National Academies Press: OpenBook

Space Studies Board Annual Report 1992 (1993)

Chapter: Front Matter

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 1993. Space Studies Board Annual Report 1992. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12301.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 1993. Space Studies Board Annual Report 1992. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12301.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 1993. Space Studies Board Annual Report 1992. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12301.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 1993. Space Studies Board Annual Report 1992. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12301.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 1993. Space Studies Board Annual Report 1992. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12301.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 1993. Space Studies Board Annual Report 1992. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12301.
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Below is the uncorrected machine-read text of this chapter, intended to provide our own search engines and external engines with highly rich, chapter-representative searchable text of each book. Because it is UNCORRECTED material, please consider the following text as a useful but insufficient proxy for the authoritative book pages.

Space Studies Board Annual Report-1992 Space Studies Board Annual Report—1992 NOTICE FROM THE CHAIR CHAPTER 1 CHAPTER 2 CHAPTER 3 CHAPTER 4 Space Studies Board CHAPTER 5 Commission on Physical Sciences, Mathematics, and Applications National Research Council Notice From the Chair 1. Charter and Organization of the Board file:///C|/SSB_old_web/an92menu.htm (1 of 3) [6/18/2004 10:30:23 AM]

Space Studies Board Annual Report-1992 2. Activities and Membership 3. Summaries of Reports 3.1 Setting Priorities for Space Research: Opportunities and Imperatives 3.2 Toward a Microgravity Research Strategy 3.3 Biological Contamination of Mars: Issues and Recommendations 4. Letter Reports 4.1 On the Solar System Exploration Division's 1991 Strategic Plan 4.2 Letter to the NASA Administrator 4.3 On the Space Station Freedom Program 4.4 On the CRAF/Cassini Mission 4.5 On the Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility 4.6 On NOAA Requirements for Polar-Orbiting Environmental Satellites 4.7 On Continued Operation of the BEVALAC Facility 4.8 On Robotic Lunar Precursor Missions of the Office of Exploration 4.9 On the NASA/SDIO Clementine Moon/Asteroid Mission 4.10 On the Restructured Cassini Mission 5. Congressional Testimony 5.1 Testimony on Priorities in Space Life Sciences Research 5.2 Testimony on Setting Priorities in Space Research 6. Cumulative Bibliography National Academy Press, 1993 file:///C|/SSB_old_web/an92menu.htm (2 of 3) [6/18/2004 10:30:23 AM]

Space Studies Board Annual Report-1992 (Notice) Space Studies Board Annual Report—1992 Notice The Space Studies Board is a unit of the National Research Council, which serves as an independent advisor to the federal government on scientific and technical questions of national importance. The Research Council, jointly administered by the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine, brings the resources of the entire scientific and technical community to bear through its volunteer advisory committees. Support for the work of the Space Studies Board and of its committees and task groups was provided by National Aeronautics and Space Administration contract NASW-4627 and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration contract 50- DGNE-1-00138. REPORT MENU NOTICE FROM THE CHAIR CHAPTER 1 CHAPTER 2 CHAPTER 3 CHAPTER 4 CHAPTER 5 file:///C|/SSB_old_web/an92notice.htm (1 of 2) [6/18/2004 10:30:32 AM]

Space Studies Board Annual Report-1992 (From the Chair) Space Studies Board Annual Report—1992 From the Chair Since 1958, the Space Studies Board (formerly the Space Science Board) has provided external and independent research and programmatic advice to the U.S. government on the nation's civil space program. This 1992 annual report of the Board records the activities and principal advisory documents issued by the Board during the year. The year 1992 was an eventful one for the U.S. civil space program. The leadership of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was changed in the first quarter of the year. The new administrator instituted studies of all aspects of the agency's operations and programs, and initiated major management shifts in key program areas, including REPORT MENU science, technology, and applications. Once again, there was energetic NOTICE congressional debate during the summer on the cost and value of such large civil FROM THE CHAIR space program elements as the space station, large orbiting observatories, the CHAPTER 1 advanced solid rocket motor, and new launch vehicle concepts. The joint CHAPTER 2 international meeting of the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) and the CHAPTER 3 International Astronautical Federation (IAF) in Washington in August was the CHAPTER 4 largest such space gathering to date, with a truly outstanding exhibit of space CHAPTER 5 capabilities and achievements from around the globe. Then, elections in November saw a new administration elected by the American public, as well as sweeping changes in the membership of the Congress and of key committees that oversee space and technology. Other events also had significant implications for the future of space research in a broader scientific and engineering context. Both the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health reassessed their basic missions, raising deep questions about research priorities and national needs. The National Space Council of the outgoing administration issued several policy reports on fundamental aspects of our national space endeavors, military as well as civilian. Rep. George E. Brown, Jr., chair of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, released a report in which he reflected on the state of the U.S. research enterprise and asked penetrating questions about the purposes file:///C|/SSB_old_web/an92chr.htm (1 of 4) [6/18/2004 10:30:36 AM]

Space Studies Board Annual Report-1992 (From the Chair) and future directions of federal support of research. The President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) and the Federal Coordinating Council for Science, Engineering, and Technology (FCCSET) both issued reports addressing the present and future relationship between the federal government and the research universities. This relationship is visibly stressed, with evidence of declining confidence by the tax-paying public in America's academic institutions. The year also brought major new accomplishments and results in space research. Some of the highlights included the discovery of large-scale anisotropies in the cosmic background radiation by the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) spacecraft, first measurements of Jupiter's magnetosphere by instruments on the joint European Space Agency/NASA Ulysses spacecraft, successful launch and the beginning of data collection by the first Small Explorer—the Solar, Anomalous, and Magnetospheric Particle Explorer (SAMPEX)—nearly complete radar imaging of the surface of Venus by Magellan, and flight of dedicated U.S. microgravity materials and life sciences laboratories on the space shuttle. The Hubble Space Telescope continued its contributions to astronomy, carrying out studies from our solar system to the most distant reaches of the universe. The intrepid Pioneer and Voyager probes continued their lonely journeys away from the solar system, returning data from further than 50 times the distance from Earth to the Sun. The Mars Observer spacecraft was launched and is on its way to studies of the red planet beginning next year, while Galileo flew by Earth for its last time toward a rendezvous in 1995 with the planet Jupiter. Underlying all of the programmatic changes and research successes in space is the fundamental fact that a major rethinking—some would call it a major shakeout—is occurring in the space programs of all nations. There is a global reassessment of the place of space activities in individual national priorities, and major restructurings are under way everywhere. Some of the most visible include a decision by the European Space Agency to forgo its independent Hermes piloted program for some years, and large uncertainties about Russia's level of commitment to ambitious plans for robotic exploration of Mars. Russia is also actively marketing many components of its once highly secretive space capability. There is little doubt that access to space over the past four decades, and the data returned from increasingly sophisticated missions, have provided humankind with a profoundly new vision and understanding of our home on Earth, of the solar system, and of the universe. Space research has been tremendously successful. Although it is seldom acknowledged, there is also little doubt that much space activity around the globe was motivated at the most fundamental level by desires to demonstrate national technological and political supremacy. While not yet clearly articulated or universally accepted, the space research activities of nations in a post-Cold War world will need to be aligned to new national goals that remain ill-defined, but that will certainly be different from those that energized them in the past. Prioritization of research will be demanded across a wider spectrum of file:///C|/SSB_old_web/an92chr.htm (2 of 4) [6/18/2004 10:30:36 AM]

Space Studies Board Annual Report-1992 (From the Chair) opportunities, programs, and disciplines than in the past. International cooperation—true cooperation—rather than competition and duplication, appears likely to be a central part of a new order. Such true cooperation will not be achieved without creative thinking, good will, and genuine flexibility on all sides. Some implications of the future for U.S. researchers, and their students and colleagues, can only be dimly perceived at present. There will be shifts in space research emphases and major changes in programmatic practices, with contraction possible in many, if not most, space research disciplines. Some of the expected pain can be alleviated through efficiency and ingenuity. But this, too, will require real cultural change and tremendous good will on the part of all. We researchers, and the Space Studies Board, must be active and innovative participants in helping to define our country's space agenda in a rapidly changing national and global environment—not just for the benefit of science and scientists, but also as a matter of civic duty. Louis J. Lanzerotti Chair Space Studies Board January 1993 file:///C|/SSB_old_web/an92chr.htm (3 of 4) [6/18/2004 10:30:36 AM]

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