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Supporting Research and Data Analysis in NASA's Science Programs: Engines for Innovation and Synthesis (1998)

Chapter: Appendix A: Sources of Data and Method of Development

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Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Sources of Data and Method of Development." National Research Council. 1998. Supporting Research and Data Analysis in NASA's Science Programs: Engines for Innovation and Synthesis. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6311.
×

Appendixes

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Sources of Data and Method of Development." National Research Council. 1998. Supporting Research and Data Analysis in NASA's Science Programs: Engines for Innovation and Synthesis. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6311.
×
This page in the original is blank.
Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Sources of Data and Method of Development." National Research Council. 1998. Supporting Research and Data Analysis in NASA's Science Programs: Engines for Innovation and Synthesis. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6311.
×

A
Sources Of Data And Method Of Development

This appendix summarizes the various sources of data used by the Task Group on Research and Analysis Programs to build a database on detailed National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) procurement awards made during the 1980s and 1990s, and it describes the coding structure and analytical categories and techniques used to develop the data for the study reported on in Chapters 1 through 6 of this volume. A primary objective of this activity was to estimate the net space research1 component of awards made by NASA to universities. Any necessary caveats that should be observed in using the data in the context of this particular study are also noted.

NASA BUDGET HISTORY-THE BROAD CONTEXT

NASA presents a very extensive budget submission to Congress each year in support of the president's overall budget request. These budget justifications include a great deal of financial information, as well as supporting narrative about goals, objectives, schedules, and accomplishments of the various program elements that constitute NASA's program budget. Obtaining a consistent picture of the budget over a long span of time can be quite difficult because of changes in NASA's program structure and even more importantly because of changes in the NASA organizational elements responsible for the advocacy and management of these programs.

The task group's best efforts at developing a consistent long-term history of the NASA budget are presented in Tables A.1 and A.2. Table A.1 summarizes the ground-based elements of the NASA budget—the principal focus of this study. Table A.2 summarizes the budget history for major NASA

l  

''Net space research" is a term used by the task group to indicate the research funded from an R&DA source as opposed to technology development, instrument development, and academic training that may be funded by other accounts.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Sources of Data and Method of Development." National Research Council. 1998. Supporting Research and Data Analysis in NASA's Science Programs: Engines for Innovation and Synthesis. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6311.
×

TABLE A.1 FY 1981-1998 NASA Budgets: Ground-based Programs

Major Science-related Programs and Activities

Fiscal Year Obligations (in millions of current dollars)

1981

1982

1983

1984

1985

1986

Total Research and Analysis

231.4

208.4

236.8

246.9

260.5

268.7

P&A

37.7

22.9

28.5

35.9

39.9

49.0

Planetary

50.7

46.7

50.3

59.5

61.5

59.5

OSS subtotal

88.4

69.6

78.8

95.4

101.4

108.5

Life sciences

29.5

25.5

31.7

35.0

35.2

34.0

Microgravity science

9.5

12.0

13.1

11.0

11.7

12.1

OLMSA subtotal

39.0

37.5

44.8

46.0

46.9

46.1

Earth science

104.0

101.3

113.2

105.5

112.2

114.1

OES subtotal

104.0

101.3

113.2

105.5

112.2

114.1

Total Other Science Support

 

 

 

 

 

 

OLMSA—aerospace medicine

 

 

 

 

 

 

EOS science

 

 

 

 

 

 

EOS mission science teams and guest investigators

 

 

 

 

 

 

OES—Globe program

 

 

 

 

 

 

Total Suborbital Program

39.9

43.8

48.1

52.5

58.7

59.9

P&A—suborbital

39.9

43.8

48.1

52.5

58.7

59.9

SOFIA

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sounding rockets

25.0

24.4

27.0

27.8

25.7

23.1

Airborne research

4.5

17.5

17.6

18.9

22.0

25.0

Balloon program

1.4

1.9

3.5

5.8

6.8

6.1

Spartan program

 

 

 

 

4.3

5.7

OES—airborne science and applications

 

 

 

 

 

(25.0)

OES—UAVs

 

 

 

 

 

 

Total MO&DA (adjusted)

100.7

87.9

99.9

111.5

165.2

213.7

P&A—excluding HST operations and servicing

 

 

 

 

 

 

P&A—in budget books

38.9

45.3

61.4

68.1

109.1

111.7

HST operations and servicing included

 

 

 

 

 

 

Planetary

61.8

42.6

38.5

43.4

56.1

67.0

OSS—adjusted for HST operations and servicing

 

 

 

 

 

 

OSS—combined

 

 

 

 

 

 

OSS—in budget book

 

 

 

 

 

 

Earth science

 

 

 

 

 

35.0

Total EOS Data and Information System (EOSDIS)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Total Supporting Infrastructure

4.5

4.3

7.5

8.9

16.2

17.6

OSSA Information Systems Office

4.5

4.3

7.5

8.9

16.2

17.6

P&A information systems

 

 

 

 

 

 

CIESIN

 

 

 

 

 

 

OES information systems

 

 

 

 

 

 

High-performance computing and communications

 

 

 

 

 

 

Socio-Economic Data Applications Center

 

 

 

 

 

 

Landsat

 

 

 

 

 

 

Data purchases

 

 

 

 

 

 

Commercial remote sensing

 

 

 

 

 

 

Advanced geostationary studies

 

 

 

 

 

 

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Sources of Data and Method of Development." National Research Council. 1998. Supporting Research and Data Analysis in NASA's Science Programs: Engines for Innovation and Synthesis. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6311.
×

Major Science-related Programs and Activities

Fiscal Year Obligations (in millions of current dollars)

1987

1988

1989

1990

1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

Approp. 1998

Total Research and Analysis

301.9

307.9

357.0

398.9

409.0

395.6

410.4

427.1

429.5

426.4

405.4

378.7

P&A

53.4

829

85.1

104.9

98.3

69.9

71.6

71.1

75.4

62.8

 

 

Planetary

69.5

67.3

76.9

70.7

67.8

76.6

101.7

107.6

108.4

93.4

 

 

FI:0OSS subtotal

122.9

150.2

162.0

175.6

166.1

146.5

173.3

178.7

183.8

156.2

166.8

130.5

Life sciences

41.8

38.4

38.2

44.4

56.3

62.9

52.9

55.1

50.7

55.2

58.0

53.7

Microgravity science

13.9

12.9

19.2

17.6

13.7

16.6

17.9

18.4

30.4

30.2

31.9

30.8

FI:0OLMSA subtotal

55.7

51.3

57.4

62.0

70.0

79.5

70.8

73.5

81.1

85.4

89.9

84.5

Earth science

123.3

106.4

137.6

161.3

172.9

169.6

166.3

174.9

164.6

184.8

148.7

163.7

FI:0OES subtotal

123.3

106.4

137.6

161.3

172.9

169.6

166.3

174.9

164.6

184.8

148.7

163.7

Total Other Science Support

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

63.9

47.5

84.3

88.3

OLMSA—aerospace medicine

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3.8

7.5

EOS science

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

37.3

16.7

37.5

37.4

EOS mission science teams and guest investigators

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

26.6

30.8

41.8

45.9

OES—Globe program

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5.0

5.0

Total Suborbital Program

79.1

66.5

68.4

72.1

75.2

80.4

85.5

94.7

93.2

115.3

79.2

105.9

P&A—suborbital

79.1

44.7

45.4

52.7

55.0

60.1

64.8

69.5

67.2

88.0

59.9

83.3

SOFIA

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

21.3

45.8

Sounding rockets

30.4

27.5

27.0

30.1

31.3

34.2

36.4

39.5

38.0

38.6

24.6

23.8

Airborne research

35.6

7.3

9.8

10.7

11.5

12.0

13.0

13.6

13.2

33.4

 

 

Balloon program

7.9

9.9

8.6

11.9

12.2

13.9

15.4

16.4

16.0

16.0

14.0

13.7

Spartan program

4.7

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

OES—airborne science and applications

(35.6)

21.8

23.0

19.4

20.2

20.3

20.7

25.2

26.0

27.3

19.0

20.7

OES—UAVs

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

0.3

1.9

Total MO&DA (adjusted)

239.7

229.0

164.6

232.6

335.5

383.3

456.2

418.3

379.0

410.7

421.0

395.8

P&A—excluding HST operations and servicing

 

 

53.9

76.6

125.9

167.5

198.8

190.0

190.7

 

 

 

P&A—in budget books

131.0

140.5

142.4

215.7

311.9

375.2

415.5

405.2

427.4

 

 

 

HST operations and servicing included

 

 

88.5

139.1

186.0

207.7

216.7

215.2

236.7

190.7

213.7

180.4

Planetary

75.1

73.8

110.7

156.0

170.2

160.7

163.4

130.7

117.2

 

 

 

OSS—adjusted for HST operations and servicing

 

 

 

 

296.1

328.2

362.2

320.7

307.9

372.9

382.8

348.1

OSS—combined

 

 

 

 

482.1

535.9

578.9

535.9

544.6

 

 

 

OSS—in budget book

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

563.6

596.5

528.5

Earth science

33.6

14.7

17.6

23.8

39.4

55.1

94.0

97.6

71.1

37.8

38.2

47.7

Total EOS Data and Information System (EOSDIS)

 

 

 

 

36.0

77.7

130.7

188.2

220.6

247.2

234.6

209.9

Total Supporting Infrastructure

21.2

20.8

19.9

28.2

4.5

50.0

74.3

50.4

66.8

83.1

107.8

47.1

OSSA Information Systems Office

21.2

20.8

19.9

28.2

4.5

4.5

4.5

4.5

4.5

4.5

 

 

P&A information systems

 

 

 

 

 

 

25.0

26.5

26.1

25.9

 

 

CIESIN

 

 

 

 

 

25.0

18.0

5.0

 

 

 

 

OES information systems

 

 

 

 

 

 

11.2

11.2

9.7

9.6

8.5

4.3

High-performance computing and communications

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

20.5

26.1

28.3

18.3

Socio-Economic Data Applications Center

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6.0

 

 

 

Landsat

 

 

 

 

 

7.5

 

 

 

 

 

 

Data purchases

 

 

 

 

 

13.0

15.6

3.2

 

 

50.0

 

Commercial remote sensing

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

17.0

19.0

21.5

Advanced geostationary studies

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2.0

3.0

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Sources of Data and Method of Development." National Research Council. 1998. Supporting Research and Data Analysis in NASA's Science Programs: Engines for Innovation and Synthesis. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6311.
×

Major Science-related Programs and Activities

Fiscal Year Obligations (in millions of current dollars)

1981

1982

1983

1984

1985

1986

Total Science-related Technology Programs

 

 

 

 

 

 

OSS—core technology program (not mission-specific)

 

 

 

 

 

 

OLMSA—space product development

 

 

 

 

 

 

Total Academic Programs

 

 

 

 

 

 

Education

 

 

 

 

 

 

Minority research and education

 

 

 

 

 

 

Total

376.5

344.4

392.3

419.8

500.6

559.9

Recap in Constant 1995 Dollars

 

 

 

 

 

 

Research and analysis

378.1

320.1

348.7

350.2

357.8

359.2

Other science support

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

Suborbital program

65.2

67.3

70.8

74.5

80.6

80.1

MO&DA

164.5

135.0

147.1

158.2

226.9

285.7

EOS Data and Information System (EOSDIS)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Supporting infrastructure

7.4

6.6

11.0

12.6

22.3

23.5

Science-related technology programs

 

 

 

 

 

 

Academic programs

 

 

 

 

 

 

Total Ground-based Programs in 1995 Dollars

615.2

529.0

577.8

595.5

687.6

748.5

GDP Implicit Price Deflator (1995 = 100)

61.2

65.1

67.9

70.5

72.8

74.8

NOTE: CIESIN = Consortium for International Earth Science Information Network; EOS-Earth Observing System; GLOBE = Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment; HST = Hubble Space Telescope; MO&DA = mission operations and data analysis; OES = Office of Earth Sciences; OLMSA = Office of Life and Microgravity Science and Applications; OSS = Office of Space Science; OSSA-Office of Space Science and Applications; P&A = physics and astronomy; SOFIA = Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Sources of Data and Method of Development." National Research Council. 1998. Supporting Research and Data Analysis in NASA's Science Programs: Engines for Innovation and Synthesis. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6311.
×

Major Science-related Programs and Activities

Fiscal Year Obligations (in millions of current dollars)

1987

1988

1989

1990

1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

Approp. 1998

Total Science-related Technology Programs

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

0.0

200.5

213.7

OSS—core technology program (not mission-specific)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

187.5

200.8

OLMSA—space product development

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

13.0

12.9

Total Academic Programs

 

(21.6)

(24.0)

37.5

55.1

66.8

92.9

85.5

106.2

109.9

120.4

120.0

Education

 

 

 

 

37.9

44.8

70.2

54.3

57.9

61.5

65.6

68.6

Minority research and education

 

 

 

 

17.2

22.0

22.7

31.2

48.3

48.8

54.8

51.4

Total

641.9

624.2

609.9

769.3

915.3

1053.8

1250.0

1264.2

1359.2

1440.1

1653.2

1559.4

Recap in Constant 1995 Dollars

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Research and analysis

391.1

385.4

428.6

459.0

452.9

425.8

430.6

438.1

429.5

416.8

387.6

355.6

Other science support

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

63.9

46.4

80.6

82.9

Suborbital program

102.5

83.2

82.1

83.0

83.3

86.5

89.7

97.1

93.2

112.7

75.7

99.4

MO&DA

310.5

286.6

197.6

267.7

371.5

412.6

478.7

429.0

379.0

401.5

402.5

371.6

EOS Data and Information System (EOSDIS)

 

 

 

 

39.9

83.6

137.1

193.0

220.6

241.6

224.3

197.1

Supporting infrastructure

27.5

26.0

23.9

32.5

5.0

53.8

78.0

51.7

66.8

81.2

103.1

44.2

Science-related technology programs

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

191.7

200.7

Academic programs

 

 

 

43.2

61.0

71.9

97.5

87.7

106.2

107.4

115.1

112.7

Total Ground-based Programs in 1995 Dollars

831.5

781.2

732.2

885.3

1013.6

1134.3

1311.6

1296.6

1359.2

1407.7

1580.5

1464.2

GDP Implicit Price Deflator (1995 = 100)

77.2

79.9

83.3

86.9

90.3

92.9

95.3

97.5

100.0

102.3

104.6

106.5

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Sources of Data and Method of Development." National Research Council. 1998. Supporting Research and Data Analysis in NASA's Science Programs: Engines for Innovation and Synthesis. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6311.
×

TABLE A.2 FY 1981-1998 NASA Budgets: Major Flight Projects

Major Science-related Flight Projects

Fiscal Year Obligations (in millions of current dollars)

1981

1982

1983

1984

1985

1986

1987

Total Physics and Astronomy

188.8

162.8

251.3

330.2

364.1

259.3

202.2

SIRTF development (and ATD)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ISPM development

28.0

 

 

 

 

 

 

HST development

119.3

121.5

182.5

195.6

195.0

125.8

96.0

HST operations and servicing (adjustment)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

GRO development

8.2

8.0

34.5

85.9

117.2

85.3

50.5

AXAF development

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Global geospace science development

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TIMED development (and ATD)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Payload and instrument development

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Relativity mission development (GP-B)

 

 

 

 

 

(7.5)

(9.0)

Explorer development

33.3

33.3

34.3

48.7

51.9

48.2

55.7

Total Planetary Exploration

63.1

120.7

97.6

114.5

173.3

227.1

214.6

Galileo development

63.1

115.7

91.6

79.5

58.8

64.2

71.2

Magellan development

 

 

 

29.0

92.5

120.3

97.3

Ulysses development (ISPM)

 

5.0

6.0

6.0

9.0

8.8

10.3

Mars Observer development

 

 

 

 

13.0

33.8

35.8

Mars Balloon Relay (Mars '94)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cassini development

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Discovery development

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mars Surveyor program

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New Millennium ATD

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Origins ATD

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Exploration technology development

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Total Life and Microgravity Sciences and Applications

49.3

65.8

113.9

118.5

147.8

140.4

151.7

Lifesciences

12.7

14.0

24.0

23.0

27.1

32.1

30.0

Microgravity

9.2

4.2

8.9

14.6

15.3

18.9

33.4

Shuttle and Spacelab payloads

27.4

47.6

81.0

80.9

105.4

89.4

72.8

Space Station payloads and planning

 

 

 

 

 

 

15.5

Station research facilities (move to space station budget)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mission to Planet Earth (and precursors)

90.2

92.0

76.1

44.4

75.5

133.3

175.3

Landsat

88.5

81.9

58.4

16.8

 

 

 

UARS

 

6.0

14.0

20.0

55.7

114.0

113.8

Topex

 

 

 

 

 

 

18.9

EOS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Earth probes (including Scatterometer)

 

 

 

 

12.0

14.0

32.9

Space station attached payloads

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Payload and instrument development

1.7

4.1

3.7

7.6

7.8

5.3

9.7

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Sources of Data and Method of Development." National Research Council. 1998. Supporting Research and Data Analysis in NASA's Science Programs: Engines for Innovation and Synthesis. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6311.
×

Major Science-related Flight Projects

Fiscal Year Obligations (in millions of current dollars)

1988

1989

1990

1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

Approp. 1998

Total Physics and Astronomy

233.0

406.8

452.1

505.6

661.1

674.6

707.3

737.4

667.9

476.9

573.1

SIRTF development (and ATD)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

15.0

24.9

55.4

ISPM development

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HST development

93.1

104.9

81.8

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HST operations and servicing (adjustment)

 

88.5

139.1

186.0

207.7

216.7

215.2

236.7

190.7

213.7

180.4

GRO development

53.4

50.9

41.2

22.0

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

AXAF development

 

16.0

44.0

101.2

150.7

168.3

239.3

224.3

237.6

18.4

95.8

Global geospace science development

18.6

64.4

57.6

96.6

75.3

72.6

27.6

40.0

 

 

 

TIMED development (and ATD)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

15.0

25.9

52.7

Payload and instrument development

 

 

 

 

118.3

74.2

59.5

66.0

25.9

16.9

18.0

Relativity mission development (GP-B)

(10.3)

(17.9)

(21.7)

(23.4)

(27.2)

27.0

42.4

50.0

51.5

59.6

57.3

Explorer development

67.9

82.1

88.4

99.8

109.1

115.8

123.3

120.4

132.2

117.5

113.5

Total Planetary Exploration

186.6

229.0

164.2

235.8

296.9

208.5

413.0

454.6

405.6

241.4

266.7

Galileo development

51.9

73.4

17.1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Magellan development

73.0

43.1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ulysses development (ISPM)

7.8

10.3

14.3

2.8

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mars Observer development

53.9

102.2

98.9

88.5

85.0

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mars Balloon Relay (Mars '94)

 

 

4.4

1.5

1.2

3.5

4.4

 

 

 

 

Cassini development

 

 

29.5

143.0

210.7

205.0

266.6

255.0

191.5

74.6

 

Discovery development

 

 

 

 

 

 

127.4

129.7

102.2

76.8

76.5

Mars Surveyor program

 

 

 

 

 

 

14.6

59.4

111.9

90.0

145.2

New Millennium ATD

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10.5

 

 

Origins ATD

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

25.0

Exploration technology development

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

20.0

Total Life and Microgravity Sciences and Applications

150.3

173.0

226.1

261.5

276.9

336.7

434.0

379.7

312.8

137.0

109.3

Lifesciences

33.8

40.9

61.7

81.1

94.7

81.1

131.7

89.8

54.4

39.4

34.8

Microgravity

49.8

56.4

84.3

88.6

104.2

156.0

156.6

97.1

76.3

73.4

69.6

Shuttle and Spacelab payloads

47.8

67.7

75.1

88.8

78.0

94.1

108.7

102.3

53.6

24.2

4.9

Space Station payloads and planning

18.9

8.0

5.0

3.0

(7.7)

5.5

37.0

90.5

 

 

 

Station research facilities (move to space station budget)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

128.5

 

 

Mission to Planet Earth (and precursors)

214.0

225.2

229.7

243.2

357.1

423.5

515.2

675.2

634.3

644.0

753.2

Landsat

 

 

 

 

(78.0)

25.0

(74.1)

 

 

 

 

UARS

89.2

85.2

55.2

62.0

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Topex

74.5

83.0

84.8

80.4

65.0

 

 

 

 

 

 

EOS

 

 

 

 

176.4

263.7

392.9

574.1

554.2

582.2

704.6

Earth probes (including Scatterometer)

22.6

10.6

13.6

51.7

77.8

99.4

96.4

81.6

80.1

61.8

48.6

Space station attached payloads

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Payload and instrument development

27.7

46.4

76.1

49.1

37.9

35.4

25.9

19.5

 

 

 

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Sources of Data and Method of Development." National Research Council. 1998. Supporting Research and Data Analysis in NASA's Science Programs: Engines for Innovation and Synthesis. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6311.
×

Major Science-related Flight Projects

Fiscal Year Obligations (in millions of current dollars)

1981

1982

1983

1984

1985

1986

1987

Total Space Station Research (budget restructured in FY 1999a)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Research projects

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Utilization support

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mir support (including Mir research)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Total Science-related Technology Programs

0.0

0.0

20.0

25.0

45.0

81.9

84.6

ACTS development

 

 

20.0

25.0

45.0

81.9

84.6

OSS Mission studies and technology development

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

OSS Focused technology programs (mission-specific)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

OSS New Millennium program

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Total (including Space Station research facilities and focused technology programs)

391.4

441.3

558.9

632.6

805.7

842.0

828.4

Recap in Constant 1995 Dollars

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Physics and astronomy

308.6

250.1

370.2

468.5

500.2

346.5

262.1

Planetary exploration

103.1

185.4

143.8

162.5

238.1

303.5

278.1

Life and microgravity sciences and applications

80.6

101.1

167.8

168.1

203.0

187.6

196.6

Mission to Planet Earth (and precursors)

147.4

141.3

112.1

63.0

103.7

178.1

227.2

Science-related technology programs

0.0

0.0

29.5

35.5

61.8

109.4

109.6

Space station research facilities

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Total Major Flight Projects in 1995 dollars

639.7

678.0

823.4

897.6

1106.8

1125.1

1073.6

GDP Pride Deflator

61.2

65.1

67.9

70.5

72.8

74.8

77.2

NOTE: ACTS = Advanced Communications Technology Satellite; ATD = Advanced Technology Development; AXAF = Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility; EOS = Earth Observing System; GRO = Gamma Ray Observatory; HST = Hubble Space Telescope; ISPM = International Solar Polar Mission; TIMED = Thermospheric Ionosphere Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics; UARS = Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite

a Data shown prior to FY 1997 are and were distributed in other budget elements.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Sources of Data and Method of Development." National Research Council. 1998. Supporting Research and Data Analysis in NASA's Science Programs: Engines for Innovation and Synthesis. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6311.
×

Major Science-related Flight Projects

Fiscal Year Obligations (in millions of current dollars)

1988

1989

1990

1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

Approp. 1998

Total Space Station Research (budget restructured in FY 1999a)

 

 

 

 

 

 

(187.8)

(254.6)

(277.4)

82.2

95.3

Research projects

 

 

 

 

 

 

(43.1)

(112.8)

(131.3)

82.2

95.3

Utilization support

 

 

 

 

 

 

(21.0)

(36.3)

(64.4)

(54.6)

(89)

Mir support (including Mir research)

 

 

 

 

 

 

(123.7)

(105.5)

(81.7)

(59.3)

(37)

Total Science-related Technology Programs

75.6

74.8

60.0

34.0

18.7

4.0

3.0

2.3

26.7

72.3

210.4

ACTS development

75.6

74.8

60.0

34.0

18.7

4.0

3.0

2.3

 

 

 

OSS Mission studies and technology development

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

26.7

 

 

OSS Focused technology programs (mission-specific)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

26.7

170.7

OSS New Millennium program

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

45.6

39.7

Total (including Space Station research facilities and focused technology programs)

859.5

1,108.8

1,132.1

1,280.1

1,610.7

1,647.3

2,072.5

2,249.2

2,047.3

1,653.8

2,008.0

Recap in Constant 1995 Dollars

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Physics and astronomy

291.5

488.4

520.2

559.6

712.0

708.1

725.5

737.2

652.9

456.0

538.1

Planetary exploration

233.4

275.0

188.9

261.0

319.8

218.9

423.6

454.5

396.5

230.8

250.4

Life and microgravity sciences and applications

188.0

207.7

260.2

289.5

298.2

353.4

445.2

379.6

305.8

131.0

102.6

Mission to Planet Earth ( and precursors)

267.7

270.4

264.3

269.2

384.6

444.6

528.4

675.0

620.0

615.8

707.2

Science-related technology programs

94.6

89.8

69.0

37.6

20.1

4.2

3.1

2.3

26.1

69.1

197.6

Space station research facilities

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

125.6

78.6

89.5

Total Major Flight Projects in 1995 dollars

1075.1

1331.3

1302.6

1416.9

1734.7

1729.2

2125.8

2248.6

2126.9

1581.3

1885.4

GDP Pride Deflator

79.9

83.3

86.9

90.3

92.9

95.3

97.5

100.0

102.3

104.6

106.5

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Sources of Data and Method of Development." National Research Council. 1998. Supporting Research and Data Analysis in NASA's Science Programs: Engines for Innovation and Synthesis. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6311.
×

flight projects. Because of the large year-to-year changes in budget resources required for the development of major spaceflight projects, it is essential to separate these projects to make any sense of the dollar trends in funding for the various NASA program activities. In developing Tables A.1 and A.2, the task group tracked through successive budget documents in order to tabulate the latest available "actual" budget for each program element. For purposes of comparison, any given budget usually shows budget data for 3 years: (1) the prior fiscal-year amount (the actual amount as recorded in the agency's financial accounts), (2) the current-year amount (an estimate of the ongoing year's activity at the time the budget request is submitted), and (3) the budget-request amount (which is frequently modified by Congress in the appropriations process). Tables A.1 and A.2 track the prior-year (or actual) amounts given in the various budget reports summarized in this study.

The budget history tables (and many of the other analytical summaries in this report) include constant-dollar series that were adjusted by the task group based on Office of Management and Budget (OMB) gross domestic product (GDP) implicit price deflators (see Table A.3), which can be found in the president's annual budget documents and are also available on the Government Printing Office Web site (<http://www.gpo.gov/su_docs/budget99/hist_wk1.html>).

DATA FROM THE NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION'S FEDERAL FUNDS ANNUAL SERIES-BROAD SECTORAL OVERVIEW

Table A.4 provides a broad historical perspective on performers of NASA-funded R&D. This summary is based on the National Science Foundation's (NSF's) federal funds series of statistics gathered and published each year by NSF's Science Resources Studies Division. These data are collected by NSF from each of the major R&D-performing agencies of the federal government and are statistical extracts or estimates derived from the annual budget documents. These agency statistics, collected for several decades on a consistent basis, are an important source of information about federal R&D programs. They provide detailed estimates of agency programs, based on the character of the work being supported (including estimates of the amounts provided for basic and applied research and for development activities). For the purposes of this report, the NSF data are significant because they provide the only regularly published data from NASA that contain a breakdown of the overall NASA R&D program by performing sector (e.g., industry, academic institutions, nonprofit organizations, and in-house NASA centers). In fact, this series is the only source of which the task group is aware that presents estimates of the dollar value of NASA intramural research.

One caveat regarding NSF federal funds data is that they represent agency estimates—in this case, NASA estimates—of program amounts directed to particular performers of R&D. The data received by NSF from NASA are not tied to specific contracts and grants and do not provide either a breakdown by major NASA field installations or separate identification of Jet Propulsion Laboratory R&D work, which is included in the general category of federally funded research and development centers (FFRDCs).

DATA AND ANALYTICAL CATEGORIES FOR SUMMARIZING NASA AWARDS TO UNIVERSITIES

NASA does not currently publish very much top-level summary data about the nature of its procurement awards for externally performed research, such as the average size of NASA contracts, their average duration, or their distribution by major fields of science. However, for many years NASA has

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Sources of Data and Method of Development." National Research Council. 1998. Supporting Research and Data Analysis in NASA's Science Programs: Engines for Innovation and Synthesis. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6311.
×

TABLE A.3 Deflators for Task Group on Research and Analysis Study

Fiscal Year

Base Year FY 1995

Base Year FY 1989

Index

Value of $300,000

Index

Value of $300,000

1981

61.2

184

73.5

220

1982

65.1

195

78.2

234

1983

67.9

204

81.5

245

1984

70.5

212

84.6

254

1985

72.8

218

87.4

262

1986

74.8

224

89.8

269

1987

77.2

232

92.7

278

1988

79.9

240

95.9

288

1989

83.3

250

100.0

300

1990

86.9

261

104.3

313

1991

90.3

271

108.4

325

1992

92.9

279

111.5

335

1993

95.3

286

114.4

343

1994

97.5

293

117.0

351

1995

100.0

300

120.0

360

1996

102.3

307

122.8

368

1997

104.6

314

125.5

377

1998 (estimated)

106.5

320

127.9

384

1999 (estimated)

108.7

326

130.5

391

NOTE: Based on gross domestic product deflator series, Council of Economic Advisors. FY 1996 to FY 1999 values downloaded from OMB Web site: <http://www.gpo.gov/su_docs/budget99/hist_wkl.html>. Deflators were updated using the base year 1992.

published annually in its Green Books2 an exhaustive listing of all of its research and training awards to colleges and universities that provides very detailed information at the level of specific contracts and grants. In the most recent fiscal year for which data were available for this study, FY 1995, 8,141 active contracts and grants were awarded to academic institutions.3

NASA's Green Books contain a wealth of information at the level of individual contracts and grants, including a specific contract or grant award number, the name of the receiving institution, its location by state, a brief descriptive title of the effort covered, the period of performance, the amount of funding obligations in the current fiscal year and cumulatively over the life of the award, the name of the principal investigator(s), the names of the NASA contracting office and the NASA technical officer, and a standard government-wide designation (CASE code) of the appropriate field of science to which the award applies.

To have detailed statistics on NASA research contracts and grants for use in this report, the task group undertook a major data preparation job. Data from the Green Books were entered into a computerized database using a combination of optical character recognition (scanning) and manual data entry. The data represent 4 years taken at 3-year intervals, covering the decade from FY 1986 to FY 1995.

2  

 The term ''Green Books" refers to NASA's University Program Active Projects and University Program Management Information System prepared by NASA's Office of Human Resources and Education, Washington, D.C.

3  

 The figure of 8,141 shown here differs from the figure of 5,069 shown in Table 4.4 owing to reporting procedures at NASA. When NASA publishes its awards data, the agency lists all active grants, including those that have not yet closed and carry no dollar obligations in the fiscal year.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Sources of Data and Method of Development." National Research Council. 1998. Supporting Research and Data Analysis in NASA's Science Programs: Engines for Innovation and Synthesis. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6311.
×

TABLE A.4 Summary of NASA-funded Research and Development by Performer ($ thousands)

Performing Sector

FY 1981

FY 1982

FY 1983

FY 1984

FY 1985

FY 1986

FY 1987

Intramural

1,043,805

1,165,551

1,134,436

1,043,278

1,171,117

1,217,343

1,413,839

Basic

216,411

250,670

305,480

344,647

318,382

363,307

379,435

Applied

475,577

501,171

547,461

422,781

482,271

528,314

590,660

Development

351,817

413,710

281,495

275,850

370,464

325.722

443,744

Industrial Firms

2,096,328

1,432,593

901,847

1,120,182

1,311,876

1,276,774

1,479,327

Basic

160,722

118,961

114,551

198,387

181,273

280,517

228,008

Applied

318,502

272,114

251,327

399,380

381,421

430,838

482,244

Development

1,617,104

1,041,518

535,969

522,415

749,182

565,419

769,075

Universities and Colleges

171,308

185,630

189,357

203,846

237,260

254,027

293,644

Basic

124,418

125,876

140,081

148,442

176,886

182,928

220,060

Applied

32,734

29,976

29,600

28,445

36,535

41,906

42,964

Development

14,156

29,778

19,676

26,959

23,839

29,193

30,620

Nonprofit Organizations

98,830

104,511

97,289

89,419

82,167

101,127

102,529

Basic

14,770

18,191

22,571

23,875

18,570

27,102

27,478

Applied

24,346

29,590

33,954

30,313

25,472

34,080

34,040

Development

59,714

56,730

40,764

35,231

38,125

39,945

41,011

FFRDCsUniversities

79,008

182,519

305,120

350,255

512,366

542,407

475,303

Basic

11,775

18,409

30,626

35,183

51,500

54,585

153,149

Applied

23,647

36,876

61,099

70,269

102,756

108,864

98,287

Development

43,586

127,234

213,395

244,803

358,110

378,958

223,867

FFRDCsNonprofit

650

417

495

399

744

589

565

Basic

562

410

203

179

686

336

170

Applied

38

4

264

196

53

227

232

Development

50

3

28

24

5

26

163

TOTAL NASA (thousand dollars)

3,489,929

3,071,221

2,628,544

2,807,379

3,315,530

3,392,267

3,765,207

Basic

528,658

532,517

613,512

750,713

747,297

908,775

1,008,300

Applied

874,844

869,731

923,705

951,384

1,028,508

1,144,229

1,248,427

Development

2,086,427

1,668,973

1,091,327

1,105,282

1,539,725

1,339,263

1,508,480

Percentage Distribution

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Basic

15.1

17.3

23.3

26.7

22.5

26.8

26.8

Applied

25.1

28.3

35.1

33.9

31.0

33.7

33.2

Development

59.8

54.3

41.5

39.4

46.4

39.5

40.1

Total

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

NOTE: Updated from Trends in the Structure of Federal Science Support, Federal Coordinating Council for Science, Engineering, and Technology, Washington, D.C., December 1992.

a Estimate.

SOURCE: Federal Funds for Research and Development: Fiscal Years 1994, 1995, and 1996, Vol. 44, Detailed Statistical Tables, NSF 97-302, National Science Foundation, Washington, D.C., 1997.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Sources of Data and Method of Development." National Research Council. 1998. Supporting Research and Data Analysis in NASA's Science Programs: Engines for Innovation and Synthesis. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6311.
×

Performing Sector

FY 1988

FY 1989

FY 1990

FY 1991

FY 1992

FY 1993

FY 1994

FY 1995

FY 1996a

FY 1997a

Intramural

1,335,244

1,733,436

1,968,411

2,112,018

2,248,412

2,333,246

2,271,257

2,253,736

2,403.417

2,271,038

Basic

343,494

453,571

462,326

443,568

493,224

531,300

490,977

494,548

502,309

471,238

Applied

487,057

621,095

585,278

689,997

624,747

718,691

669,163

516,974

568,085

558,897

Development

504,693

658,770

920,807

978,453

1,130,441

1,083,255

1,111,117

1,242,214

1,333,023

1,240,903

Industrial Firms

1,961,867

2,425,921

3,284,775

3,666,972

3,765,022

4,112,193

4,304,780

4,686,599

5,258.376

5,062,671

Basic

292,129

420,412

517,124

530,970

476,767

505,806

706,865

636,359

666,222

614,453

Applied

531,576

584,723

562,848

673,284

577,976

737,054

914,794

1,249,402

1,418,350

1,484,756

Development

1,138,162

1,420,786

2,204,803

2,462,718

2,710,279

2,869,333

2,683,121

2,800,838

3,173,804

2,963.462

Universities and Colleges

337,930

433,665

470,746

533,728

586,299

613,742

520,988

708,064

708,064

708,064

Basic

254,936

298,712

307,909

357,838

402,370

420,977

421,481

480,168

480,168

480,168

Applied

54,749

88,416

113,906

116,576

109,412

117,998

13,389

107,421

107,421

107,421

Development

28,245

46,537

48,931

59,314

74,517

74,767

86,118

120,475

120,475

120,475

Nonprofit Organizations

112,927

149,406

168,154

212,892

265,181

280,276

255,670

269,069

286,949

274,716

Basic

29,022

39,264

42,123

50,042

60,192

62,909

60,605

59,733

60,554

56,317

Applied

31,789

40,483

36,638

48,706

51,638

61,111

57,912

60,810

69,439

71,152

Development

52,116

69,659

89,393

114,144

153,351

156,256

137,153

148,526

156,956

147,247

FFRDCS—Universities

559,567

630,070

619,257

736,342

791,023

685,258

771,176

1,043,913

903,310

803,894

Basic

183,777

197,589

298,324

317,164

333,519

308,077

259,528

301,133

294,301

257,229

Applied

106,962

121,724

119,776

132,384

117,709

107,856

88,333

120,780

95,997

89,618

Development

268,828

310,757

201,157

286,794

339,795

269,325

423,315

622,000

513,012

457,047

FFRDCS—Nonprofit

790

3,083

2,402

1,940

2,205

2,198

7,022

3,771

3,771

3,771

Basic

384

1,856

1,530

1,131

1,269

1,176

1,988

1,292

1,255

1,267

Applied

208

171

127

112

49

78

1,022

559

611

629

Development

198

1,056

745

697

887

944

4,012

1,920

1,905

1,875

Total NASA (thousand dollars)

4,308,325

5,375,581

6,513,745

7,263,892

7,658,142

8,026,913

8,130,893

8,965,152

9,563,887

9,124,154

Basic

1,103,742

1,411,404

1,629,336

1,700,713

1,767,341

1,830,245

1,941,444

1,973,233

2,004,809

1,880,672

Applied

1,212,341

1,456,612

1,418,573

1,661,059

1,481,531

1,742,788

1,744,613

2,055,946

2,259,903

2,312,473

Development

1,992,242

2,507,565

3,465,836

3,902,120

4,409,270

4,453,880

4,444,836

4,935,973

5,299,175

4,931,009

Percentage Distribution

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Basic

25.6

26.3

25.0

23.4

23.1

22.8

23.9

22.0

21.0

20.6

Applied

28.1

27.1

21.8

22.9

19.3

21.7

21.5

22.9

23.6

25.3

Development

46.2

46.6

53.2

53.7

57.6

55.5

54.7

55.1

55.4

54.0

Total

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Sources of Data and Method of Development." National Research Council. 1998. Supporting Research and Data Analysis in NASA's Science Programs: Engines for Innovation and Synthesis. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6311.
×

Because of time constraints, the amount of manual effort required, and limitations in applying optical character recognition techniques to the hard-copy reports in its possession, the task group was not able to collect all of the Green Book data elements associated with each procurement award in the database it constructed. For example, technical descriptions were collected only for the very largest awards (i.e., those with obligations of $300,000 or more in any of the 4 years examined for the study).

Two of the task group's objectives in developing this database were to categorize the awards by science discipline and to estimate the research component of NASA awards flowing into the academic sector. To achieve these objectives, a framework was needed for allocating data in the newly constructed database. Table A.5 summarizes the analytical categories and coding structure used for this purpose. Under the column heading "Science Programs" in Table A.5 are four categories of space-science-related activities that account for much of NASA science funding at universities and colleges. The task group attempted to specifically identify all research contracts and grants, by title, for the largest of the awards (coded as RES in its database). The names of technical officers were also useful in this process. Specific contracts for hardware design and development were grouped based on technical

TABLE A.5 Analytical Categories for Summarizing NASA Awards to Universities

Categories of University Activity Supporting NASA Missions

Classification Codes

Comments

Science Programs

 

 

Major research grants (>$300,000 in at least 1 year)

RES

Classified on the basis of technical descriptions

Smaller research grants (<$300,000 in all years)

RIS

Residual smaller grants not otherwise assigned to specific categories

Instrument design and development

IDD

Includes flight instruments and advanced technology development

Spacecraft design and development

SDD

Complete systems (e.g., GP-B, EUVE)

Technology Programs

 

 

Technology development and application

TECH

Classified on the basis of technical descriptions

Technology transfer and commercialization

TTXR

Includes facilities established specifically for technology transfer

Educational Programs (including outreach)

 

 

National Space Grant College awards

NSGC

Program established by Congress in 1988

Training grants

NGT

All grants or contracts with NGT prefix (except space grants)

Other educational and human resource development

EDU

Classified on the basis of technical descriptions

Infrastructure and Program Support

 

 

Operation of NASA research support facilities

OPS

An example is the Poker Flats sounding range

Technical and engineering support

SUP

Classified on the basis of technical descriptions

Centers of excellence (institutional capabilities)

CENX

Variety of facilities sponsored by NASA centers and offices to serve specific programmatic purposes

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Sources of Data and Method of Development." National Research Council. 1998. Supporting Research and Data Analysis in NASA's Science Programs: Engines for Innovation and Synthesis. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6311.
×

descriptions and then were subdivided into two categories, instrument design and development (coded as IDD) and spacecraft development (coded as SDD). These hardware contracts tend to be large awards relative to awards for performance of ground-based research and analysis; they are of interest in their own right as an illustration of the scope and variety of science-related activities carried out for NASA by the universities. Smaller research awards, of which there are literally thousands, could not be identified separately because of time and data constraints. Instead, these were estimated as the residual category after all of the other nonresearch-related activities were removed; these awards were coded as RIS in the database.

The two categories in Table A.5 summarized under "Technology Programs" generally cover NASA programs in aeronautical research as well as activities focused specifically on transferring aerospace technologies to commercial and other non-NASA users. The larger awards (coded as TECH or TTXR) were classified specifically on the basis of technical descriptions. Smaller awards (not coded separately) in technology-related activities include all NASA contracts and grants that were classified as engineering, mathematics, or computer science on the basis of CASE codes assigned by NASA program and procurement staff as reported in NASA's Green Books.

Awards in two of the three categories under "Educational Programs" in Table A.5 were classified on the basis of technical descriptions. These include all National Space Grant College awards (coded NSGC) and all other education-related activities not specifically tagged as training grants in the NASA procurement system (coded EDU). NASA training grants can be identified easily in the Green Books by the prefix NGT that appears as the first three letters of the NASA contract or grant number (coded simply as NGT by the task group).

The final set of categories in Table A.5 summarizes all NASA technical support and infrastructure activities carried out in the academic sector. All of these awards were classified by the task group on the basis of technical descriptions. For example, among the variety of program support activities that universities provide for NASA in the science arena are operation of the Poker Flats sounding rocket range in Alaska and, until fairly recently, operation of the NASA High Altitude Balloon Facility in Texas (all such operational contracts are coded as OPS in the database). Universities sometimes perform technical or engineering support functions for NASA; examples include editorial support for one of the NASA Headquarters program offices or the processing of synthetic aperture radar data for another office (all such activities are coded as SUP in the task group's database). The "Centers of Excellence" category is a catchall grouping established by the task group for specific contracts to universities in which the technical description implies that the effort is being funded to provide an ongoing institutional capability (coded as CENX in the task group's database to reflect the rationale that these activities are supported by NASA in order to establish and maintain a particular "center of excellence" for a specific programmatic purpose). These various broad infrastructure and program support activities relate to NASA's science, technology development, and educational support missions.

ESTIMATE OF NET SPACE RESEARCH COMPONENT OF NASA RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS AWARDS

The task group used the coding structure described above to categorize the large number and variety of contracts and grants awarded by NASA to universities and colleges to implement the agency's broad array of programmatic responsibilities. This categorization offers a means for characterizing the uses of funds awarded in all NASA contracts and grants to the academic sector. This approach also makes it possible to focus on the specific category of research contracts and grants of most interest to the task group's study of R&A programs, namely, the "net" space research component of NASA-sponsored

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Sources of Data and Method of Development." National Research Council. 1998. Supporting Research and Data Analysis in NASA's Science Programs: Engines for Innovation and Synthesis. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6311.
×

TABLE A.6 Estimation of the Space Research Component of NASA Awards to Universities

 

Larger Awards (>$300,000)

 

 

Number of Awards

Categories of University

Programs Supporting

NASA Missions

Classification of Space Science Code(s)

FY

1986

FY

1989

FY

1992

FY

1995

Research Contracts and Grants

 

 

 

 

 

OLMSA disciplines

RES/LS

4

6

8

12

 

RES/MGS

3

2

8

5

Subtotal OLMSA disciplines

 

7

8

16

17

OSS disciplines

RES/AA

11

16

24

22

 

RES/SSP

13

16

18

13

 

RES/LPX

5

10

9

4

Subtotal OSS disciplines

 

29

42

51

39

OES disciplines

RES/ES

18

12

26

48

Subtotal OES disciplines

 

18

12

26

48

Subtotal above: net space research

 

54

62

93

104

Percentage of total NASA awards

 

1.9

1.7

1.9

2.1

Other Space Science Activities

 

 

 

 

 

Instrument design and development

IDD/Various

25

39

42

38

Spacecraft design and development

SDD/Various

3

3

4

4

Operation of science facilities

OPS/Various

2

2

9

9

Operation of support facilities

SUP/Various

7

11

5

6

Centers of excellence

CENX/Various

2

1

3

6

Subtotal (includes net space research—above)

 

93

118

156

167

Other NASA Activities

 

 

 

 

 

Training grants

NGT

9

8

14

23

National Space Grant College awards

NSGC

0

0

20

20

Other education programs

EDU

3

3

11

29

Centers of excellence

CENX/NSSa

2

17

26

37

Technology programs

TECH

8

37

36

31

Technology transfer programs

TTXR

7

18

17

19

Balance of NASA University Awards

 

 

 

 

 

Total university awards

 

122

201

280

326

a NSS = not space science.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Sources of Data and Method of Development." National Research Council. 1998. Supporting Research and Data Analysis in NASA's Science Programs: Engines for Innovation and Synthesis. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6311.
×

Smaller Awards (<$300,000)

 

 

 

 

Consolidated Awards

 

Number

Number

CASE Field

FY

1986

FY 1989

FY 1992

FY 1995

FY

1986

FY

1989

FY

1992

FY

1995

Agricultural science

13

8

11

4

 

 

 

 

Biological science

119

113

141

137

 

 

 

 

Environmental biology

15

23

26

27

 

 

 

 

Life sciences (not elsewhere classified)

33

24

34

84

 

 

 

 

Medical sciences

38

52

55

47

 

 

 

 

 

218

220

267

299

225

228

283

316

Astronomy

375

484

731

742

 

 

 

 

Chemistry

76

81

72

65

 

 

 

 

Physics

231

342

393

383

 

 

 

 

Physical science (not elsewhere classified)

97

143

242

187

 

 

 

 

 

779

1,050

1,438

1,377

808

1,092

1,489

1,416

Atmospheric science

266

301

371

375

 

 

 

 

Environmental science (not elsewhere classified)

61

88

152

188

 

 

 

 

Geological science

219

250

252

228

 

 

 

 

Oceanography

34

53

80

74

 

 

 

 

 

580

692

855

865

598

704

881

913

 

1,577

1,962

2,560

2,541

1,631

2,024

2,653

2,645

 

56.0

52.5

53.3

50.1

58.0

54.1

55.3

52.2

 

 

 

 

 

25

39

42

38

 

 

 

 

 

3

3

4

4

 

 

 

 

 

2

2

9

9

 

 

 

 

 

7

11

5

6

 

 

 

 

 

2

1

3

6

 

 

 

 

 

1,670

2,080

2,716

2,708

Various

217

449

729

933

226

457

743

956

 

 

 

30

30

0

0

50

50

 

 

 

 

 

3

3

11

29

 

 

 

 

 

2

17

26

37

Sum engineer, mathematics, computer science

820

1,035

1,092

1,073

828

1,072

1,128

1,104

 

 

 

 

 

7

18

17

19

Not distributed

78

92

138

196

78

92

138

196

 

2,692

3,538

4,519

4,743

2,814

3,739

4,799

5,069

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Sources of Data and Method of Development." National Research Council. 1998. Supporting Research and Data Analysis in NASA's Science Programs: Engines for Innovation and Synthesis. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6311.
×

space science in the academic sector. Since there is no means of directly measuring the R&A and DA (data analysis) activities being carried out under NASA contracts and grants, the subset of such awards was estimated by excluding awards for all activities related to other NASA (nonscience) programs and missions. Although this approach does not yield a perfect measure, it represents the only workable means available to the task group to develop a reasonable basis for assessing net space research activities of particular interest to this study. The approach, which is reproducible and has the additional merit of providing a consistent basis for making a time-based assessment of net space research activities, was applied to the historical data for all 4 fiscal years for which detailed NASA award statistics were collected—FY 1986, FY 1989, FY 1992, and FY 1995.

Assignment Of Awards To Nasa Science Disciplines

The two-stage process used by the task group to assign larger and then smaller NASA contracts and grants to the general analytical categories described above was also used to develop historical statistics relevant to the major NASA science disciplines and the three NASA science program offices—the Office of Earth Science (OES), the Office of Life and Microgravity Sciences and Applications (OLMSA), and the Office of Space Science (OSS)—currently responsible for science management of the major disciplines in NASA Headquarters. These allocations are perhaps best explained by referring to one of the worksheets used to develop the award count statistics for the 4 fiscal years covered by the study. Table A.6 provides this summary.

As Table A.6 shows, the count of all NASA awards to colleges and universities was distributed by the task group into analytical categories under the headings "Research Contracts and Grants," "Other Space Science Activities," and "Other NASA Activities." The larger awards (those totaling >$300,000 in any of the 4 fiscal years) were assigned classification codes as described in the preceding paragraphs. Appended to these classification codes is an additional science discipline code. Each of the large research awards was categorized by major NASA science discipline and by program office as follows: all awards classified as life science (LS) or microgravity science (MGS) were assigned to the current OLMSA; all awards classified as astronomy and astrophysics (AA), space and solar physics (SSP), or lunar and planetary exploration (LPX) were assigned to the current OSS; and all large research awards categorized as Earth science (ES) were assigned to the OES. The resulting allocations are subtotaled in Table A.6 to provide a comprehensive total of all the "net" space research contracts and grants awarded by NASA to universities for fiscal years 1986, 1989, 1992, and 1995. In summary, this is a direct allocation of all the larger awards based on examination of the technical descriptions for each specific award.

For smaller awards, it was simply not possible to apply this very time-consuming award-by-award classification scheme. Allocation of the thousands of smaller awards was achieved by assigning each award to the corresponding NASA science program office on the basis of the CASE science fields assigned by NASA personnel responsible for the database used to produce the Green Books. The task group notes that these allocations are somewhat arbitrary, but if the CASE codes are reasonably accurate, this approach should provide a reasonable basis for assigning awards to each of NASA's three science program offices. Finally, as described in the previous section, all smaller awards with CASE field codes in engineering, mathematics, or computer science were assigned to NASA's technology development mission and excluded from the estimate of the net space research component of NASA academic funding.

The consolidation of estimates in Table A.6 sums both the larger and smaller awards listed. The interesting substantive result of this derailed estimating procedure is that more than half of all NASA

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Sources of Data and Method of Development." National Research Council. 1998. Supporting Research and Data Analysis in NASA's Science Programs: Engines for Innovation and Synthesis. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6311.
×

contracts and grants to universities fall within the broad category of net space research, the principal focus of the task group's study. This estimating approach was applied consistently for each of the 4 fiscal years for which detailed data were collected. These data suggest that over the decade from FY 1986 to 1995, the total number of NASA awards to universities and colleges for the performance of space research increased by about 1,000—from 1,631 awards in FY 1986 to 2,645 awards in FY 1995. Awards for purposes other than research increased more rapidly during the decade, with the result that the proportion of awards for research declined from about 58 percent of the total in FY 1986 to 52 percent in FY 1995.

Caveats And Additional Observations
Descriptive Statistics On Nasa Contract And Grant Awards

Many task group members were concerned that the use of simple average statistics (especially the use of mean values) would not give an accurate sense of the variability or the typical value of award sizes, especially since these distributions are known to include relatively small numbers of very large awards and relatively large numbers of small-dollar-value awards. To address similar concerns, statistics on new versus continuing awards were tabulated to allow for the fact that some awards continue for very long periods whereas other do not. During a period in which the total number of awards is increasing, the average duration of awards tends to decline because of the varying proportions of new versus continuing awards.

Coded Large Nasa Awards

In the process of developing data for analysis, the task group created a lengthy listing of large NASA awards that were then classified on an individual basis for purposes of this study. This listing, sorted by the major classification codes used to generate many of the statistical series reported in the text of this report, provides a basis for assessing the validity of the coding scheme used by the task group both for correlating activity types with the various awards and for assigning them to the major NASA science disciplines.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Sources of Data and Method of Development." National Research Council. 1998. Supporting Research and Data Analysis in NASA's Science Programs: Engines for Innovation and Synthesis. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6311.
×
Page 69
Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Sources of Data and Method of Development." National Research Council. 1998. Supporting Research and Data Analysis in NASA's Science Programs: Engines for Innovation and Synthesis. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6311.
×
Page 70
Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Sources of Data and Method of Development." National Research Council. 1998. Supporting Research and Data Analysis in NASA's Science Programs: Engines for Innovation and Synthesis. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6311.
×
Page 71
Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Sources of Data and Method of Development." National Research Council. 1998. Supporting Research and Data Analysis in NASA's Science Programs: Engines for Innovation and Synthesis. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6311.
×
Page 72
Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Sources of Data and Method of Development." National Research Council. 1998. Supporting Research and Data Analysis in NASA's Science Programs: Engines for Innovation and Synthesis. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6311.
×
Page 73
Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Sources of Data and Method of Development." National Research Council. 1998. Supporting Research and Data Analysis in NASA's Science Programs: Engines for Innovation and Synthesis. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6311.
×
Page 74
Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Sources of Data and Method of Development." National Research Council. 1998. Supporting Research and Data Analysis in NASA's Science Programs: Engines for Innovation and Synthesis. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6311.
×
Page 75
Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Sources of Data and Method of Development." National Research Council. 1998. Supporting Research and Data Analysis in NASA's Science Programs: Engines for Innovation and Synthesis. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6311.
×
Page 76
Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Sources of Data and Method of Development." National Research Council. 1998. Supporting Research and Data Analysis in NASA's Science Programs: Engines for Innovation and Synthesis. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6311.
×
Page 77
Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Sources of Data and Method of Development." National Research Council. 1998. Supporting Research and Data Analysis in NASA's Science Programs: Engines for Innovation and Synthesis. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6311.
×
Page 78
Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Sources of Data and Method of Development." National Research Council. 1998. Supporting Research and Data Analysis in NASA's Science Programs: Engines for Innovation and Synthesis. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6311.
×
Page 79
Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Sources of Data and Method of Development." National Research Council. 1998. Supporting Research and Data Analysis in NASA's Science Programs: Engines for Innovation and Synthesis. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6311.
×
Page 80
Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Sources of Data and Method of Development." National Research Council. 1998. Supporting Research and Data Analysis in NASA's Science Programs: Engines for Innovation and Synthesis. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6311.
×
Page 81
Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Sources of Data and Method of Development." National Research Council. 1998. Supporting Research and Data Analysis in NASA's Science Programs: Engines for Innovation and Synthesis. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6311.
×
Page 82
Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Sources of Data and Method of Development." National Research Council. 1998. Supporting Research and Data Analysis in NASA's Science Programs: Engines for Innovation and Synthesis. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6311.
×
Page 83
Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Sources of Data and Method of Development." National Research Council. 1998. Supporting Research and Data Analysis in NASA's Science Programs: Engines for Innovation and Synthesis. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6311.
×
Page 84
Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Sources of Data and Method of Development." National Research Council. 1998. Supporting Research and Data Analysis in NASA's Science Programs: Engines for Innovation and Synthesis. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6311.
×
Page 85
Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Sources of Data and Method of Development." National Research Council. 1998. Supporting Research and Data Analysis in NASA's Science Programs: Engines for Innovation and Synthesis. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6311.
×
Page 86
Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Sources of Data and Method of Development." National Research Council. 1998. Supporting Research and Data Analysis in NASA's Science Programs: Engines for Innovation and Synthesis. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6311.
×
Page 87
Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Sources of Data and Method of Development." National Research Council. 1998. Supporting Research and Data Analysis in NASA's Science Programs: Engines for Innovation and Synthesis. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6311.
×
Page 88
Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Sources of Data and Method of Development." National Research Council. 1998. Supporting Research and Data Analysis in NASA's Science Programs: Engines for Innovation and Synthesis. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6311.
×
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Effective science, clearly a mandate for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), involves asking significant questions about the physical and biological world and seeking definitive answers. Its product is new knowledge that has value to the nation. NASA's flight projects are highly visible and usually the most costly elements of this process, but they are only a part of the science enterprise. Flight projects are founded on research that defines clear scientific goals and questions, designs missions to address those questions, and develops the required technologies to accomplish the missions. This research is funded primarily by NASA's research and analysis (R&A) programs. Data from flight projects are transformed into knowledge through analysis and synthesis-research that is funded both by R&A and by the data analysis (DA) portion of mission operations and data analysis (MO&DA) programs. R&A and DA programs are the subject of this report and are grouped for convenience under the heading of research and data analysis (R&DA).

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