:: adgruntie :: NASA to use YouTube to reach the young?

+ NASA looks to YouTube to remove apathy of the young towards manned trips to the Moon and Mars, but will it work?

NASA Administrator Michael Griffin believes ventures to the moon and Mars will excite young people more than the current shuttle trips to low-Earth orbit.

"If we make it clear that the focus of the United States space program for the foreseeable future will be out there, will be beyond what we do now, I think you won't have any problem at all reacquiring the interest of young people," Griffin said in a recent interview.

At an October workshop attended by 80 NASA message spinners, young adults were right up there with Congress as the top two priorities for NASA's strategic communications efforts.

Tactics encouraged by the workshop included new forms of communication, such as podcasts and YouTube; enlisting support from celebrities, like actors David Duchovny ("X-Files") and Patrick Stewart ("Star Trek: The Next Generation"); forming partnerships with youth-oriented media such as MTV or sports events such as the Olympics and NASCAR; and developing brand placement in the movie industry.

Outside groups have offered ideas too, such as making it a priority to shape the right message about the next-generation Orion missions.

And NASA should take a hint from Hollywood, some suggested.

"The American public engages with issues through people, personalities, celebrities, whatever," said George Whitesides, executive director of the National Space Society, a space advocacy group. "When you don't have that kind of personality, or face, or faces associated with your issue, it's a little bit harder for the public to connect."