Committee on Large Strategic NASA Science Missions: Science Value and Role in a Balanced Portfolio's Books

Powering Science

NASA's Large Strategic Science Missions

By: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine,Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences,Space Studies Board,Committee on Large Strategic NASA Science Missions: Science Value and Role in a Balanced Portfolio

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NASA's Science Mission Directorate (SMD) currently operates over five dozen missions, with approximately two dozen additional missions in development. These missions span the scientific fields associated with SMD's four divisionsâ€"Astrophysics, Earth Science, Heliophysics, and Planetary Sciences. Because a single mission can consist of multiple spacecraft, NASA-SMD is responsible for nearly 100 operational spacecraft. The most high profile of these are the large strategic missions, often referred to as "flagships." Large strategic missions are essential to maintaining the global leadership of the United States in space exploration and in science because only the United States has the budget, technology, and trained personnel in multiple scientific fields to conduct missions that attract a range of international partners. This report examines the role of large, strategic missions within a balanced program across NASA-SMD space and Earth sciences programs. It considers the role and scientific productivity of such missions in advancing science, technology and the long-term health of the field, and provides guidance that NASA can use to help set the priority of larger missions within a properly balanced program containing a range of mission classes.

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0309463831

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9780309463836

Powering Science

NASA's Large Strategic Science Missions

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Powering Science

NASA's Large Strategic Science Missions

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0309463831

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9780309463836

Powering Science

NASA's Large Strategic Science Missions

By: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (U.S.). Committee on Large Strategic NASA Science Missions: Science Value and Role in a Balanced Portfolio,Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences,Space Studies Board

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Powering Science

NASA's Large Strategic Science Missions

NASAâe(tm)s Science Mission Directorate (SMD) currently operates over five dozen missions, with approximately two dozen additional missions in development. These missions span the scientific fields associated with SMDâe(tm)s four divisionsâe"Astrophysics, Earth Science, Heliophysics, and Planetary Sciences. Because a single mission can consist of multiple spacecraft, NASA-SMD is responsible for nearly 100 operational spacecraft. The most high profile of these are the large strategic missions, often referred to as âeoeflagships.âe Large strategic missions are essential to maintaining the global leadership of the United States in space exploration and in science because only the United States has the budget, technology, and trained personnel in multiple scientific fields to conduct missions that attract a range of international partners. This report examines the role of large, strategic missions within a balanced program across NASA-SMD space and Earth sciences programs. It considers the role and scientific productivity of such missions in advancing science, technology and the long-term health of the field, and provides guidance that NASA can use to help set the priority of larger missions within a properly balanced program containing a range of mission classes.

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112

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ISBN 10

030946384X

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9780309463843

Report Series: Committee on Astrobiology and Planetary Science

Getting Ready for the Next Planetary Science Decadal Survey

By: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine,Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences,Space Studies Board,Committee on Astrobiology and Planetary Science

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Report Series: Committee on Astrobiology and Planetary Science

Getting Ready for the Next Planetary Science Decadal Survey

By: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine,Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences,Space Studies Board,Committee on Astrobiology and Planetary Science

This study discusses the publicly available studies of future flagship- and New Frontiers-class missions NASA initiated since the completion of Vision and Voyages. The report considers the priority areas as defined in Vision and Voyages where publicly available mission studies have not been undertaken; appropriate mechanisms by which mission-study gaps might be filled in the near- to mid-term future; and other activities that might be undertaken in the near- to mid-term future to optimize and/or expedite the work of the next planetary science decadal survey committee.

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0309463378

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9780309463379

An Enabling Foundation for NASA's Earth and Space Science Missions

By: National Research Council,Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences,Space Studies Board,Committee on the Role and Scope of Mission-Enabling Activities in NASA's Space and Earth Science Missions

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An Enabling Foundation for NASA's Earth and Space Science Missions

NASA's space and Earth science program is composed of two principal components: spaceflight projects and mission-enabling activities. Most of the budget of NASA's Science Mission Directorate (SMD) is applied to spaceflight missions, but NASA identifies nearly one quarter of the SMD budget as "mission enabling." The principal mission-enabling activities, which traditionally encompass much of NASA's research and analysis (R&A) programs, include support for basic research, theory, modeling, and data analysis; suborbital payloads and flights and complementary ground-based programs; advanced technology development; and advanced mission and instrumentation concept studies. While the R&A program is essential to the development and support of NASA's diverse set of space and Earth science missions, defining and articulating an appropriate scale for mission-enabling activities have posed a challenge throughout NASA's history. This volume identifies the appropriate roles for mission-enabling activities and metrics for assessing their effectiveness. Furthermore, the book evaluates how, from a strategic perspective, decisions should be made about balance between mission-related and mission-enabling elements of the overall program as well as balance between various elements within the mission-enabling component. Collectively, these efforts will help SMD to make a good program even better.

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0309151589

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9780309151580

Extending Science

NASA's Space Science Mission Extensions and the Senior Review Process

By: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine,Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences,Space Studies Board,Committee on NASA Science Mission Extensions

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Extending Science

NASA's Space Science Mission Extensions and the Senior Review Process

By: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine,Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences,Space Studies Board,Committee on NASA Science Mission Extensions

NASA operates a large number of space science missions, approximately three-quarters of which are currently in their extended operations phase. They represent not only a majority of operational space science missions, but a substantial national investment and vital national assets. They are tremendously scientifically productive, making many of the major discoveries that are reported in the media and that rewrite textbooks. Extending Science â€" NASA's Space Science Mission Extensions and the Senior Review Process evaluates the scientific benefits of missions extensions, the current process for extending missions, the current biennial requirement for senior reviews of mission extensions, the balance between starting new missions and extending operating missions, and potential innovative cost-reduction proposals for extended missions, and makes recommendations based on this review.

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0309448786

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9780309448789

Assessment of Mission Size Trade-offs for NASA's Earth and Space Science Missions

By: National Research Council,Commission on Physical Sciences, Mathematics, and Applications,Space Studies Board,Ad Hoc Committee on the Assessment of Mission Size Trade-offs for Earth and Space Science Missions

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Assessment of Mission Size Trade-offs for NASA's Earth and Space Science Missions

Assessment of Mission Size Trade-offs for NASA's Earth and Space Science Missions addresses fundamental issues of mission architecture in the nation's scientific space program and responds to the FY99 Senate conference report, which requested that NASA commission a study to assess the strengths and weaknesses of small, medium, and large missions. This report evaluates the general strengths and weaknesses of small, medium, and large missions in terms of their potential scientific productivity, responsiveness to evolving opportunities, ability to take advantage of technological progress, and other factors that may be identified during the study; identifies which elements of the SSB and NASA science strategies will require medium or large missions to accomplish high-priority science objectives; and recommends general principles or criteria for evaluating the mix of mission sizes in Earth and space science programs. Assessment of Mission Size Trade-offs for NASA's Earth and Space Science Missions considers not only scientific, technological, and cost trade-offs, but also institutional and structural issues pertaining to the vigor of the research community, government-industry university partnerships, graduate student training, and the like.

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103

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National Academies Press

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ISBN 10

0309069769

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9780309069762

NASA's Strategic Direction and the Need for a National Consensus

By: National Research Council,Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences,Committee on NASA's Strategic Direction

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NASA's Strategic Direction and the Need for a National Consensus

By: National Research Council,Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences,Committee on NASA's Strategic Direction

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is widely admired for astonishing accomplishments since its formation in 1958. Looking ahead over a comparable period of time, what can the nation and the world expect of NASA? What will be the agency's goals and objectives, and what will be the strategy for achieving them? More fundamentally, how will the goals, objectives, and strategy be established and by whom? How will they be modified to reflect changes in science, technology, national priorities, and available resources? In late 2011, the United States Congress directed the NASA Office of Inspector General to commission a "comprehensive independent assessment of NASA's strategic direction and agency management." Subsequently, NASA requested that the National Research Council (NRC) conduct this independent assessment. In the spring of 2012, the NRC Committee on NASA's Strategic Direction was formed and began work on its task. The committee determined that, only with a national consensus on the agency's future strategic direction-along the lines described in the full NRC report-can NASA continue to deliver the wonder, the knowledge, the national security and economic benefits, and the technology that have been typified by its earlier history. NASA's Strategic Direction and the Need for a National Consensus summarizes the findings and recommendations of the committee.

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0309313546

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9780309313544

An Assessment of Balance in NASA's Science Programs

By: National Research Council,Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences,Space Studies Board,Committee on an Assessment of Balance in NASA's Science Programs

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An Assessment of Balance in NASA's Science Programs

By: National Research Council,Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences,Space Studies Board,Committee on an Assessment of Balance in NASA's Science Programs

When the space exploration initiative was announced, Congress asked the NRC to review the science NASA proposed to carryout under the initiative. It also asked the NRC to assess whether this program would provide balanced scientific research across the established disciplines supported by NASA in addition to supporting the new initiative. In 2005, the NRC released three studies focusing on a portion of that task, but changes at NASA forced the postponement of the last phase. This report presents that last phase with an assessment of the health of the NASA scientific disciplines under the budget requests imposed by the exploration initiative. The report also provides an analysis of whether the science budget appropriately reflects cross-disciplinary scientific priorities.

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0309102219

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9780309102216

Review of the Draft 2014 Science Mission Directorate Science Plan

By: Committee on the Assessment of the NASA Science Mission Directorate 2014 Science Plan,Space Studies Board,Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences,National Research Council

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Review of the Draft 2014 Science Mission Directorate Science Plan

By: Committee on the Assessment of the NASA Science Mission Directorate 2014 Science Plan,Space Studies Board,Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences,National Research Council

NASA's Science Mission Directorate (SMD) is engaged in the final stages of a comprehensive, agency-wide effort to develop a new strategic plan at a time when its budget is under considerable stress. SMD's Science Plan serves to provide more detail on its four traditional science disciplines - astronomy and astrophysics, solar and space physics (also called heliophysics), planetary science, and Earth remote sensing and related activities - than is possible in the agency-wide Strategic Plan. Review of the Draft 2014 Science Mission Directorate Science Plan comments on the responsiveness of SMD's Science Plan to the National Research Council's guidance on key science issues and opportunities in recent NRC decadal reports. This study focuses on attention to interdisciplinary aspects and overall scientific balance; identification and exposition of important opportunities for partnerships as well as education and public outreach; and integration of technology development with the science program. The report provides detailed findings and recommendations relating to the draft Science Plan.

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0309297664

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9780309297660

Science in NASA's Vision for Space Exploration

By: National Research Council,Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences,Space Studies Board,Committee on the Scientific Context for Space Exploration

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Science in NASA's Vision for Space Exploration

By: National Research Council,Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences,Space Studies Board,Committee on the Scientific Context for Space Exploration

In January 2004, President Bush announced a new space policy directed at human and robotic exploration of space. The National Academies released a report at the same time that independently addressed many of the issues contained in the new policy. In June, the President's Commission on Implementation of United States Space Exploration Policy issued a report recommending that NASA ask the National Research Council (NRC) to reevaluate space science priorities to take advantage of the exploration vision. Congress also directed the NRC to conduct a thorough review of the science NASA is proposing to undertake within the initiative. This report provides an initial response to those requests. It presents guiding principles for selecting science missions that enhance and support the exploration program. The report also presents findings and recommendations to help guide NASA's space exploration strategic planning activity. Separate NRC reviews will be carried out of strategic roadmaps that NASA is developing to implement the policy.

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0309165253

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9780309165259

NASA's Science Activation Program

Achievements and Opportunities

By: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine,Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education,Board on Science Education,Committee to Assess Science Activation

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NASA's Science Activation Program

Achievements and Opportunities

By: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine,Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education,Board on Science Education,Committee to Assess Science Activation

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is one of the United States' leading federal science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) agencies and plays an important role in the landscape of STEM education. In 2015, NASA's Science Mission Directorate (SMD) created the Science Activation (SciAct) program to increase the overall coherence of SMD's education efforts, to support more effective, sustainable, and efficient use of SMD science discoveries for education, and to enable NASA scientists and engineers to engage more effectively and efficiently in the STEM learning environment with learners of all ages. SciAct is now transitioning into its second round of funding, and it is beneficial to review the program's portfolio and identify opportunities for improvement. NASA's Science Activation Program: Achievements and Opportunities assesses SciAct's efforts towards meeting its goals. The key objectives of SciAct are to enable STEM education, improve U.S. scientific literacy, advance national education goals, and leverage efforts through partnerships. This report describes and assesses the history, current status, and vision of the program and its projects. It also provides recommendations to enhance NASA's efforts through the SciAct program.

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159

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0309497345

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9780309497343

Review of the Restructured Research and Analysis Programs of NASA's Planetary Science Division

By: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine,Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences,Space Studies Board,Committee on the Review of NASA's Planetary Science Division's Restructured Research and Analysis Program

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Review of the Restructured Research and Analysis Programs of NASA's Planetary Science Division

The Research and Analysis (R&A) program managed by NASA's Planetary Science Division (PSD), supports a broad range of planetary science activities, including the analysis of data from past and current spacecraft; laboratory research; theoretical, modeling, and computational studies; geological and astrobiological fieldwork in planetary analog environments on Earth; geological mapping of planetary bodies; analysis of data from Earth- and space-based telescopes; and development of flight instruments and technology needed for future planetary science missions. The primary role of the PSD R&A program is to address NASA's strategic objective for planetary science and PSD's science goals. Recently, PSD reorganized the R&A program to provide better alignment with the strategic goals for planetary sciences. The major changes in the R&A program involved consolidating a number of prior program elements, many of which were organized by subdiscipline, into a smaller number of thematic core research program elements. Despite numerous efforts by PSD to communicate the rationale for the reorganization and articulate clearly the new processes, there has been significant resistance from the planetary science community and concerns in some sectors regarding the major realignment of funding priorities. Review of NASA's Planetary Science Division's Restructured Research and Analysis Programs examines the new R&A program and determines if it appropriately aligns with the agency's strategic goals, supports existing flight programs, and enables future missions. This report explores whether any specific research areas or subdisciplinary groups that are critical to NASA's strategic objectives for planetary science and PSD's science goals are not supported appropriately in the current program or have been inadvertently disenfranchised through the reorganization.

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0309458706

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9780309458702

Building a Better NASA Workforce

Meeting the Workforce Needs for the National Vision for Space Exploration

By: National Research Council,Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences,Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board,Space Studies Board,Committee on Meeting the Workforce Needs for the National Vision for Space Exploration

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Building a Better NASA Workforce

Meeting the Workforce Needs for the National Vision for Space Exploration

The Vision for Space Exploration (VSE) announced by President George W. Bush in 2004 sets NASA and the nation on a bold path to return to the Moon and one day put a human on Mars. The long-term endeavor represented by the VSE is, however, subject to the constraints imposed by annual funding. Given that the VSE may take tens of years to implement, a significant issue is whether NASA and the United States will have the workforce needed to achieve that vision. The issues range from short-term concerns about the current workforce's skills for overseeing the development of new spacecraft and launch vehicles for the VSE to long-term issues regarding the training, recruiting, and retaining of scientists and engineers in-house as well as in industry and academia. Asked to explore science and technology (S&T) workforce needs to achieve the nation's long-term space exploration, the Committee on Meeting the Workforce Needs for the National Vision for Space Exploration concluded that in the short term, NASA does not possess the requisite in-house personnel with the experience in human spaceflight systems development needed to implement the VSE. But the committee acknowledges that NASA is cognizant of this fact and has taken steps to correct it, primarily by seeking to recruit highly skilled personnel from outside NASA, including persons from industry and retirees. For the long term, NASA has to ask if it is attracting and developing the talent it will need to execute a mission to return to the Moon, and the agency must identify what it needs to do to attract and develop a world-class workforce to explore other worlds. A major challenge for NASA is reorienting its human spaceflight workforce from the operation of current vehicles to the development of new vehicles at least throughout the next decade, as well as starting operations with new rockets and new spacecraft. The committee emphasizes further that when evaluating its future workforce requirements, NASA has to consider not only programs for students, but also training opportunities for its current employees. NASA's training programs at the agency's various field centers, which are focused on NASA's civil service talent, require support to prevent the agency's internal skill base from withering. Furthermore, NASA faces the risk that, if it fails to nurture its own internal workforce, skilled personnel will be attracted to other government agencies and industry. Building a Better NASA Workforce: Meeting the Workforce Needs for the National Vision for Space Exploration explains the findings and recommendations of the committee.

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0309107644

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9780309107648

NASA's Beyond Einstein Program

An Architecture for Implementation

By: National Research Council,Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences,Board on Physics and Astronomy,Space Studies Board,Committee on NASA's Beyond Einstein Program: An Architecture for Implementation

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NASA's Beyond Einstein Program

An Architecture for Implementation

Beyond Einstein science" is a term that applies to a set of new scientific challenges at the intersection of physics and astrophysics. Observations of the cosmos now have the potential to extend our basic physical laws beyond where 20th-century research left them. Such observations can provide stringent new tests of Einstein's general theory of relativity, indicate how to extend the Standard Model of elementary-particle physics, and-if direct measurements of gravitational waves were to be made-give astrophysics an entirely new way of observing the universe. In 2003, NASA, working with the astronomy and astrophysics communities, prepared a research roadmap entitled Beyond Einstein: From the Big Bang to Black Holes. This roadmap proposed that NASA undertake space missions in five areas in order to study dark energy, black holes, gravitational radiation, and the inflation of the early universe, to test Einstein's theory of gravitation. This study assesses the five proposed Beyond Einstein mission areas to determine potential scientific impact and technical readiness. Each mission is explored in great detail to aid decisions by NASA regarding both the ordering of the remaining missions and the investment strategy for future technology development within the Beyond Einstein Program.

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186

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National Academies Press

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ISBN 10

0309111625

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9780309111621

Recapturing a Future for Space Exploration

Life and Physical Sciences Research for a New Era

By: National Research Council,Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences,Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board,Space Studies Board,Committee for the Decadal Survey on Biological and Physical Sciences in Space

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Recapturing a Future for Space Exploration

Life and Physical Sciences Research for a New Era

More than four decades have passed since a human first set foot on the Moon. Great strides have been made in our understanding of what is required to support an enduring human presence in space, as evidenced by progressively more advanced orbiting human outposts, culminating in the current International Space Station (ISS). However, of the more than 500 humans who have so far ventured into space, most have gone only as far as near-Earth orbit, and none have traveled beyond the orbit of the Moon. Achieving humans' further progress into the solar system had proved far more difficult than imagined in the heady days of the Apollo missions, but the potential rewards remain substantial. During its more than 50-year history, NASA's success in human space exploration has depended on the agency's ability to effectively address a wide range of biomedical, engineering, physical science, and related obstacles-an achievement made possible by NASA's strong and productive commitments to life and physical sciences research for human space exploration, and by its use of human space exploration infrastructures for scientific discovery. The Committee for the Decadal Survey of Biological and Physical Sciences acknowledges the many achievements of NASA, which are all the more remarkable given budgetary challenges and changing directions within the agency. In the past decade, however, a consequence of those challenges has been a life and physical sciences research program that was dramatically reduced in both scale and scope, with the result that the agency is poorly positioned to take full advantage of the scientific opportunities offered by the now fully equipped and staffed ISS laboratory, or to effectively pursue the scientific research needed to support the development of advanced human exploration capabilities. Although its review has left it deeply concerned about the current state of NASA's life and physical sciences research, the Committee for the Decadal Survey on Biological and Physical Sciences in Space is nevertheless convinced that a focused science and engineering program can achieve successes that will bring the space community, the U.S. public, and policymakers to an understanding that we are ready for the next significant phase of human space exploration. The goal of this report is to lay out steps and develop a forward-looking portfolio of research that will provide the basis for recapturing the excitement and value of human spaceflight-thereby enabling the U.S. space program to deliver on new exploration initiatives that serve the nation, excite the public, and place the United States again at the forefront of space exploration for the global good.

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464

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ISBN 10

0309163846

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9780309163842

NASA Space Technology Roadmaps and Priorities Revisited

By: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine,Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences,Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board,Committee on NASA Technology Roadmaps

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NASA Space Technology Roadmaps and Priorities Revisited

By: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine,Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences,Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board,Committee on NASA Technology Roadmaps

Historically, the United States has been a world leader in aerospace endeavors in both the government and commercial sectors. A key factor in aerospace leadership is continuous development of advanced technology, which is critical to U.S. ambitions in space, including a human mission to Mars. To continue to achieve progress, NASA is currently executing a series of aeronautics and space technology programs using a roadmapping process to identify technology needs and improve the management of its technology development portfolio. NASA created a set of 14 draft technology roadmaps in 2010 to guide the development of space technologies. In 2015, NASA issued a revised set of roadmaps. A significant new aspect of the update has been the effort to assess the relevance of the technologies by listing the enabling and enhancing technologies for specific design reference missions (DRMs) from the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate and the Science Mission Directorate. NASA Space Technology Roadmaps and Priorities Revisited prioritizes new technologies in the 2015 roadmaps and recommends a methodology for conducting independent reviews of future updates to NASA's space technology roadmaps, which are expected to occur every 4 years.

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115

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National Academies Press

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ISBN 10

0309446996

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9780309446990

Launching Science

Science Opportunities Provided by NASA's Constellation System

By: National Research Council,Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences,Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board,Space Studies Board,Committee on Science Opportunities Enabled by NASA's Constellation System

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Launching Science

Science Opportunities Provided by NASA's Constellation System

In January 2004 NASA was given a new policy direction known as the Vision for Space Exploration. That plan, now renamed the United States Space Exploration Policy, called for sending human and robotic missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond. In 2005 NASA outlined how to conduct the first steps in implementing this policy and began the development of a new human-carrying spacecraft known as Orion, the lunar lander known as Altair, and the launch vehicles Ares I and Ares V. Collectively, these are called the Constellation System. In November 2007 NASA asked the National Research Council (NRC) to evaluate the potential for new science opportunities enabled by the Constellation System of rockets and spacecraft. The NRC committee evaluated a total of 17 mission concepts for future space science missions. Of those, the committee determined that 12 would benefit from the Constellation System and five would not. This book presents the committee's findings and recommendations, including cost estimates, a review of the technical feasibility of each mission, and identification of the missions most deserving of future study.

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157

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National Academies Press

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ISBN 10

0309178118

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9780309178112

Fostering Visions for the Future

A Review of the NASA Institute of Advanced Concepts

By: National Research Council,Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences,Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board,Committee to Review the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts

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Fostering Visions for the Future

A Review of the NASA Institute of Advanced Concepts

By: National Research Council,Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences,Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board,Committee to Review the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts

The NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts (NIAC) was formed in 1998 to provide an independent source of advanced aeronautical and space concepts that could dramatically impact how NASA develops and conducts its missions. Until the program's termination in August 2007, NIAC provided an independent open forum, a high-level point of entry to NASA for an external community of innovators, and an external capability for analysis and definition of advanced aeronautics and space concepts to complement the advanced concept activities conducted within NASA. Throughout its 9-year existence, NIAC inspired an atmosphere for innovation that stretched the imagination and encouraged creativity. As requested by Congress, this volume reviews the effectiveness of NIAC and makes recommendations concerning the importance of such a program to NASA and to the nation as a whole, including the proper role of NASA and the federal government in fostering scientific innovation and creativity and in developing advanced concepts for future systems. Key findings and recommendations include that in order to achieve its mission, NASA must have, and is currently lacking, a mechanism to investigate visionary, far-reaching advanced concepts. Therefore, a NIAC-like entity should be reestablished to fill this gap.

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0309146801

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9780309146807

Report Series: Committee on Astrobiology and Planetary Science

Getting Ready for the Next Planetary Science Decadal Survey

By: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine,Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences,Space Studies Board,Committee on Astrobiology and Planetary Science

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Report Series: Committee on Astrobiology and Planetary Science

Getting Ready for the Next Planetary Science Decadal Survey

By: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine,Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences,Space Studies Board,Committee on Astrobiology and Planetary Science

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0309463378

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9780309463379

SBIR at NASA

By: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine,Policy and Global Affairs,Board on Science, Technology, and Economic Policy,Committee on Capitalizing on Science, Technology, and Innovation: An Assessment of the Small Business Innovation Research Program--Phase II

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SBIR at NASA

The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program is one of the largest examples of U.S. public-private partnerships, and was established in 1982 to encourage small businesses to develop new processes and products and to provide quality research in support of the U.S. government's many missions. The U.S. Congress tasked the National Research Council with undertaking a comprehensive study of how the SBIR program has stimulated technological innovation and used small businesses to meet federal research and development needs, and with recommending further improvements to the program. In the first round of this study, an ad hoc committee prepared a series of reports from 2004 to 2009 on the SBIR program at the five agencies responsible for 96 percent of the program's operations-including NASA. In a follow-up to the first round, NASA requested from the Academies an assessment focused on operational questions in order to identify further improvements to the program. Public-private partnerships like SBIR are particularly important since today's knowledge economy is driven in large part by the nation's capacity to innovate. One of the defining features of the U.S. economy is a high level of entrepreneurial activity. Entrepreneurs in the United States see opportunities and are willing and able to assume risk to bring new welfare-enhancing, wealth-generating technologies to the market. Yet, although discoveries in various fields present new opportunities, converting these discoveries into innovations for the market involves substantial challenges. The American capacity for innovation can be strengthened by addressing the challenges faced by entrepreneurs.

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Page Count

379

Publisher

National Academies Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0309377870

ISBN 13

9780309377874

A Risk Reduction Strategy for Human Exploration of Space

A Review of NASA's Bioastronautics Roadmap

By: National Research Council,Institute of Medicine,Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board,Space Studies Board,Board on Health Sciences Policy,Committee on Review of NASA's Bioastronautics Roadmap

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A Risk Reduction Strategy for Human Exploration of Space

A Review of NASA's Bioastronautics Roadmap

By: National Research Council,Institute of Medicine,Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board,Space Studies Board,Board on Health Sciences Policy,Committee on Review of NASA's Bioastronautics Roadmap

Extending the spatial and temporal boundaries of human space flight is an important goal for the nation and for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). However, human space flight remains an endeavor with substantial risks, and these risks must be identified, managed, and mitigated appropriately to achieve the nation's goals in space. The Bioastronautics Roadmap (BR) is the result of extensive, commendable efforts on the part of NASA to prioritize research efforts to meet these challenges. In 2003, NASA asked the Institute of Medicine (IOM), in collaboration with the Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences of the National Academies, to conduct a review of the BR. Specifically, NASA asked the committee to (1) conduct a comprehensive assessment and report of the strengths and weaknesses of the content and processes of the Bioastronautics Roadmap as applied to the missions described in the President's exploration initiative and (2) identify the unique challenges for accomplishing its goals and objectives. In September 2004, the committee released its preliminary report to NASA entitled Preliminary Considerations Regarding NASA's Bioastronautics Critical Path Roadmap. That document presented the committee's preliminary conclusions about the strengths and weaknesses of the April 2004 version of the BR. This report, A Risk Reductions Strategy for Human Exploration of Space, builds on those preliminary conclusions and provides recommendations to NASA about how to address the issues identified by the committee.

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Page Count

162

Publisher

National Academies Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0309180341

ISBN 13

9780309180344

Book's by Committee on Large Strategic NASA Science Missions: Science Value and Role in a Balanced Portfolio

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