There is a solid argument that can be made that Earth scientists -- especially geologists in particular -- aren't good at thinking "big". That isn't to say we don't have fascinating questions to answer or exciting fields of research. Rather, geologists projects tend to be a lot smaller in scale than what the astronomers and physicists propose.
Only recently did geologists start getting into the business of lobbing high profile things into space, and usually those things are visiting other planets in search of life. Well, maybe it is about time that we start thinking about how we can learn about our planet from space in a way that can capture the public's imagination.
