National Academies Press: OpenBook
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2010. Revitalizing NASA's Suborbital Program: Advancing Science, Driving Innovation, and Developing Workforce. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12862.
×

REVITALIZING NASA’S SUBORBITAL PROGRAM

ADVANCING SCIENCE, DRIVING INNOVATION, AND DEVELOPING A WORKFORCE

Committee on NASA’s Suborbital Research Capabilities

Space Studies Board

Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences

NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES

THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS

Washington, D.C.
www.nap.edu

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2010. Revitalizing NASA's Suborbital Program: Advancing Science, Driving Innovation, and Developing Workforce. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12862.
×

THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS

500 Fifth Street, N.W. Washington, DC 20001

NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance.

This study is based on work supported by the Contract NNH06CE15B between the National Academy of Sciences and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the agency that provided support for the project.

International Standard Book Number 13: 978-0-309-15083-5

International Standard Book Number 10: 0-309-15083-3

Cover: Images courtesy of NASA. Design by Tim Warchocki.

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Additional copies of this report are available from the

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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2010. Revitalizing NASA's Suborbital Program: Advancing Science, Driving Innovation, and Developing Workforce. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12862.
×

THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES

Advisers to the Nation on Science, Engineering, and Medicine


The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit, self-perpetuating society of distinguished scholars engaged in scientific and engineering research, dedicated to the furtherance of science and technology and to their use for the general welfare. Upon the authority of the charter granted to it by the Congress in 1863, the Academy has a mandate that requires it to advise the federal government on scientific and technical matters. Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone is president of the National Academy of Sciences.


The National Academy of Engineering was established in 1964, under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences, as a parallel organization of outstanding engineers. It is autonomous in its administration and in the selection of its members, sharing with the National Academy of Sciences the responsibility for advising the federal government. The National Academy of Engineering also sponsors engineering programs aimed at meeting national needs, encourages education and research, and recognizes the superior achievements of engineers. Dr. Charles M. Vest is president of the National Academy of Engineering.


The Institute of Medicine was established in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences to secure the services of eminent members of appropriate professions in the examination of policy matters pertaining to the health of the public. The Institute acts under the responsibility given to the National Academy of Sciences by its congressional charter to be an adviser to the federal government and, upon its own initiative, to identify issues of medical care, research, and education. Dr. Harvey V. Fineberg is president of the Institute of Medicine.


The National Research Council was organized by the National Academy of Sciences in 1916 to associate the broad community of science and technology with the Academy’s purposes of furthering knowledge and advising the federal government. Functioning in accordance with general policies determined by the Academy, the Council has become the principal operating agency of both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering in providing services to the government, the public, and the scientific and engineering communities. The Council is administered jointly by both Academies and the Institute of Medicine. Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone and Dr. Charles M. Vest are chair and vice chair, respectively, of the National Research Council.


www.national-academies.org

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2010. Revitalizing NASA's Suborbital Program: Advancing Science, Driving Innovation, and Developing Workforce. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12862.
×

OTHER REPORTS OF THE SPACE STUDIES BOARD

Defending Planet Earth: Near-Earth Object Surveys and Hazard Mitigation Strategies: Final Report (SSB with the Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board [ASEB], 2010)

An Enabling Foundation for NASA’s Space and Earth Science Missions (Space Studies Board [SSB], 2010)


America’s Future in Space: Aligning the Civil Space Program with National Needs (SSB with ASEB, 2009)

Approaches to Future Space Cooperation and Competition in a Globalizing World: Summary of a Workshop (SSB with ASEB, 2009)

Assessment of Planetary Protection Requirements for Mars Sample Return Missions (SSB, 2009)

A Performance Assessment of NASA’s Heliophysics Program (SSB, 2009)

Radioisotope Power Systems: An Imperative for Maintaining U.S. Leadership in Space Exploration (SSB with ASEB, 2009)


Ensuring the Climate Record from the NPOESS and GOES-R Spacecraft: Elements of a Strategy to Recover Measurement Capabilities Lost in Program Restructuring (SSB, 2008)

Launching Science: Science Opportunities Provided by NASA’s Constellation System (SSB with ASEB, 2008)

Opening New Frontiers in Space: Choices for the Next New Frontiers Announcement of Opportunity (SSB, 2008)

Review of NASA’s Exploration Technology Development Program: An Interim Report (ASEB, 2008)

Science Opportunities Enabled by NASA’s Constellation System: Interim Report (SSB with ASEB, 2008)

Severe Space Weather Events—Understanding Societal and Economic Impacts: A Workshop Report (SSB, 2008)

Space Science and the International Traffic in Arms Regulations: Summary of a Workshop (SSB, 2008)

United States Civil Space Policy: Summary of a Workshop (SSB with ASEB, 2008)


Assessment of the NASA Astrobiology Institute (SSB, 2007)

An Astrobiology Strategy for the Exploration of Mars (SSB with the Board on Life Sciences [BLS], 2007)

Building a Better NASA Workforce: Meeting the Workforce Needs for the National Vision for Space Exploration (SSB with ASEB, 2007)

Decadal Science Strategy Surveys: Report of a Workshop (SSB, 2007)

Earth Science and Applications from Space: National Imperatives for the Next Decade and Beyond (SSB, 2007)

Exploring Organic Environments in the Solar System (SSB with the Board on Chemical Sciences and Technology, 2007)

Grading NASA’s Solar System Exploration Program: A Midterm Review (SSB, 2007)

The Limits of Organic Life in Planetary Systems (SSB with BLS, 2007)

NASA’s Beyond Einstein Program: An Architecture for Implementation (SSB with the Board on Physics and Astronomy [BPA], 2007)

Options to Ensure the Climate Record from the NPOESS and GOES-R Spacecraft: A Workshop Report (SSB, 2007)

A Performance Assessment of NASA’s Astrophysics Program (SSB with BPA, 2007)

Portals to the Universe: The NASA Astronomy Science Centers (SSB, 2007)

The Scientific Context for Exploration of the Moon (SSB, 2007)


Limited copies of SSB reports are available free of charge from


Space Studies Board

National Research Council

The Keck Center of the National Academies

500 Fifth Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20001

(202) 334-3477/ssb@nas.edu

www.nationalacademies.org/ssb/ssb.html

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2010. Revitalizing NASA's Suborbital Program: Advancing Science, Driving Innovation, and Developing Workforce. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12862.
×

COMMITTEE ON NASA’S SUBORBITAL RESEARCH CAPABILITIES

STEVEN R. BOHLEN,

Texas A&M University,

Chair

KRISTIN A. BLAIS,

The Boeing Company

MARK A. BROSMER,

The Aerospace Corporation

ESTELLE CONDON,

NASA Ames Research Center (retired)

CHRISTINE M. FOREMAN,

Montana State University

ADAM P.-H. HUANG,

University of Arkansas

MICHAEL J. KURYLO III,

Goddard Earth Sciences and Technology Center

ROBERT P. LIN,

University of California, Berkeley

FRANKLIN D. MARTIN,

Martin Consulting Inc.

R. BRUCE PARTRIDGE,

Haverford College

ROBERT PINCUS,

RP Consultants

W. THOMAS VESTRAND,

Los Alamos National Laboratory

ERIK WILKINSON,

Southwest Research Institute

Staff

ROBERT L. RIEMER, Study Director

DWAYNE A. DAY, Senior Staff Officer

CATHERINE A. GRUBER, Editor

LINDA M. WALKER, Senior Project Assistant

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2010. Revitalizing NASA's Suborbital Program: Advancing Science, Driving Innovation, and Developing Workforce. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12862.
×

SPACE STUDIES BOARD

CHARLES F. KENNEL,

Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego,

Chair

A. THOMAS YOUNG,

Lockheed Martin Corporation (retired),

Vice Chair

DANIEL N. BAKER,

University of Colorado

STEVEN J. BATTEL,

Battel Engineering

CHARLES L. BENNETT,

Johns Hopkins University

YVONNE C. BRILL, Aerospace Consultant

ELIZABETH R. CANTWELL,

Oak Ridge National Laboratory

ANDREW B. CHRISTENSEN,

Dixie State College and Aerospace Corporation

ALAN DRESSLER,

The Observatories of the Carnegie Institution

JACK D. FELLOWS,

University Corporation for Atmospheric Research

FIONA A. HARRISON,

California Institute of Technology

JOAN JOHNSON-FREESE,

Naval War College

KLAUS KEIL,

University of Hawaii

MOLLY K. MACAULEY,

Resources for the Future

BERRIEN MOORE III,

University of New Hampshire

ROBERT T. PAPPALARDO,

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology

JAMES PAWELCZYK,

Pennsylvania State University

SOROOSH SOROOSHIAN,

University of California, Irvine

JOAN VERNIKOS,

Thirdage LLC

JOSEPH F. VEVERKA,

Cornell University

WARREN M. WASHINGTON,

National Center for Atmospheric Research

CHARLES E. WOODWARD,

University of Minnesota

ELLEN G. ZWEIBEL,

University of Wisconsin

RICHARD E. ROWBERG, Interim Director (from March 2, 2009)

MARCIA S. SMITH, Director (until March 1, 2009)

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2010. Revitalizing NASA's Suborbital Program: Advancing Science, Driving Innovation, and Developing Workforce. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12862.
×

Preface

This study was initiated at the request of Congress, through a request from NASA (Appendix A). In response to the request and to meet the ambitious schedule, in March 2009 the National Research Council established the Committee on NASA’s Suborbital Research Capabilities. The statement of task is given in Appendix B. The committee heard presentations from NASA staff at its first meeting, held at the Keck Center of the National Academies in Washington, D.C., on May 20-21, 2009. It heard from research scientists, representatives of the commercial spaceflight community, outreach specialists, and others at its second and third meetings, held at the Laboratory for Space Astronomy and Physics, Boulder, Colorado, on August 19-20, and at the National Academies’ Beckman Center, Irvine, California, on September 23-25, 2009. The agendas of the committee meetings are presented in Appendix C. Biographies of the committee members are in Appendix D.

The committee thanks those who made presentations and others who provided help, advice, and comments. The committee also thanks Linda Walker for making arrangements for and assisting at the committee’s meetings.


Steven R. Bohlen, Chair

Committee on NASA’s Suborbital Research Capabilities

Page viii Cite
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2010. Revitalizing NASA's Suborbital Program: Advancing Science, Driving Innovation, and Developing Workforce. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12862.
×

Acknowledgment of Reviewers

This report has been reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise, in accordance with procedures approved by the NRC’s Report Review Committee. The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the institution in making its published report as sound as possible and to ensure that the report meets institutional standards for objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the study charge. The review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the deliberative process. We wish to thank the following individuals for their review of this report:

James G. Anderson, Harvard University,

Daniel N. Baker, University of Colorado,

David C. Black, Universities Space Research Association,

William Brune III, Pennsylvania State University,

Mark Devlin, University of Pennsylvania,

James R. Huning, National Science Foundation,

Edward R. Laws, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard University,

Kristina Lynch, Dartmouth College,

Daniel McCammon, University of Wisconsin-Madison,

Jonathan F. Ormes, University of Denver, and

Rainer Weiss, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Although the reviewers listed above have provided many constructive comments and suggestions, they were not asked to endorse the conclusions or recommendations, nor did they see the final draft of the report before its release. The review of this report was overseen by Christopher F. McKee, University of California, Berkeley. Appointed by the NRC, he was responsible for making certain that an independent examination of this report was carried out in accordance with institutional procedures and that all review comments were carefully considered. Responsibility for the final content of this report rests entirely with the authoring committee and the institution.

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2010. Revitalizing NASA's Suborbital Program: Advancing Science, Driving Innovation, and Developing Workforce. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12862.
×

Contents

 

 

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

 

1

1

 

INTRODUCTION

 

4

   

 1.1  Origin of the Study,

 

4

   

 1.2  Policy Background,

 

4

   

 1.3  Technical Context,

 

5

   

 1.4  Workforce Issues,

 

7

2

 

NASA’S AIRBORNE RESEARCH CAPABILITIES

 

8

   

 2.1  Introduction,

 

8

   

 2.2  Status,

 

12

   

 2.3  Training Opportunities,

 

16

   

 2.4  Planned Improvements,

 

17

   

 2.5  Needs,

 

17

3

 

NASA’S BALLOON RESEARCH CAPABILITIES

 

21

   

 3.1  Introduction,

 

21

   

 3.2  Status,

 

29

   

 3.3  Training Opportunities,

 

30

   

 3.4  Needs,

 

32

4

 

NASA’S SOUNDING ROCKET CAPABILITIES

 

34

   

 4.1  Introduction,

 

34

   

 4.2  Status—Erosion of a National Asset,

 

40

   

 4.3  Training Opportunities,

 

43

   

 4.4  Planned Improvements,

 

45

   

 4.5  Needs,

 

46

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2010. Revitalizing NASA's Suborbital Program: Advancing Science, Driving Innovation, and Developing Workforce. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12862.
×
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2010. Revitalizing NASA's Suborbital Program: Advancing Science, Driving Innovation, and Developing Workforce. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12862.
×
Page R1
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2010. Revitalizing NASA's Suborbital Program: Advancing Science, Driving Innovation, and Developing Workforce. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12862.
×
Page R2
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2010. Revitalizing NASA's Suborbital Program: Advancing Science, Driving Innovation, and Developing Workforce. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12862.
×
Page R3
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2010. Revitalizing NASA's Suborbital Program: Advancing Science, Driving Innovation, and Developing Workforce. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12862.
×
Page R4
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2010. Revitalizing NASA's Suborbital Program: Advancing Science, Driving Innovation, and Developing Workforce. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12862.
×
Page R5
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2010. Revitalizing NASA's Suborbital Program: Advancing Science, Driving Innovation, and Developing Workforce. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12862.
×
Page R6
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2010. Revitalizing NASA's Suborbital Program: Advancing Science, Driving Innovation, and Developing Workforce. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12862.
×
Page R7
Page viii Cite
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2010. Revitalizing NASA's Suborbital Program: Advancing Science, Driving Innovation, and Developing Workforce. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12862.
×
Page R8
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2010. Revitalizing NASA's Suborbital Program: Advancing Science, Driving Innovation, and Developing Workforce. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12862.
×
Page R9
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2010. Revitalizing NASA's Suborbital Program: Advancing Science, Driving Innovation, and Developing Workforce. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12862.
×
Page R10
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Suborbital flight activities, including the use of sounding rockets, aircraft, high-altitude balloons, and suborbital reusable launch vehicles, offer valuable opportunities to advance science, train the next generation of scientists and engineers, and provide opportunities for participants in the programs to acquire skills in systems engineering and systems integration that are critical to maintaining the nation's leadership in space programs. Furthermore, the NASA Authorization Act of 2008 finds it in the national interest to expand the size of NASA's suborbital research program and to consider increased funding.

Revitalizing NASA's Suborbital Program is an assessment of the current state and potential of NASA's suborbital research programs and a review of NASA's capabilities in this area. The scope of this review includes: existing programs that make use of suborbital flights; the status, capability, and availability of suborbital platforms; the existing or planned launch facilities for suborbital missions (including the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy); and opportunities for scientific research, training, and educational collaboration in the conduct of suborbital missions by NASA.

The findings illustrate that suborbital program elements-airborne, balloon, and sounding rockets-play vital and necessary strategic roles in NASA's research, innovation, education, employee development, and spaceflight mission success, thus providing the foundation for achievement of agency goals.

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