Space Science in the Twenty-First Century

Imperatives for the Decades 1995 to 2015

Life Sciences

Foreword

Early in 1984, NASA asked the Space Science Board to undertake a study to determine the principal scientific issues that the disciplines of space science would face during the period from about 1995 to 2015. This request was made partly because NASA expected the Space Station to become available at the beginning of this period, and partly because the missions needed to implement research strategies previously developed by the various committees of the board should have been launched or their development under way by that time. A two-year study was called for. To carry out the study the board put together task groups in earth sciences, planetary and lunar exploration, solar system space physics, astronomy and astrophysics, fundamental physics and chemistry (relativistic gravitation and microgravity sciences, and life sciences. Responsibility for the study was vested in a steering group whose members consisted of the task group chairmen plus other senior representatives of the space science disciplines. To the board's good fortune, distinguished scientists from many countries other than the United States participated in this study.

The findings of the study are published in seven volumes: six task group reports, of which this volume is one, and an overview report of the steering group. I commend this and all the other task group reports to the reader for an understanding of the challenges that confront the space sciences and the insights they promise for the next century. The official recommendations of the study are those to be found in the steering group's overview.