Pop culture meets pop science at Future Con

Science was a strong presence at the sixth annual Awesome Con. Held 30 March–1 April in Washington, DC, the event attracted tens of thousands of fans of movies, television shows, comics, and video games. Despite the fact that numerous convention goers were dressed as Wookiees, Power Rangers, princesses, and Jedi knights, many lovers of science fiction and fantasy appear also to be lovers of science, period.

Returning for its second consecutive year at Awesome Con was Future Con, a series of panels and events devoted entirely to science and the science aspects of science fiction. The conference’s opening night featured the panel “Intergalactic to Planetary: Science Fiction to Science Fact.”

The four panelists, all space engineers at Boeing, discussed several long-term projects, interspersing video clips with individual presentations. Jim May started off with the CST-100 Starliner, a spacecraft being designed to transport astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS). Automated systems will minimize the number of crew members required, he said, which will open up a seat on each flight for a space tourist or other extra passenger.

Panelist Alexandra Deal focused on remote maintenance of the ISS, in particular keeping the exterior clean so payloads can perform their science. Explaining her work of fixing leaks and making sure radiators work, she called herself a “glorified space janitor.” The day before the convention started, she and her coworkers detected and fixed a leak on the station that allowed a space walk to take place as planned, she said.

The panelists also discussed the Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway, a space station to be used as a staging point for a reusable transport vehicle to ferry astronauts to Mars. An important aspect of Gateway, said David Pederson, will be to teach astronauts “Earth independence,” because they will be unable to communicate directly with mission control on Earth when the station is on the far side of the Moon. Pederson also discussed the use of virtual reality in training simulations to teach crew how to fly the transport vehicle. It might be possible, he said, to speed up missions by having crew members learn how to dock the vehicle while en route.

Although several Future Con panels focused on serious science projects ongoing and planned for both Earth and space, others took a more lighthearted and fanciful direction, such as “The Science of Black Panther.” Referencing the recent blockbuster movie, the panelists addressed speculative topics that included electromagnetic propulsion for spacecraft and whether there is a real-life material like the vibranium used to make the title character’s supersuit. As Lynnette Drake, one of the panelists and an engineer for Lockheed Martin, said, a key to science innovation is dreaming up such wonders and asking, “How can I make that happen?”

The movie was lauded by the panelists not only for its strong black role models but also for its portrayal of the lead character’s younger sister as the scientific genius behind Black Panther’s superhuman abilities. Panelist Matthew Shindell of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum emphasized the importance of such strong female role models in movies and TV, noting that “if she can see it, she can be it.”

Science was also in evidence in the convention’s exhibit hall. Amid the many booths selling costume props, jewelry, and memorabilia, such organizations as the American Association for the Advancement of Science, NASA, and the National Science Foundation had booths with informational materials and fun projects for children. At the American Physical Society table, kids could make LED lights.

It bodes well that among so many purveyors of games and toys, sessions entirely devoted to serious science can draw a crowd on a Friday night. The desire to dream, explore, and experiment is common to both real and fictional science.