APPENDIX C
Statement of Task
Drawing upon available data and analyses, including information presented at a workshop, the committee will:
-
Identify and assess the kinds of engineering research and technology development—applicable to national, NASA, and commercial needs—that can appropriately be performed on the space station. This includes assessing opportunities that are inherent in station construction and operation as well as those that can be supported by the space station. For each potential engineering research or development area, the committee will assess (1) scientific and technical value, (2) the degree of merit in conducting the research on a space station rather than by some other means, and (3) potential demands on space station resources such as power and crew time. The committee also should become cognizant of the costs of relevant equipment and should factor relative costs and cost tradeoffs into its recommendations.
-
Identify the types of instrumentation that should be included in the space station design to support engineering research. These may include suggestions for (1) generic space station facilities that might be used for a variety of engineering research and technology development activities, (2) modifications to space station hardware in order to enable key types of engineering research and technology development, and (3) provisions for proprietary research.
-
Review techniques for assessing benefits of research to U.S. competitiveness that have been used by other federal agencies and, using one or more of these, perform a preliminary assessment of the potential
-
benefits to U.S. competitiveness of engineering research that might be conducted on a space station.
-
Review NASA's current approach to jointly funded or cooperative experiments, and suggest modifications that might facilitate university and industry participation in engineering research and technology development activities on the space station.
The committee will conduct two-three meetings and hold a workshop on the use of the international space station for engineering research and technology development. A diverse group of engineers and scientists active in relevant space technology research and other authorities will be invited to the workshop. These invitees will provide broad-based input to the committee's deliberations, but will not be involved in the writing of the committee's report. The committee's findings and recommendations will be presented in a report for NASA, Congress, the White House, and other interested parties. The report will be subject to National Research Council report review procedures prior to release.