Students help Canadian Space Agency promote asteroid mission!

Posted: September 6, 2016 - 16:03 , by ROM
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Written by EVC student Matthew Brocklehurst

How do you get high school kids interested in space science? This was the question asked of Environmental Visual Communication (EVC) students by the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).


EVC students working on a storyboard for their CSA video (photo by Vincent Luk).

EVC is a post-graduate program run by Fleming College at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM). Students learn how to communicate scientific issues to the public using visual media. It is often described as a bridge between art and science, generating scientific storytellers. Each year the program does a “boot-camp”, where students get to experience what it would be like to prepare a campaign or piece of media for a client.


EVC students getting briefed on the mission by Dr. Tim Haltigin, CSA Mission Manager on the OSIRIS-REx mission (photo by Vincent Luk).

Enter the Canadian Space Agency, who was the client for this year’s EVC boot-camp. They are a contributor to NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission, which is a mission to retrieve a sample from a near-Earth asteroid named Bennu. The CSA has been raising awareness for the mission, leading up to the successful launch on Sept. 8, 2016 at 7:05pm. EVC’s goal was to create several pieces of media that showcased the mission, Canada’s involvement, and which were geared towards Canadian high school students to try to keep them interested in STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Math).


EVC students get a rundown of MDA’s involvement with the mission, and later a tour of MDA’s facility in Brampton Ontario (photo by Vincent Luk).

During the two week period students did extensive research on both the audience and the subject matter. One highlight was a visit to the MDA Robotics lab in Brampton. Famous for developing the Canadarm, MDA also built OLA (OSIRIS-Rex Laser Altimeter), the piece of equipment Canada has contributed to the mission.


EVC students interview Tim Haltigin, Canadian Mission Manager on the OSIRIS-REx mission (photo by Vincent Luk).

Additionally, the students interviewed Dr. Tim Haltigin, the Canadian Mission Manager for the OSIRIS-REx mission. He explained what the mission was about, and Canada’s involvement. The audio from this interview was used in much of the media produced. 

“I’m incredibly impressed with the material that the students put together in such a short amount of time”

~ Dr. Tim Haltigin, Canadian Mission Manager for the OSIRIS-REx mission.

Students also interviewed Dr. Kim Tait, Teck Endowed Chair of Mineralogy at the ROM. Dr. Tait is part of a team of Canadian collaborating scientists working on the mission and could potentially study portions of the returned sample from Bennu.

Three of the videos produced during the boot-camp can be viewed below, one of which was selected by the CSA to be used during the OSIRIS-REx mission campaign!

The first video is based off of cooking videos that are popular on the internet, especially on social media feeds. It uses the metaphor of the Earth being a cake to show why asteroids like Bennu are important to studying where the Earth came from and how it formed.

While the cake video was based off of popular trends on social media, it did not specifically target youth, which was the goal of the project. EVC students did some research into videos popular with teenagers and found that a lot of very popular YouTube videos featured very low cost comedy routines. The props, effects, stunts and writing were often purposefully bad, which added to the humour. To that end, the second video is an overview of the mission, but re-created using a “budget” feel, using humour to keep people interested.

The third video introduces the viewer to two scientists, Dr. Tim Haltigin and Dr. Kim Tait, and how they got involved with the mission. They explain some details about the mission, but also how they got into science in the first place. This was the video that was ultimately picked up by the CSA, and was used in their social media campaign about the mission!

The boot-camp provided a great opportunity for student’s to have real-world experience working with a client. Several key practical lessons were learned, including how to conduct interviews, doing research into a target audience, and the importance of getting good audio recordings from the start!  

Though only one video was eventually picked up by the CSA, EVC students received great feedback on all of the media they produced. Many people remarked upon how creative the ideas were, and praised how they were based on research into popular trends. Much of the critical feedback was based on technical problems, such as audio quality and post production.

Altogether, this was an amazing experience for all involved. EVC students gained valuable practical experience, and the CSA and the ROM received some awesome media assets to use!

Learn more about the mission!

Now at the ROM

Be sure to check out our new Mission to Bennu display in the Teck Suite of Galleries on the second floor of the ROM.

Sept. 13  Mission to Bennu Panel at the ROM

The Canadian Space Agency and the ROM are hosting a “Mission to Bennu” presentation and panel discussion with all the Canadian scientists about the OSIRIS-REx mission on September 13th, 2016 here at the museum.  They will have just returned from witnessing the launch at Mission Control and will have the most up-to the minute news to share.  Hope to see you there!

Sept. 17-18 11:00 am – 4:00pm Brilliant Science Family Fundays at the ROM

Asteroid Explorers and the Mission to Bennu: Find out how Canada is helping NASA explore the asteroid Bennu, and how the ROM is involved in the OSIRIS-REx mission!

https://www.rom.on.ca/en/whats-on/family-funday-brilliant-science

Sept. 21: OSIRIS-REx Special School Visit

Teachers – register your class for a special full-day event focused on NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission to the asteroid Bennu! This special school visit event will feature a talk from a mission scientist, exploration of the ROM’s OSIRIS-REx exhibition and the Teck Suite of Galleries, a face-to-camera encounter with a rover, and time in the ROM Makerspace to make personalized mission patches. Bring space exploration to your students!

https://www.rom.on.ca/school_visits/index.php?route=product/product&path=129&product_id=783