Capabilities for the Future An Assessment of NASA Laboratories for Basic Research (2010) / Chapter Skim
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6 Findings and Recommendations
6 Findings and Recommendations
Pages 67-76
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From page 67... ...
The committee believes that the fundamental research community supported by NASA, both internally and externally, has been severely impacted by these budget reductions and that the ability to achieve future NASA goals is in serious jeopardy. This conclusion is based on extensive tours of fundamental research laboratories at six NASA centers, discussions with a few hundred scientists and engineers, both on the tours and in private sessions, and indepth meetings with senior technology managers at each of the centers.
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From page 68... ...
Clearly, NASA is providing technology leadership in some areas in the NASA aeronautics research program, but even in these areas the resources are generally so limited that it is only through the dedication of the staff, who often work in unfavorable environments, that NASA continues this leadership. Research and science center institutional responsibility at NASA Headquarters moved from OAST (Code R)
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From page 69... ...
In response to congressional concerns about the cost of ISS development, NASA's accounting and budgeting approach shifted from covering all NASA manpower in a single appropriation line to an approach whereby all costs, including manpower costs, had to be recovered by charges against either specific programs for which a budget existed or by overhead costs accrued. Under the earlier construct, center directors had significant discretion in assigning manpower to activities because that manpower was already paid for.
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From page 70... ...
In extensive interviews with laboratory scientists at all of the research centers, the committee learned that capitalequipment budgets for procuring sophisticated laboratory equipment for fundamental research were extremely limited. Researchers must provide the necessary funding from their modest research grants or must petition mission programs for funding, but only if the request can be linked to supporting short-term mission goals.
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From page 71... ...
ATP and SCAP facilities do have a maintenance funding line provided by NASA Headquarters. These facilities are ones that NASA has deemed nationally important because they are used by several NASA mission directorates as well as by other government agencies and U.S.
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From page 72... ...
Equipment exceeding a certain cost level must be approved and procured from separate capital-equipment funding. The committee did not witness any equivalent program at the NASA laboratories which it visited that ensures funding for basic research, including such salaries and generalpurpose equipment, and could on that basis alone say that NASA's basic research laboratories are of lower quality than comparable DOE laboratories.
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From page 73... ...
NASA researchers are severely handicapped by practices that limit them to seek funding from NASA for their research, and those NASA sources are extremely limited. Top faculty will often be attracted to a major university by the existence or promise of an outstanding technical facility for research.
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From page 74... ...
Similarly, the committee noted that several NASA centers either did not fund IRAD or B&P programs for research or funded them at a low level due to the lack of overall CM&O funding, so that researchers at those centers had to seek support for their research from NASA mission programs or from extremely limited external sources. Almost all corporate laboratories are expected to be actively engaged with their product divisions, which are likely to fund such involvement.
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From page 75... ...
NASA is not providing sufficient laboratory equipment and support services to address immediate or long-term research needs and is increasingly relying on the contract technician workforce to support the laboratories and facilities. Researchers in the smaller laboratories are forced to buy needed laboratory equipment from their modest research grants, while it is not unusual for researchers in the larger laboratories/facilities to operate facilities at reduced capabilities or not at all due to lack of needed repair resources.
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From page 76... ...
Over the past 5 years or more, the funding of fundamental research at NASA, including the funding of facilities and equipment, has declined dramatically, such that unless corrective action is taken soon, the fundamental research community at NASA will be unable to support the agency's long-term goals. For example, if funding continues to decline, NASA may not be able to claim aeronautics technology leadership from an international and in some areas even a national perspective.
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