NASA suspends education and public outreach

Budget woes...

NASA Internal Memo: Guidance for Education and Public Outreach Activities Under Sequestration
http://spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=43632

Quote :

Effective immediately, all education and public outreach activities should be suspended, pending further review. In terms of scope, this includes all public engagement and outreach events, programs, activities, and products developed and implemented by Headquarters, Mission Directorates, and Centers across the Agency, including all education and public outreach efforts conducted by programs and projects.

hmm...

Quote :

The scope encompasses, but is not limited to:

- Programs, events, and workshops.
- Permanent and traveling exhibits, signage, and other materials.
- Speeches, presentations, and appearances, with the exception of technical presentations by researchers at scientific and technical symposia.
- Video and multimedia products in development (and renewal of existing products).
- Web and social media sites in development (excludes operational sites).
- External and internal publications, with the exception of Scientific and Technical Information as defined by NPD 2200.1B.
- Any other activity whose goal is to reach out to external and internal stakeholders and the public concerning NASA, its programs, and activities.

Ok...so EXISTING web sites remain up and running, and technical presentations (which I interprit to be 'links to relevant papers') are also still a go.

For a moment there, I thought those were going to go away as well.

You're definitely not going to ignite interest among the masses in science through this marketing media operations - in the end it will be always a limited number of people really interested on the matter.

Sci-Fi movies and series - and to a less extent scientific documentaries - probably have far larger impact on the public, and they're not NASA funded. This cut is'nt a great loss from a practical perspective.