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Science in NASA's Vision for Space Exploration (2005) / Chapter Skim
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3 Relevance of the Decadal Strategies and Related Reports
Pages 13-18

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From page 13...
... This thorough planning process, now commonly known as the preparation of decadal surveys, has been applied recently to the field of solar system exploration and to solar and space physics as well, with the results presented in New Frontiers in the Solar System: An Integrated Exploration Strategy (NRC, 2002) and The Sun to the Earthand Beyond: A Decadal Research Strategy in Solar and Space Physics (NRC, 2002)
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From page 14...
... · Will the new knowledge gained substantially strengthen understanding? Consequently, the committee concludes that the most recent NRC decadal surveys for the fields of astronomy and astrophysics, solar system exploration, solar and space physics, and the interface between fundamental physics and cosmology remain valid in the context of NASA's new exploration vision because they do identify the critical science questions to be addressed in the next decade of space exploration.
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From page 15...
... Consequently, the committee concludes that already-published National Research Council studies provide highly relevant discipline-specific guidance for prioritizing critically important research that must be conducted to enable the human exploration of space. The committee recommends that these reports A Strategy for Research in Space Biology and Medicine in the New Century (1998)
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From page 16...
... remained timely and appropriate and that there was no reason to change the recommended near-term mission sequence.7 However, a specific mission set required to develop the capability to predict the space radiation environment through which humans will fly will have to be dealt with as an aspect of crosscutting studies of enabling science called for below. It is instructive to ask how scientific priorities for exploration of the Moon and Mars might change in view of the plans to send humans to these bodies in the next few decades.
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From page 17...
... In many cases, paralleling the decadalsurvey approach in which the users of information participate in setting priorities for obtaining it, it would be appropriate to have representatives of organizations that put forward operational requirements and/or will have to deliver operational systems participate in the evaluation of enabling science. Therefore the committee recommends that NASA identify scientific and technical areas critical to enabling the human exploration program and that it move quickly to give those areas careful attention in a process that emphasizes crosscutting reviews to reflect their interdisciplinary scope, generates rigorous priority setting like that achieved in the decadal science surveys, and utilizes input from a broad range of expertise in the scientific and technical community.
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Key Terms

  • space physics
  • decadal surveys
  • scientific questions
  • space exploration
  • enabling science

  • exploration program
  • space radiation
  • exploration missions
  • setting priorities
  • science questions

  • decadal survey
  • microgravity research
  • enable human
  • fundamental physics
  • major scientific

  • connecting quarks
  • exploration strategy
  • decadal research
  • space station
  • critical scientific

  • specific mission
  • human space
  • astronaut care
  • exploration vision
  • human explorers

  • earthand beyond
  • research strategy
  • priority setting
  • integrated exploration
  • international space


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