Origins, Worlds, and Life A Decadal Strategy for Planetary Science and Astrobiology 2023-2032 (2023) / Chapter Skim
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Pages 444-470
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17 Research and Analysis The stated goal of NASA's Planetary Science Division (PSD) is to advance scientific knowledge of the origin and history of the solar system,1 the potential for life elsewhere, and the hazards and resources present as humans explore space.
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RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS 445 innovation and allow for flexible response to changing scientific priorities. Maintaining an appropriate balance of support across both missions and R&A is thus needed to ensure the future success of PSD programs.
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446 ORIGINS, WORLDS, AND LIFE BOX 17-1 Organizing Theme for Issues in Research and Analysis The committee's ASPIRE concept encapsulates key factors crucial for R&A: Augment the R&A budget to ensure that NASA PSD gets the science it needs Survey the community to identify existing expertise, capability and knowledge gaps, and research trends Promote cross-cutting research that tackles systems-level science questions Integrate multiple disciplines such as: data analysis, theory, laboratory studies, field work, and ground-based observations to enable the best systems-level science Revise the review and proposal process to make it more accurate and efficient Equalize access and opportunity to ensure no pockets of excellence are left untapped Together, these factors provide a framework for NASA's PSD to enact necessary changes to its R&A investments to support and enhance its overall mission. The ASPIRE concept addresses the key current issues facing the PSD R&A landscape: very low proposal selection rates, a portfolio of programs that may not be fully responsive to NASA's needs, and ensuring an efficient and fair proposal review process that maximizes open access and innovation.
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RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS 447 WHAT IS R&A? Because R&A is a vital component of the PSD portfolio, assessing the health and productivity of the R&A programs, individually and collectively, is of central importance.
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448 ORIGINS, WORLDS, AND LIFE BOX 17-2 Definition of the Research and Analysis Budget Line The PSD Research and Analysis budgetary wedge in Figure 17-1 is the sum of five budgetary compo nents: (1) Planetary Science Research and Analysis (the main budgetary line within the Planetary Science Research category)
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RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS 449 and leading large, complex collaborations with the broader scientific community. An internal study conducted in 2015 by the Agency Competition Team (created by then-Associate Administrator Robert Lightfoot)
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450 ORIGINS, WORLDS, AND LIFE Recommendation: For greater transparency, NASA should document and communicate to its civil servants and the broader community how the ISFM is managed, and the processes by which proposals are solicited and evaluated to ensure the most meritorious civil servant science is supported. VIRTUAL INSTITUTES AND RESEARCH COORDINATION NETWORKS The Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute (SSERVI)
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RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS 451 science goals into both the Lunar Discovery and Exploration Program in general, and into the Artemis program in particular (see Recommended Program and Human Exploration chapters) , is viewed by the committee as an essential priority for the next decade.
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452 ORIGINS, WORLDS, AND LIFE requires metrics, data, and assessment of the output of R&A programs beyond that currently available or that could reasonably be obtained within the confines of the decadal process. Therefore, this section largely offers observations related to a subset of issues important for NASA to consider as it determines how best to assess and optimize its PSD R&A programs.
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RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS 453 Exploration Research, Outer Planets Research, and Mars Fundamental Research largely combined into a new, omnibus program, Solar System Workings (SSW)
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454 ORIGINS, WORLDS, AND LIFE studies (outside the scope of PSTAR for which several successive field seasons may be beneficial)
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RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS 455 Agency to compile such information and to assess the health and productivity of its component R&A programs.6 Entry of research products produced after final reports are submitted would also be important to include. PSD would then have better insight into whether its R&A portfolio is optimally constructed, as well as ready information to quantify the impact of R&A to all stakeholders.
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456 ORIGINS, WORLDS, AND LIFE Enabling proposers who are resubmitting a previously declined proposal to directly address, either within the proposal itself or as separate information entered into NSPIRES, the weakness(es) identified during the predecessor proposal review would allow them to respond to or refute critiques in a manner like that applied to the review of manuscripts submitted to scientific journals.
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RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS 457 BOX 17-3 The COVID-19 Pandemic and NASA's R&A Response The COVID-19 pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 has upended the world. The myriad disruptions to familiar ways of life of course impacted the planetary science and astrobiology community, especially those with children, who are caregivers, who are early in their career, or who are in temporary, soft-money, or untenured positions -- with many of them in more than one of these categories.
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458 ORIGINS, WORLDS, AND LIFE Last, there is longstanding awareness that some categories of proposals -- namely those that are riskier but that would have high impact if successful -- may be disadvantaged by the standard R&A proposal review process (NASEM 2017)
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RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS 459 notes that NSF's planetary R&A program utilized a NoDD structure for a time, before deciding to return to a standard annual due date. An independent assessment of the success of both DAPR and NoDD several years hence would help quantify the extent both to which they meet their stated goals, and to which they should be extended to the rest of the PSD R&A portfolio.
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460 ORIGINS, WORLDS, AND LIFE to all stakeholders. The director of Planetary Research Programs at NASA stated to the committee that R&A (defined to include openly competed programs as well as other programs and activities)
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RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS 461 FIGURE 17-3 Selection rates for several program types, including DAPs, sample science, and participating scientist programs (yellow) , core programs (green)
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462 ORIGINS, WORLDS, AND LIFE FIGURE 17-4 The number of unique PIs submitting proposals has increased by almost 20 percent (grey) from 2010 to 2020.
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RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS 463 Finding: Although the committee could not isolate the reason(s) why proposal budgets have increased so substan tially (e.g., increased overhead rates, increased salaries, growth in the proportion of soft money researchers)
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464 ORIGINS, WORLDS, AND LIFE FIGURE 17-6 At present selection rates, NASA is missing out on substantial high-quality science. Shown here are the proportions of selected proposals (above the waterline)
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RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS 465 The current FY 2023 PSD budget is $3.2 billion, and the currently planned FY 2023 R&A level is $249 million (7.9 percent) , with approximately $185 million of this for openly competed programs (based on a 2 percent/year increase in non-openly competed activities for nondecadal years; see Box 17-2)
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466 ORIGINS, WORLDS, AND LIFE pressure on available funds, and a repeating cycle of declining selection rates. In this situation, it is appropriate to consider how we can best shepherd sustainable growth of the community without being unwitting gatekeepers and propagating structural inequities that may contribute to a less diverse workforce.
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RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS 467 As detailed above, the committee recommends that the R&A annual budget be increased to ≥10 percent of the PSD annual budget by mid-decade, implying that by the decade's end, annual funding for openly competed programs would be >$400 million [>$300 million] in the Recommended [Level]
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468 ORIGINS, WORLDS, AND LIFE astrobiology, as well as those more closely related -- including, but not limited to, the quickly growing commercial space sector. Educating planetary science and astrobiology graduate students on career paths outside the traditional academic track (i.e., government, nonprofit, and industry sectors)
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RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS 469 Another example where NSF and NASA could benefit from closer cooperation is in analogue research through the infrastructure, data, and samples offered by scientific ocean drilling programs (Neal et al.
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