Space Science in the Twenty-First Century

Imperatives for the Decades 1995 to 2015

Overview

Preface

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 task groups and the steering group held four joint study sessions beginning in the summer of 1984 and ending in January 1986. Individual task groups also scheduled workshops at other times. The steering group met from June 16 to June 20, 1986, at the Woods Hole Study Center of the National Academy of Sciences to agree on the contents of the final overview report for the study. The findings and recommendations of the study are published in seven volumes: six task group reports and this overview report of the steering group. When the study began, the steering group encouraged the task groups to be imaginative in considering new directions for their disciplines. The intent was to challenge the participants to expand their horizons and to garner as many stimulating ideas as possible for future enterprises in space science. In providing this latitude for the task groups, the steering group felt that, since it was responsible for writing the official study report it could not be bound initially to accept all the recommendations and findings of the task groups. The task group reports, therefore, are classified as resource documents for the steering group. Happily, at the study's conclusion, the steering group was able to accept nearly all of the task group recommendations. The steering group commends the 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. We gratefully acknowledge the valuable contribution made by the task group members during this intensive study period. The official findings and recommendations of the study are those to be found in the steering group's overview.

Obviously, with the delay in the space science program caused by the Challenger accident, the period specified in the original request by NASA (1995 to 2015) cannot be taken literally. The steering group believes that the longer term program it recommends for each discipline should logically be undertaken when the near-term programs, currently being addressed in response to the science strategies developed by the committees of the Space Science Board, have been implemented, whenever that may be and however long it takes to complete the entire agenda of science objectives. The steering group has deliberately chosen not to undertake a prioritization of its recommendations. This would not be appropriate at this time when we do not have the benefit of the knowledge we expect to gain from major missions now planned but not yet begun. We expect the committees of the Space Science Board and internal NASA advisory groups at the appropriate time to establish the science priorities and to recommend the proper pace and sequence for new space science missions.

After the study had begun, Congress mandated the formation of a National Commission of Space to propose goals for the nation's space program during the next 20 years. The commission published its report, entitled Pioneering the Space Frontier, before this study was completed.

Since the expertise of our study group and its parent board is in science, it is not in our special competence to comment on the program recommended by the commission in its entirety. We certainly endorse its first major thrust: "Advancing our understanding of our planet, our solar system, and the universe," and the additional thrust of advancing technology. That part of the commission's report entitled "Advancing Science" is altogether consonant with the recommendations of this report.

Our colleagues and partners at NASA have supported our work fully. With their help we believe that we have prepared a scientific strategy for NASA to implement in the twenty-first century that will add luster to an already bright set of accomplishments.

The hardworking staff of the Space Science Board headed by Dean Kastel, staff director and study director, deserves special recognition for their steadfast support and guidance in preparing this strategy.