The National Academies Press

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1 Introduction
Pages 9-23

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From page 9... ... Large strategic missions in astrophysics and Earth sciences have been directed to NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, and planetary missions have been directed to Caltech's JPL, although the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory currently plays a substantial role in the Europa 1 In some cases NASA uses the term "mission" to refer to space science instruments hosted on non-NASA spacecraft, or on platforms like the International Space Station. The committee is not using "mission" in that way in this report, and the numbers cited here do not refer to these instruments as missions. Read the entire page →
From page 10... ... According to former NASA associate administrator for the SMD John Grunsfeld, the agency introduced the term "large strategic missions" because these missions advance many parts of the science agenda. NASA can also implement "directed" missions that may not have been prioritized in a decadal survey but are considered by agency leadership to be important to agency goals.3 NASA has a variety of different acquisition approaches and types of space science missions. Read the entire page →
From page 11... ... mission, which is funded within the Heliophysics Science Division, has provided science findings in heliophysics (solar dynamics) , but that are also of value to Earth science, planetary science (history of water on Mars) Read the entire page →
From page 12... ... Small missions within the Astrophysics Science Division are PI-led and are selected through AOs through the Astrophysics Explorers Program (the Explorer program is actually part of the Heliophysics Science Division, and a small number of these missions 5 Presentation by Paul Hertz, Astrophysics Science Division, NASA, to the Committee on NASA Large Strategic Space Science Missions, October 5, 2016. Read the entire page →
From page 13... ... According to the current director of the Astrophysics Science Division, Paul Hertz, within the division there are many benefits of large strategic missions to astrophysics. They have the ability to accomplish science that smaller missions would be unable to fulfill; they can provide general-purpose observatories for the community; and they can drive development of new capabilities that can be infused later into smaller missions without further technical development. Read the entire page →
From page 14... ... The ESSP program provides periodic opportunities to address new and emerging science priorities defined by the decadal surveys. ESSP missions are now part of the EV class of missions defined as being competitively 7 Presentation by Earth Sciences Division Director Michael Freilich to the Committee on Large Strategic NASA Science Missions, October 5, 2016. Read the entire page →
From page 15... ... Large strategic missions are not typically used for technology development in the Earth Science Division. Instead, technology development is conducted in the Earth Science Technology Program (ESTP) Read the entire page →
From page 16... ... NASA's enacted Heliophysics Science Division budget for 2016 was $649.8 million. Over half of the heliophysics budget (55 percent) Read the entire page →
From page 17... ... The Planetary Science Division is also investigating the potential 8 Presentation by Planetary Science Division Director Jim Green to the Committee on Large Strategic NASA Science Missions, October 5, 2016. 9 Kuiper Belt objects (KBOs) Read the entire page →
From page 18... ... According to the head of the Planetary Science Division, Jim Green, there have been clear differences in cost overruns between large strategic missions and smaller class missions. In the past large strategic missions were typically considered too scientifically important to cancel, depending on when the cost overrun occurs, and overruns need to be handled through de-scopes and replanning (cost and schedule readjustments) Read the entire page →
From page 19... ... The report, The Space Science Decadal Surveys: Lessons Learned and Best Practices, outlined the importance of large strategic missions for each of the space science divisions. The report stated that the costs of such missions and facilities have increased, posing a substantial challenge for future decadal surveys. Read the entire page →
From page 20... ... In fact, the project had no chance of meeting either the schedule or the budget profile." As a result of the report, JWST was restructured and designated as an "agency-wide priority mission." Funding was moved from the Astrophys ics Science Division into a separate JWST funding compartment within the SMD. JWST is a recent instance of a large strategic mission that received significant political and public attention after it experienced substantial cost growth. Read the entire page →
From page 21... ... But as one NASA official noted, there is often an expectation within the scientific community that any large strategic mission will have a substantial international component. THE VALUE OF LARGE STRATEGIC SCIENCE MISSIONS Although each of NASA's four science divisions has different requirements for and experiences with large strategic missions, it is possible to generalize their roles across all four divisions. Read the entire page →
From page 22... ... FINDING: Large strategic missions have multiple benefits. These benefits include the following: • Capture science data that cannot be obtained in any other way, owing usually to the physics of the data capture driving the scale and complexity of the mission; • Answer many of the most compelling scientific questions facing the scientific fields supported by NASA's Science Mission Directorate, and most importantly develop and deepen humanity's understanding of Earth, our solar system, and the universe; • Open new windows of scientific inquiry, expanding the discovery space of humanity's exploration of our own planet and the universe, and providing new technology and engineering approaches that can benefit future small, medium-size, and large missions; • Provide high-quality (precise and with stable absolute calibration) Read the entire page →
From page 23... ... In the near future, constellations of many small satellites collectively addressing important strategic science goals will qualify as "large strategic missions." The committee concluded that this will be particularly true for heliophysics and Earth sciences. These scientific communities are already discussing future mission proposals of this type, and CubeSats can be useful for training future generations of scientists and engineers. Read the entire page →

From page 9...

... Large strategic missions in astrophysics and Earth sciences have been directed to NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, and planetary missions have been directed to Caltech's JPL, although the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory currently plays a substantial role in the Europa 1 In some cases NASA uses the term "mission" to refer to space science instruments hosted on non-NASA spacecraft, or on platforms like the International Space Station. The committee is not using "mission" in that way in this report, and the numbers cited here do not refer to these instruments as missions.

1 Introduction Pages 9-23

1 Introduction
Pages 9-23