|
||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Below are the first 10 and last 10 pages of uncorrected machine-read text (when available) of this chapter, followed by the top 30 algorithmically extracted key phrases from the chapter as a whole.
Intended to provide our own search engines and external engines with highly rich, chapter-representative searchable text on the opening pages of each chapter.
Because it is UNCORRECTED material, please consider the following text as a useful but insufficient proxy for the authoritative book pages.
Do not use for reproduction, copying, pasting, or reading; exclusively for search engines.
OCR for page 6
Annual Report 1991: History and Charter of the Board
Space Studies Board
Annual Report—1991
1
History and Charter of the Board
ORIGIN OF THE SPACE SCIENCE BOARD
The National Academy of Sciences was chartered by the Congress,
under the leadership of President Abraham Lincoln, to provide scientific and
technical advice to the government of the United States. Over the years, the
advisory program of the institution expanded, leading in time to the establishment
of the National Academy of Engineering and the Institute of Medicine, and of the
National Research Council, today's operational arm of the Academies of
Sciences and Engineering.
After the launch of Sputnik in 1957, the pace and scope of U.S. space
activity were dramatically increased. Congress created the National Aeronautics
and Space Administration (NASA) to conduct the nation's ambitious space
agenda, and the National Academy of Sciences created the Space Science
REPORT MENU
Board. The original charter of the Board was established in June 1958, three
NOTICE
months before final legislation creating NASA was enacted. The Space Science
FROM THE CHAIR
Board has provided external and independent scientific and programmatic advice
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2 to NASA on a continuous basis from its inception until the present.
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
APPENDIX
REORGANIZATION OF THE BOARD—
CREATION OF THE SPACE STUDIES BOARD
In 1988, the Space Science Board undertook a series of retreats to review
its structure and charter. These retreats were motivated by the Board's desire to
more closely align the structure of the Board and its activities with evolving
government advisory needs and by its assumption of a major portion of the
responsibilities of the disestablished Space Applications Board. As a result of
these retreats, a number of new task groups and committees were formed, and
several committees were disbanded and their portfolios distributed to other
committees. The Committee on Data Management and Computation and its
activities were terminated. The Committee on Planetary Biology and Chemical
file:///C|/SSB_old_web/an91ch1.htm (1 of 6) [6/18/2004 10:26:30 AM]
OCR for page 7
Annual Report 1991: History and Charter of the Board
Evolution was also dismantled, but its responsibilities were distributed to other
discipline committees and task groups. The charters of the remaining committees
were revised, and an Executive Council of the Board was created to assist the
chair of the Board in managing Board activities.
Recognizing that civilian space research now involves federal agencies
other than NASA (for example, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA), the Departments of Energy and Defense, and the
National Science Foundation (NSF)), it was decided to place an increased
emphasis on broadening the Board's advisory outreach. In addition, the Board
considered the possibility that an enhanced international program would
necessitate more formal relationships with the Department of State.
CHARTER OF THE BOARD
The basic elements of the charter of the Board remain those defined by
National Academy of Sciences President Detlev Bronk on June 26, 1958:
We have talked of the main task of the Board in three parts-the immediate
program, the long-range program, and the international aspects of both. In all
three we shall look to the Board to be the focus of the interests and
responsibilities of the Academy-Research Council in space science; to establish
necessary relationships with civilian science and with governmental science
activities, particularly the proposed new space agency, the National Science
Foundation, and the Advanced Research Projects Agency; to represent the
Academy-Research Council complex in our international relations in this field on
behalf of American science and scientists; to seek ways to stimulate needed
research; to promote necessary coordination of scientific effort; and to provide
such advice and recommendations to appropriate individuals and agencies with
regard to space science as may in the Board's judgment be desirable.
As we have already agreed, the Board is intended to be an advisory,
consultative, correlating, evaluating body and not an operating agency in the field
of space science. It should avoid responsibility as a Board for the conduct of any
programs of space research and for the formulation of budgets relative thereto.
Advice to agencies properly responsible for these matters, on the other hand,
would be within its purview to provide.
Thus, the Board exists to provide advice to the federal government on space
research and to assist in coordination of the nation's undertakings in these areas.
Since its reconstitution in 1988 and 1989, the Board has also assumed similar
responsibilities with respect to space applications. More recently, the Board has
begun to address scientific aspects of a program of human exploration of the
Moon and Mars.
In general, the Board develops and documents its views by means of
file:///C|/SSB_old_web/an91ch1.htm (2 of 6) [6/18/2004 10:26:30 AM]
OCR for page 8
Annual Report 1991: History and Charter of the Board
appointed discipline committees or interdisciplinary task groups that conduct
studies and submit their findings for Board and National Research Council
approval and dissemination. On occasion, however, the Board itself considers
major issues in its own plenary sessions and prepares and releases its own
statements. These various advisory products may be prepared and released
either in response to a government request or on the Board's own initiative. In
addition, the Board comments, based on its publicly established opinions, in
testimony to Congress.
The Board's overall charter is expressed in several subordinate
components: discipline oversight, interdisciplinary studies, international activities,
and advisory outreach.
OVERSIGHT OF SPACE RESEARCH DISCIPLINES
The Board has responsibility for strategic planning and oversight in the
numerous subdisciplines of space research. This responsibility is discharged
through a discipline committee structure and includes preparation of strategic
research plans as well as assessment of progress and prioritization of objectives
in these disciplines. The standard vehicle for providing long-term research
guidance is the research strategy report, which has been used successfully by
the Board over many years. In addition, committees may prepare formal
assessment reports that examine progress in a discipline in comparison with
published Board advice. Committee reports undergo Board and National
Research Council review and approval prior to publication. Formally, all Board
committee reports are issued as reports of the Board.
Individual discipline committees may be called on by the Board, from time
to time, to prepare specialized material for use by either the Board or its
interdisciplinary committees or task groups.
INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES
While the emphasis over the years has been on discipline planning and
evaluation, the reorganization of the Board recognized a need for crosscutting
technical and policy studies in several important areas. To accomplish these
objectives, the Board creates executive committees of the Board and ad hoc task
groups. Executive committees, constituted exclusively of Board members, are
formed for short-period study activities or to serve as initial planning bodies for
topics that require subsequent formation of a regular committee or task group.
Task groups resemble discipline committees in structure and operation, except
that they have finite terms of operation, typically two to three years, and
specifically limited tasks.
file:///C|/SSB_old_web/an91ch1.htm (3 of 6) [6/18/2004 10:26:30 AM]
OCR for page 9
Annual Report 1991: History and Charter of the Board
INTERNATIONAL REPRESENTATION
The Board continues to serve as the U.S. National Committee for the
International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU) Committee on Space Research
(COSPAR). The U.S. vice president of COSPAR serves as a member of the
Board, and a member of the Board's staff serves as executive secretary for this
office. In this capacity, the Board participates in a broad variety of COSPAR
panels and committees.
As the economic and political integration of Europe progresses, so also
does the integration of Europe's space activities. The Board has successfully
collaborated with the European space research community on a number of ad
hoc joint studies in the past and seeks in a measured way to nurture a joint
advisory relationship with this community.
ADVISORY OUTREACH
The Space Science Board was conceived to provide space research
guidance across the federal government. Over the years, the Board's agenda
and funding have tended to focus on NASA's space science program. Since the
Board's reorganization, however, several influences have acted to expand the
breadth of the Board's purview, both within NASA and outside it.
First, the incorporation of scientific objectives into manned flight programs
such as the shuttle and space station programs, and possibly the Space
Exploration Initiative (SEI), necessitates additional interfaces with responsible
offices in NASA.
Second, the assumption of the space applications responsibilities from
the dissolved Space Applications Board has implied a broadening of the
sponsorship base, for example to NOAA, with its responsibilities for operational
weather satellites. The Department of Commerce also has public responsibility
for oversight of the privatized operator of the national civilian land sensing
system.
Third, the maturation of some of the physical sciences may lead to
progressive integration of space and nonspace elements, suggesting a more
highly integrated advisory structure. One example is the solar-terrestrial
community, where the Board's Committee on Solar and Space Physics has
operated for several years in a "federated" structure with the ground-based NRC
Committee on Solar-Terrestrial Research. Another example is astronomy; the
recently completed report of the Astronomy and Astrophysics Survey Committee
promotes a much closer relationship between space astronomy and ground-
based astronomy, the latter primarily supported by the National Science
file:///C|/SSB_old_web/an91ch1.htm (4 of 6) [6/18/2004 10:26:30 AM]
OCR for page 10
Annual Report 1991: History and Charter of the Board
Foundation.
Finally, it is becoming more and more apparent that new participants will
be involved in space exploration, particularly the Departments of Energy and
Defense and the Strategic Defense Initiative Office (SDIO). This is motivated in
part by technology programs of mutual interest with NASA, for example, nuclear
space propulsion and power systems with the former, and joint development of
heavy launch systems with the latter.
As a response to these developments, the Board must reach out to
nonresearch NASA offices and to other federal agencies, seeking to establish
both informal and advisory and corresponding sponsorship relationships as
appropriate.
Last update 2/22/00 at 4:06 pm
Site managed by Anne Simmons, Space Studies Board
file:///C|/SSB_old_web/an91ch1.htm (5 of 6) [6/18/2004 10:26:30 AM]
