Decadal Science Strategy Surveys Report of a Workshop (2007) / Chapter Skim
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WORKSHOP BACKGROUND NRC decadal surveys provide broad assessments of the status of research fields, and they develop recommendations for scientific and programmatic priorities for future investments in the fields. Workshop participants from both inside and outside the government shared the view that the decadal surveys are important, especially because they have positive impacts on federal agency planning and decision making and on science community unity.
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Cost and Technical Risk Many participants noted that program cost estimates, which were based largely on information from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, have become problematic and that too often costs have turned out to be as much as four times the original cost estimates. Participants urged that agencies continue to develop and improve cost and schedule parametric models for space missions.
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They also suggested that the technology being considered for a mission or facility needs to be well understood or characterized before a cost for it can be estimated. Resiliency and Execution Workshop participants acknowledged that unanticipated, but seemingly inevitable, changes in the budgetary, programmatic, and/or political environment present a challenge to the ability of government agencies and the research community to implement the priorities set in a survey report.
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First, former survey committee chairs noted that the survey charge must be clear and focused to avoid open-ended tasks and should be vetted fully with the research community and relevant government agencies. There was widespread agreement that surveys should have substantial community ownership and input.
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SUMMARY Second, participants noted that as long as human exploration of space is a major national space goal, future surveys should not altogether ignore such exploration. However, science surveys should stick with the principle of "science first" while integrating research that can be enabled by human spaceflight into overall science priorities to be recommended in a survey report.
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