National Academies Press: OpenBook

An Enabling Foundation for NASA's Earth and Space Science Missions (2010)

Chapter: Appendix A: Statement of Task

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Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Statement of Task." National Research Council. 2010. An Enabling Foundation for NASA's Earth and Space Science Missions. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12822.
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A
Statement of Task

An ad-hoc committee will be organized under the auspices of the Space Studies Board to conduct a study of mission-enabling activities in NASA’s space and Earth sciences program. The study will identify the appropriate roles for mission-enabling activities and metrics for assessing their effectiveness. It also will evaluate 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. Among the topics to be considered are the following:

  • Roles and objectives of mission-enabling activities in NASA as a mission-oriented agency;

  • Necessary characteristics of an effective program of mission-enabling activities, including metrics by which effectiveness can be evaluated;

  • Principles and metrics for determining the appropriate balance of investments between mission-enabling activities and space flight missions so as to best support the agency’s overall strategic objectives;

  • Principles and metrics for determining the appropriate allocation of effort and resources among various mission-enabling program components, including scientific infrastructure (e.g., airplanes, computing) that enables R&A activity;

  • The role and proper fraction of support that should be devoted to “innovative” (high-risk, high-payoff) research, and whether this might vary among science areas;

  • The extent to which current R&A programs support cross-disciplinary and interdisciplinary science, especially across the divisions within NASA’s Science Mission Directorate;

  • The role of R&A programs in training the next generation of Earth and space scientists who will contribute to NASA’s programs in the future; and

  • Relevant benchmarks from industry or other public or private institutions where similar mission versus mission-enabling portfolio allocation assessments are made.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Statement of Task." National Research Council. 2010. An Enabling Foundation for NASA's Earth and Space Science Missions. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12822.
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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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