29 Apr 2017

NASA science superstars met science fiction superstars last week at the Silicon Valley Comic Con held at the San Jose Convention Center in California. About 100,000 fans attended, and many donned costumes of their favorite characters. NASA’s Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley represented the agency at the event from Friday to Sunday, April 21-23, with 13 exhibits on the main floor, five interactive areas in the Kids Zone, science and technology discussions and panels of world-class scientists, researchers and engineers.

This year’s theme was "The Future of Humanity," and real science and technology leaders were invited to share their expertise and unique perspectives alongside those who create fictional future worlds. Attendees enjoyed thought-provoking exhibits that initiated dialogues with dozens of NASA staff at the agency's booth. NASA panel presentations also drew large audiences whose questions inspired further discussions.
“The SVCC event was great public outreach and just a lot of fun,” said Chris McKay, senior space scientist at Ames. “Talking about Mars exploration at the SVCC was a natural fit. I see a lot of overlap between the NASA missions and the world of comics.”

The Ames Office of Education and Public Engagement coordinated the exhibits and speaker panels for the SVCC event. NASA had 24 panelists who spoke on five panels talking about the solar system and beyond, the journey to Mars, the International Space Station, life in space, NASA’s next technology and Mars science. NASA showcased its exhibits at the center of the event's science and technology area, and many shifts of subject matter experts talked about NASA’s work in aeronautics, exoplanets, space biosciences, technology, human factors and more.
Staff from Ames missions like the SOFIA airborne observatory and planet-hunting spacecraft Kepler talked about the goals of those missions. Pilots from SOFIA signed autographs, and visitors took pictures of themselves in a standing astronaut suit with a peek-through cutout in the helmet.

In the SVCC Kids Zone, NASA demonstrations included student robotics and an unmanned aircraft system. Attending children safely flew a drone virtually through a sector of self-reserved airspace as their own air traffic controller. In the Airspace Operations Laboratory area, children built and launched their own airplanes. At the Aeromechanics exhibit kids made paper helicopters, learned about lift and how rotorcraft fly and had the opportunity to fly a helicopter using Ames' virtual reality flight simulator. Kids were also given a new perspective on technology development, viewing decades-old technology in “Tech Your Parents Grew Up With” exhibit.
As part of the panel discussions, space experts were asked: Where will humanity be in 2075? The panelists shared their views on the future of humanity and the agency’s projected path forward.

A full listing of the panels and panelists, along with more information about the exhibits is listed on Ames' Silicon Valley Comic Con 2017 webpage.
Entertainment celebrities included William Shatner, “Star Trek’s” original Captain Kirk, as well as cast members from “Star Trek: The Next Generation" and “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine”; Grant Gustin of the TV series “Flash”; 1980s stars John Cusack and Robert Englund, best known as Freddy Krueger from “The Nightmare on Elm Street” horror films; and Tory Belleci from Mythbusters.

Brenda Collins, the chief of the Ames Office of Education and Public Engagement Office, extended her appreciation to all employees who participated in the event. "This was a great opportunity for NASA to reach more than 100,000 attendees from a non-traditional audience," she said.