Issues and Opportunities Regarding the U.S. Space Program A Summary Report of a Workshop on National Space Policy (2004) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
1 Summary
1 Summary
Pages 1-7
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 1... ...
space and Earth science programs are currently productive and progressing steadily, and they clescribect them as being of continuing importance. Many commented cluring the workshop on the inspiration, success, and progress of the science programs, and they elaborated in their contributed abstracts on the benefits of the approach taken by the science programs.2 Much of the success of NASA's science programs was attributed to having clear Tong-range goals and roacimaps that are framed by scientists and periodically reassessed by the science community in the light of new knowledge and capability.3 The comments on science were brief, largely because many participants saw the human exploration program as more problematic than the science programs, which were consiclerect healthy and solid.
|
From page 2... ...
The science programs progress via a series of individual steps that can accumulate successes that help measure progress and sustain momentum for the program. A number of participants observed that many of these attributes from the science programs were missing in the human exploration program and saw the opportunity to apply them as lessons learned for the improvement of the human spaceflight program.
|
From page 3... ...
Better communication of the space experience, therefore, is seen as necessary to maintain the space program's political support among the general public. A strong human spaceflight program can help secure public ownership and involvement in the rest of the civil space program.
|
From page 4... ...
That is, if projects are evaluated against the agreed goal, the workshop discussions envisioned that after many milestones are achieved, and numerous small, cumulative steps are taken, the Tong-term goal will become inevitable. THEME 5: SYNERGY SUPERSEDING THE HUMANS-VERSUS-ROBOTS DICHOTOMY In the ultimate achievement of a Tong-term goal for human exploration, numerous participants macle statements echoing the spirit of the remarks macle by Congressman Ralph Hall, quoted in Chapter 2: "There should no longer be a question of robotic versus human exploration clearly both will be neeclecl.
|
From page 5... ...
THEME 6: THE LONG-TERM GOAL DRIVING ALL IMPLEMENTATION DECISIONS Many participants confirmed the context clescribect in Chapter 2, i.e., that both the space shuttle and space station programs macle too many promises to too many people and thus lost focus on any one technical mission. Yet if the human exploration program tract a goal involving Tong-term human spaceflight, the station could have a very clear justification: to conduct microgravity and variable-gravity research and technology development to support the agreed goal.
|
From page 6... ...
Noel Hinners found this tension creative, resulting in better science, and noted the lack of similar inclepenclent stakehoiclers and creative tension in the current human spaceflight program. La Porte noted that his research on high-reliability organizations shows that they tenet to have a strong presence of, and often active coordination with, outside stakehoicler groups.
|
From page 7... ...
The Scientific Community Fisk concluclect the workshop by saying that he believed that this workshop could be a truly historic event if the scientific and technical communities, in the broadest sense, can say that as a group "we believe in a human spaceflight program, we believe this country should invest in it, and we will stanct up and say how it can be clone procluctively." Participants saw this as a realistic possibility for several reasons. First, the timing seems good, because the robotic-versus-human dichotomy has begun to dissipate.
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.