National Space Society To Co-Host Participatory Exploration Summit with NASA Ames Research Center

National Space Society To Co-Host Participatory Exploration Summit with NASA Ames Research Center

June 26, 2007, Moffett Field, CA – The National Space Society, in collaboration with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, is co-hosting the Participatory Exploration Summit at Ames Research Center today. This invitation-only event will bring together Web 2.0, virtual world and Internet experts with NASA stakeholders to discuss the use of new technologies to better engage the public with space exploration.

Confirmed attendees include television host and author Bill Nye; Popular Science editor-in-chief Mark Jannot; and Jerry Heneghan, CEO of Virtual Heroes and an executive producer of the America's Army Game Project. Leaders from companies and organizations such as Twitter, IBM, Creative Commons, Qualcomm, McCann Worldgroup, Digital Space Commons, Kurzweil Technologies, O'Reilly Radar and more are expected to attend.

Participatory exploration employs the use of new interactive technologies to more deeply engage citizens with space missions. Such technologies are second nature to youth today and will be essential to capturing and retaining the long-term interest of future generations in exploration.

"Participatory exploration is the next big thing for space," said George Whitesides, Executive Director of the National Space Society. "This goes beyond the simple distribution of images via the web to an era in which the public truly experiences space exploration, in real-time and in high resolution. Participatory exploration offers the opportunity for NASA and other space organizations to redefine the public's relationship with exploration, and energize the public about space exploration goals and missions."

For more information on the Summit, visit: http://colab.arc.nasa.gov/pes

NASA and the National Space Society will co-host the event. Sponsors of the event include Virtue Arts, Lunar Explorer, Virtual Heroes and Virtual Astronaut.
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About the National Space Society
The National Space Society (NSS) is an independent, grassroots organization dedicated to the creation of a spacefaring civilization. Founded in 1974, NSS is widely acknowledged as the preeminent citizen's voice on space. NSS counts thousands of members and over 50 chapters in the United States and around the world. The society also publishes Ad Astra magazine, an award-winning periodical chronicling the most important developments in space. For more information about NSS, how to join or donate, or the society's annual International Space Development Conference, visit:
http://www.nss.org