With the election up next week, Americans are buzzing about early voting and everything to do with politics. Well, the U.S. is ensuring no one misses their chance to voice their choice—they’re even letting astronauts vote from space!
NASA astronauts Michael Fincke and Greg Chamitoff are trying to encourage other Americans to vote too, and even created a video on board the International Space Station, seen above.
As for them, "Their local county clerks offices sent special secured ballots via Mission Control at Johnson Space Center in Houston up to the space station," Wired said. "The two astronauts must use a crew member-specific credential to access their secure ballots and then return them electronically to Earth."
Pff, and I thought the elections were already so modern because politicians were reaching out on social networking sites and launching viral videos.
Voting From Space
NASA Gets Political
Trend Themes
1. Space Voting - The trend of enabling voting for astronauts from space represents an opportunity for new technology solutions to be developed for secure, remote voting.
2. Digital Identification - Secure digital identification credentials for astronauts is a disruptive innovation that has the potential to be applied in industries such as financial services to reduce identity theft and fraud.
3. Remote Services - The move towards remote voting services showcases a trend for remote services, such as telemedicine or online education, and highlights the need for innovative solutions to support secure, effective remote access.
Industry Implications
1. Government - The government sector has the opportunity to explore new technologies and innovative solutions for secure, remote voting, which could be applied in related areas of identity verification and authentication.
2. Technology - The technology industry has the potential to develop new tools and platforms that enable secure, remote voting, along with other remote services that require secure identification and authentication.
3. Space Travel - The space travel industry has the opportunity to develop new infrastructure and services that support remote voting and communication, potentially encouraging more people to work in space and travel off-world.