planted at a Destination Station visit in Minneapolis are now coming to fruition with Target’s ISS Cotton Sustainability Challenge. Target is asking researchers to propose new experiments centering around cotton sustainability.
“Target is not giving the public a problem to solve, but they are giving the public an opportunity to give a problem they believe can be solved on ISS,” said Pete Hasbrook, associate program scientist for ISS.
Hasbrook indicates that a potential investigation could look into how remote sensing can improve the lives of people impacted by cotton production. He is enthusiastic about this challenge because it lets the public be included in generating thought-provoking studies for space research.
“Had it not been for Destination Station, collaborations like this with Target likely never would have been formed,” O’Neill said. “[It] provides another success story for CASIS and NASA to use as a case study in future company meetings.”
Destination Station Lead Crawford Jones notes that the outreach campaign benefits the community by inspiring the general public and showcasing that NASA is conducting meaningful and impactful research in space. Much like a traveling rock band, there are many parts of Destination Station that bring harmony to the world of science. Each stop has generated new ideas for research in space that will ultimately benefit humankind. Moreover, the orbiting laboratory allows NASA to prepare for exploration to Mars and other deep space missions through around-the-clock science and technology studies.
Destination Station is still rolling to conferences and cities nationwide. You can catch the DTE in Houston next at SpaceCom in December. Connecting the public to space research is an ongoing effort. Therefore, unlike a rock band, Destination Station’s tour will not be ending soon.
For more information about the International Space Station, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/iss
For more information about Destination Station, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/destinationstation
For more information on CASIS, visit: https://www.iss-casis.org/
Tiara Sargeant
NASA Johnson Space Center
“Destination Station and the Driven to Explore [DTE] mobile exhibit are keys in our ISS toolkit that open doors for us to promote STEM, public awareness and, most importantly, ISS utilization opportunities for research and technology,” said Lesa Spivey, ISS Strategic Communications and Partnerships lead.
The DTE mobile exhibit is a key component to the Destination Station program that uses a collection of interactive features to pull audiences into the gravity of station science. It includes a video about ISS research, a touchable moon rock, spacesuit for impromptu photo ops, astronaut food and a glove and helmet for participants to try on. There are even virtual reality goggles for people who wish to go on a virtual tour of the orbiting laboratory.
Even though the exhibit is a look ahead at the future of NASA, it also inspires reminiscing of past human space exploration. One visitor was moved to tears by the touchable moon rock, recalling how humans went to the moon when he was only in his teens. And though the campaign can spark nostalgia, it often sparks innovation as NASA connects with industry and researchers.
Destination Station partners with the Center for the Advancement of Science and Space (CASIS) to identify cities with a high concentration of industries. CASIS, a nonprofit organization that manages station as a U.S. National Laboratory, is the conduit allowing scientific, academic, commercial and nonprofit entities to get their research aboard the space station.
“Destination Station has provided a collaborative model that truly demonstrates how CASIS and NASA are powered through partnership to fully utilize the International Space Station,” said CASIS Marketing and Communications Manager Patrick O’Neill. “This collaborative model has garnered access to some of the more recognizable companies in the world, allowing the space station to tell its unique research story and, equally, discuss how these companies and researchers can benefit by leveraging microgravity.”
During Destination Station visits, the DTE mobile exhibit, a representative from the ISS Program Science Office, CASIS representatives and an astronaut team up in cities across the country to increase research aboard the station. The team conveys to varied audiences that doing research in space benefits Earth, companies’ products and services and, moreover, their consumers.
“The team is challenged to think out of the box about new and innovative research ideas,” said Dr. Camille Alleyne, associate program scientist for ISS. Research ideas generated must benefit humanity in some capacity.
What excites Alleyne is just how many companies are eager to develop their products further in a microgravity environment. The more industry is aware of this unique test bed, the more experiments can—and will—be sent to space, ultimately leading to a commercial marketplace.
David Brady, assistant program scientist with the ISS Program, went on his first Destination Station stop in Charleston during the Eclipse Across America on Aug. 21. This event attracted a diverse pool of researchers who were excited to learn about doing experiments in space.
Brady took the opportunity to share with those stakeholders that the agency and other entities are conducting research in space that will benefit third-world countries and even help with disaster relief. There are currently about 200 different investigations being performed aboard the space station that will somehow benefit humanity.
Other cities received special attention as well. In Seattle, NASA and CASIS worked with cutting-edge companies such as Blue Origin, Microsoft and Starbucks. With Starbucks, they had a meaningful discussion about remote sensing, plant biology and the enhanced genetics of coffee beans.
While in Portland, Destination Station engaged with the public at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, along with the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts. Additionally, Adidas, Columbia Sportswear and Flir heard more about how to harness the U.S. National Laboratory.
Destination Station rounded out its tour at the nation’s capital. The road show engaged officials at the Pentagon, where about 500 people walked through the DTE exhibit. In addition to the Department of Defense, the team collaborated with the National Park Service and to showcase station at the National Mall in the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Plaza.
At each stop, CASIS works with industry to develop investigations that companies could foreseeably send to the space station. One success story recently emerged. The seeds planted at a Destination Station visit in Minneapolis are now coming to fruition with Target’s ISS Cotton Sustainability Challenge. Target is asking researchers to propose new experiments centering around cotton sustainability.
“Target is not giving the public a problem to solve, but they are giving the public an opportunity to give a problem they believe can be solved on ISS,” said Pete Hasbrook, associate program scientist for ISS.
Hasbrook indicates that a potential investigation could look into how remote sensing can improve the lives of people impacted by cotton production. He is enthusiastic about this challenge because it lets the public be included in generating thought-provoking studies for space research.
“Had it not been for Destination Station, collaborations like this with Target likely never would have been formed,” O’Neill said. “[It] provides another success story for CASIS and NASA to use as a case study in future company meetings.”
Destination Station Lead Crawford Jones notes that the outreach campaign benefits the community by inspiring the general public and showcasing that NASA is conducting meaningful and impactful research in space. Much like a traveling rock band, there are many parts of Destination Station that bring harmony to the world of science. Each stop has generated new ideas for research in space that will ultimately benefit humankind. Moreover, the orbiting laboratory allows NASA to prepare for exploration to Mars and other deep space missions through around-the-clock science and technology studies.
Destination Station is still rolling to conferences and cities nationwide. You can catch the DTE in Houston next at SpaceCom in December. Connecting the public to space research is an ongoing effort. Therefore, unlike a rock band, Destination Station’s tour will not be ending soon.
For more information about the International Space Station, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/iss
For more information about Destination Station, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/destinationstation
For more information on CASIS, visit: https://www.iss-casis.org/
Tiara Sargeant
NASA Johnson Space Center
Destination Station team members from NASA's Johnson Space Center pose for a group photo during an outreach visit to the Pentagon.
The Destination Station campaign also visited Starbucks in Seattle.
Visitors get a look at space food samples outside the Driven to Explore mobile exhibit.
Visitors learn about the benefits of space station in the Driven to Explore mobile exhibit.
Attendees at the Artscape Festival in Baltimore are exposed to NASA and space station science.