Space Facilities: Meeting Future Needs for Research, Development, and Operations (1994)

Two new wind tunnels should be constructed by 2002 for commercial jet transport development. Non-traditional approaches should be considered for obtaining this critically needed capability. Legislation patterned after the “Unitary Plan,” which was enacted previously for commercially oriented wind tunnel acquisition, is one option. Tax incentives are another. Since the new capability is targeted so strongly toward industry needs, industry could have a much greater involvement in the venture.

Geographical location of the new wind tunnels merits careful consideration because they are expected to be in service for decades. A “level playing field” should be established to evaluate various locations on their technical merits with strong weighting of factors which help keep operating costs low.

Seventy recommended options for improved effectiveness should be considered for implementation. They can be accomplished without significant roles and mission changes. The responsible organizations should review the NFS consolidation/closure findings in Volumes 4 and 5 and develop implementation plans for each option. Representatives from the NFS Task Groups will assist in the process as desired.

The government and aerospace industry can take additional steps to streamline and focus the Nation's space facilities in this austere budget environment.

National facility planning is clearly affected by national objectives which are being reshaped in recognition of the changing needs in defense and in the civil and commercial sectors. The need exists for a national vision and underlying policy for space. It was observed that during this period of dramatic downsizing of all participating departments and agencies, the roles and missions of the agencies as currently established has, in some cases, produced an overlap of functions and responsibilities. This was a limiting factor in defining some facility improvements or savings/decommissioning. Nonetheless, the review concentrated on the best technical approaches and opportunities which might guide future strategic planning. The agency heads may want to jointly review overlapping functions and responsibilities to determine if and where greater efficiencies/cost reduction could result without impacting negatively on the agency missions.

The NASA/DoD/Commercial Mission and Requirements Model document should have long-term value for organizations developing strategic plans involving facilities and their usage. The mission model should be updated annually and made available to organizations involved in the planning process.

Although charging policy variations did not have a first order effect on facility

recommendations, facility charging policies merit a more systematic look than was possible in the current study. For example, charging policies for launch industry's decisions on use of government facilities. Facility pricing and practices of DoD, DOC, DOE, and NASA should be the subject of an in-depth review with the objective of developing uniform policy that encourages the most cost-effective commercial and interagency shared use of U.S. government facilities.

An up-to-date facilities database is needed when program and budget decisions are made. Effort should be made to collect data missing from NFS Database and thus maximize its value as a unique reference asset. The database should be institutionalized in a proper form and maintained by the affected agencies on a permanent basis for future reference by both government and, where appropriate, industry. The database will prove particularly useful to the organizations responsible for implementing the NFS facility disposition recommendations and will assist in making decisions regarding the need for facilities.

NASA, DoD, DoE agency-level processes should be modified to promote systematic assessment of cost-effective facilities utilization. Strengthened agency-level processes are needed to ensure consideration of interagency options for joint use, alteration, consolidation and/or closure. The National Facilities Study should be institutionalized by assigning a headquarters-level organization in each agency to be responsible for facility assessments and establishing a multi-agency coordination process for facility use and disposition.