Gen-Z associates space with Elon Musk & Jeff Bezos, 97% people see space as threat: Study

About 97% of people globally see space as a threat as they are worried about asteroids and space junk, says a new report released by Inmarsat, Britain's largest satellite group. The study further says that Gen-Z, meaning those born between 1995 and 2012, are twice as likely to associate space with Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos along with aliens and Star Wars.

"This report should be a wake-up call for our industry", Rajeev Suri, CEO of Inmarsat said as per Forbes. "Space appears to be under-appreciated and misunderstood in the real-world. In many respects, the knowledge we possess as a society is inaccurate and incomplete," he added.

Report exposes public awareness about space

This report was prepared after a survey of 20,000 people from 11 countries and it revealed public awareness and their perception of outer space. The survey revealed that one in nine people is 'terrified' of space as issues such as space junk and collisions in orbit (47%), pollution (39%), and damaging the Earth’s atmosphere (35%) emerged as the biggest threats.

Surprisingly, 36% of respondents consider communication satellites unessential about which retired NASA astronaut Scott Kelly said, "People may not realize how the voice and data they rely on comes from satellites".

He added that even the navigation and ATM services that we use are because of the GPS satellites, Forbes reported. What's more, is that only one in three adults of all ages are 'excited' about space whereas one in five is 'nervous'. However, the report also showed that the generations older than Gen-Z are much more optimistic about space and its prospects.

People have not fallen out of love with space: Kelly

The NASA astronaut believes that irrespective of what the report says, people 'have not fallen out of love with space' thanks to the thriving aerospace companies of Musk, Bezos and other billionaires. "I think they're extremely interested in it. I think the activities of commercial space companies like SpaceX, Blue Origin, Virgin Orbit and Virgin Galactic really has gripped people's attention", Kelly told Daily Mail. "There is just a lot going on in the world at the moment."

The veteran astronaut also supported the idea of increasing privatisation of the space industry saying that "governments have been doing it for 70 years now. It's time for the entrepreneurs of this world to step up".