Children’s questionnaire to assist future space policy
As part of its deliberations on future space policy, the European Commission is seeking to learn more about children’s attitudes towards the relevance of space activities through an online questionnaire. Teachers are invited to inform their pupils about the survey and to encourage them to complete it before 10 October 2009.
Since the Space Age began with the launch of Sputnik in 1957, space-related technologies have permeated modern society. Today, we tend to take for granted the role of satellites in such activities as weather forecasting, disaster monitoring, telecommunications and navigation.
Europe continues to play a key role in the development and application of such technologies, but this situation cannot be maintained in an arena of growing international competition without continued commitment to funding and research.
The European Union is in the process of deciding how best to proceed in the international drive to explore space, including deliberations on the necessity for autonomous access to space and the importance of open and equal access to the benefits that space activities can bring to all citizens of the 27 EU Member States.
Although space is widely regarded by decision-makers as an area of growing importance for the advancement of humanity, the European Commission is eager to discover the level of support that European citizens have for plans to explore and understand the universe.
As part of this process of developing future space policy, Günter Verheugen, Vice President of the European Commission, has initiated an online questionnaire in order to clarify the levels of understanding and expectation of children aged 6 to 14 years.
The online questionnaire, to be found here, starts again on 1 September and continues until 10 October. The six questions, which have been translated into 21 European languages, are designed to give some important insights into the knowledge and opinions of young people in relation to space exploration.
The results of the survey will be presented in a keynote address by Mr. Verheugen at the Conference on Space Exploration in Prague on 23 October 2009. This conference will bring together Ministers from all EU and ESA Member States in order to define the European political vision and present a compelling political case for future space exploration.
Children's privacy
ESA encourages parents or guardians to stay with children under 13 when they are online and to participate in any interactive activities offered on the website. ESA will not process any personal data of a child under 13 without the previous consent of a parent, guardian, teacher or other person exercising control of the child. No personal data or information will be used for promotional or marketing purposes.
Use of IP address
The IP address is a number that is automatically given to your computer when you are surfing on the internet. Servers that host web pages automatically identify your computer through its IP number. Although ESA uses IP addresses in order to calculate statistics, users remain anonymous.
