Associations
Which words appear first when a person hears “Russian space industry”.
About the project
Space often sounds like a very big subject. We want to understand how it sounds to a person.
When people talk about the space industry, it is easy to move straight to rockets, orbits and major achievements. This study looks at another layer: which words come first, which images feel personal, where trust appears, and where the field starts to feel closed.
This shows more than the level of interest in space. It helps reveal what brings the industry closer: real professions, clear benefits, real people, new technologies, the romance of discovery, or the chance to become part of a larger effort.
What we ask
Not about correct answers. About associations, interest and a sense of belonging.
The questionnaire works like a conversation with several turns. Participants assess how the industry feels today: modern or outdated, open or closed, close to young people or too far away.
A separate block focuses on images. A person chooses the visuals that best express how space feels today and what its future looks like. Sometimes an image speaks more honestly than a long answer.
Inside the survey
Four things that help build a living picture of the industry
Feelings
How understandable, modern, open and connected to life space feels.
Images
Which visual images spark interest, trust, pride or, on the contrary, distance.
Professions
Whether a person sees a place here for themselves, study, work or volunteering.
Why it matters
So space stops feeling like something “far away”.
The study helps reveal barriers: where professions are not clear enough, where the industry feels too complex, and where young people need peers, mentors or hands-on experience.
- The results will help us talk about science more clearly.
- Industry representatives will better understand what engages young people.
- Participants add not statistics for statistics' sake, but their own view.
Who is behind it
The project brings together scientific volunteering, education and the space industry.
The Udobny Gorod team runs the study with support from the MISIS University Center for Scientific Volunteering Development and the Decade of Science and Technology.
The project starts with a youth audience and then grows into a set of focused directions together with research organisations in the field.
If space feels close, distant or simply unclear, that is already a valuable answer.
The survey takes a little time. No preparation is needed: choose options, write a few associations and mark the images that genuinely resonate.