National Academies Press: OpenBook
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2012. NASA Space Technology Roadmaps and Priorities: Restoring NASA's Technological Edge and Paving the Way for a New Era in Space. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13354.
×

NASA SPACE TECHNOLOGY
ROADMAPS AND PRIORITIES

Restoring NASA’s Technological Edge
and Paving the Way for a New Era in Space

Steering Committee for NASA Technology Roadmaps

Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board

Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences

NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL
OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES

THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS
Washington, D.C.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2012. NASA Space Technology Roadmaps and Priorities: Restoring NASA's Technological Edge and Paving the Way for a New Era in Space. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13354.
×

THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS   500 Fifth Street, NW   Washington, DC 20001

NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance.

This study is based on work supported by Contract NNH10CD04B between the National Academy of Sciences and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the agency that provided support for the project.

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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2012. NASA Space Technology Roadmaps and Priorities: Restoring NASA's Technological Edge and Paving the Way for a New Era in Space. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13354.
×

THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES
Advisers to the Nation on Science, Engineering, and Medicine

The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit, self-perpetuating society of distinguished scholars engaged in scientific and engineering research, dedicated to the furtherance of science and technology and to their use for the general welfare. Upon the authority of the charter granted to it by the Congress in 1863, the Academy has a mandate that requires it to advise the federal government on scientific and technical matters. Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone is president of the National Academy of Sciences.

The National Academy of Engineering was established in 1964, under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences, as a parallel organization of outstanding engineers. It is autonomous in its administration and in the selection of its members, sharing with the National Academy of Sciences the responsibility for advising the federal government. The National Academy of Engineering also sponsors engineering programs aimed at meeting national needs, encourages education and research, and recognizes the superior achievements of engineers. Dr. Charles M. Vest is president of the National Academy of Engineering.

The Institute of Medicine was established in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences to secure the services of eminent members of appropriate professions in the examination of policy matters pertaining to the health of the public. The Institute acts under the responsibility given to the National Academy of Sciences by its congressional charter to be an adviser to the federal government and, upon its own initiative, to identify issues of medical care, research, and education. Dr. Harvey V. Fineberg is president of the Institute of Medicine.

The National Research Council was organized by the National Academy of Sciences in 1916 to associate the broad community of science and technology with the Academy’s purposes of furthering knowledge and advising the federal government. Functioning in accordance with general policies determined by the Academy, the Council has become the principal operating agency of both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering in providing services to the government, the public, and the scientific and engineering communities. The Council is administered jointly by both Academies and the Institute of Medicine. Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone and Dr. Charles M. Vest are chair and vice chair, respectively, of the National Research Council.

www.national-academies.org

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2012. NASA Space Technology Roadmaps and Priorities: Restoring NASA's Technological Edge and Paving the Way for a New Era in Space. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13354.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2012. NASA Space Technology Roadmaps and Priorities: Restoring NASA's Technological Edge and Paving the Way for a New Era in Space. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13354.
×

OTHER REPORTS OF THE AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ENGINEERING BOARD

An Interim Report on NASA’s Draft Space Technology Roadmaps (Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board [ASEB], 2011)

Limiting Future Collision Risk to Spacecraft: An Assessment of NASA’s Meteoroid and Orbital Debris Programs (ASEB, 2011)

Preparing for the High Frontier— the Role and Training of NASA Astronauts in the Post-Space Shuttle Era (ASEB, 2011)

Recapturing a Future for Space Exploration: Life and Physical Sciences Research for a New Era (Space Studies Board [SSB] with ASEB, 2011)

Summary of the Workshop to Identify Gaps and Possible Directions for NASA’s Meteoroid and Orbital Debris Programs (ASEB, 2011)

Advancing Aeronautical Safety: A Review of NASA’s Aviation Safety-Related Research Programs (ASEB, 2010)

Capabilities for the Future: An Assessment of NASA Laboratories for Basic Research (Laboratory Assessments Board with ASEB, 2010)

Defending Planet Earth: Near-Earth-Object Surveys and Hazard Mitigation Strategies: Final Report (SSB with ASEB, 2010)

Final Report of the Committee to Review Proposals to the 2010 Ohio Third Frontier (OTF) Wright Projects Program (WPP) (ASEB, 2010)

America’s Future in Space: Aligning the Civil Space Program with National Needs (SSB with ASEB, 2009)

Approaches to Future Space Cooperation and Competition in a Globalizing World: Summary of a Workshop (SSB with ASEB, 2009)

An Assessment of NASA’s National Aviation Operations Monitoring Service (ASEB, 2009)

Final Report of the Committee for the Review of Proposals to the 2009 Engineering and Physical Science Research and Commercialization Program of the Ohio Third Frontier Program (ASEB, 2009)

Fostering Visions for the Future: A Review of the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts (ASEB, 2009)

Launching Science: Science Opportunities Enabled by NASA’s Constellation System (SSB with ASEB, 2009)

Near-Earth Object Surveys and Hazard Mitigation Strategies: Interim Report (SSB with ASEB, 2009)

Radioisotope Power Systems: An Imperative for Maintaining U.S. Leadership in Space Exploration (SSB with ASEB, 2009)

Assessing the Research and Development Plan for the Next Generation Air Transportation System: Summary of a Workshop (ASEB, 2008)

A Constrained Space Exploration Technology Program: A Review of NASA’s Exploration Technology Development Program (ASEB, 2008)

Launching Science: Science Opportunities Provided by NASA’s Constellation System (SSB with ASEB, 2008)

Managing Space Radiation Risk in the New Era of Space Exploration (ASEB, 2008) NASA Aeronautics Research: An Assessment (ASEB, 2008)

Review of NASA’s Exploration Technology Development Program: An Interim Report (ASEB, 2008)

Science Opportunities Enabled by NASA’s Constellation System: Interim Report (SSB with ASEB, 2008)

United States Civil Space Policy: Summary of a Workshop (SSB with ASEB, 2008)

Wake Turbulence: An Obstacle to Increased Air Traffic Capacity (ASEB, 2008)

Limited copies of ASEB reports are available free of charge from:

Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board
National Research Council
The Keck Center of the National Academies
500 Fifth Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20001
(202) 334-2858/aseb@nas.edu
www.nationalacademies.org/aseb

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2012. NASA Space Technology Roadmaps and Priorities: Restoring NASA's Technological Edge and Paving the Way for a New Era in Space. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13354.
×

STEERING COMMITTEE FOR NASA TECHNOLOGY ROADMAPS

RAYMOND S. COLLADAY, RC Space Enterprises, Inc., Chair

JOHN D. ANDERSON, JR., Smithsonian Institution

JAMES B. ARMOR, JR., ATK Spacecraft System & Services

EDWARD F. CRAWLEY, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

RAVI B. DEO, EMBR

WALT FAULCONER, Strategic Space Solutions, LLC

PHILIP D. HATTIS, The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Inc.

TAMARA E. JERNIGAN, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

JOHN C. KARAS, Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company

JOHN M. KLINEBERG, Loral Space and Communications, Ltd. (retired)

IVETT A. LEYVA, Air Force Research Laboratory

LESTER L. LYLES, The Lyles Group

H. JAY MELOSH, Purdue University

DANIEL R. MULVILLE, Independent Consultant

DAVA J. NEWMAN, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

RICHARD R. PAUL, Independent Consultant

LISELOTTE J. SCHIOLER, National Institute of Aerospace

GERALD SCHUBERT, University of California, Los Angeles

PROPULSION AND POWER PANEL

JOHN R. ROGACKI, Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition, Chair

DOUGLAS M. ALLEN, Independent Consultant

HENRY W. BRANDHORST, JR., Carbon-Free Energy, LLC

DAVID E. CROW, University of Connecticut

ALEC D. GALLIMORE, University of Michigan

MARK W. HENLEY, Boeing Research and Technology

ANTHONY K. HYDER, University of Notre Dame

IVETT A. LEYVA, Air Force Research Laboratory

PAULO C. LOZANO, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

JOYCE A. McDEVITT, Independent Consultant

ROGER M. MYERS, Aerojet General Corporation

LAWRENCE J. ROSS, Aerospace Engineering Associates, LLC

RAYMOND J. SEDWICK, University of Maryland

GEORGE F. SOWERS, United Launch Alliance

ROBOTICS, COMMUNICATIONS, AND NAVIGATION PANEL

STEPHEN P. GOREVAN, Honeybee Robotics, Ltd., Chair

JULIE A. ADAMS, Vanderbilt University

EDWARD J. GROTH III, Princeton University

PHILIP D. HATTIS, The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Inc.

JONATHAN P. HOW, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

JAMES W. LOWRIE, Lockheed Martin Missile and Fire Control-Orlando

DAVID P. MILLER, University of Oklahoma

JONATHAN R. SALTON, Sandia National Laboratories

DONNA L. SHIRLEY, Managing Creativity

GEORGE W. SWENSON, JR., University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2012. NASA Space Technology Roadmaps and Priorities: Restoring NASA's Technological Edge and Paving the Way for a New Era in Space. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13354.
×

INSTRUMENTS AND COMPUTING PANEL

JAMES L. BURCH, Southwest Research Institute, Chair

PHILIP E. ARDANUY, Raytheon Intelligence and Information Systems

WEBSTER CASH, University of Colorado, Boulder

JOHN A. HACKWELL, The Aerospace Corporation

ROBERT J. HANISCH, Space Telescope Science Institute

DAVID Y. KUSNIERKIEWICZ, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory

JOEL R. PRIMACK, University of California, Santa Cruz

GERALD SCHUBERT, University of California, Los Angeles

DANIEL A. SCHWARTZ, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

ALAN M. TITLE, Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Center

DANIEL WINTERHALTER, Jet Propulsion Laboratory

CARL WUNSCH, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

HUMAN HEALTH AND SURFACE EXPLORATION PANEL

BONNIE J. DUNBAR, Independent Consultant, Chair

DAVID L. AKIN, University of Maryland, College Park

DALLAS G. BIENHOFF, The Boeing Company

ROBERT L. CURBEAM, JR., ARES Corporation

GREGORY J. HARBAUGH, Sigma Chi Foundation

TAMARA E. JERNIGAN, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

DANIEL R. MASYS, University of Washington, Seattle

ERIC E. RICE, Orbital Technologies Corporation

RONALD E. TURNER, ANSER

MATERIALS PANEL

MOOL C. GUPTA, University of Virginia, Chair

GREGORY R. BOGART, Sandia National Laboratories

DONALD M. CURRY, The Boeing Company

JOHN R. HOWELL, University of Texas, Austin

GEORGE A. LESIEUTRE, Pennsylvania State University

LISELOTTE J. SCHIOLER, National Institute of Aerospace

ROBERT E. SKELTON, University of California, San Diego

GEORGE W. SUTTON, SPARTA (retired)

ENTRY, DESCENT, AND LANDING PANEL

TODD J. MOSHER, Sierra Nevada Corporation, Chair

JOHN D. ANDERSON, JR., Smithsonian Institution

TYE M. BRADY, The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Inc.

BASIL HASSAN, Sandia National Laboratories

STEPHEN RUFFIN, Georgia Institute of Technology

ROBERT J. SINCLAIR, Airborne Systems of North America

BYRON D. TAPLEY, University of Texas, Austin

BETH E. WAHL, Independent Consultant

GERALD D. WAHLBERG, North Carolina State University (retired)

Page viii Cite
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2012. NASA Space Technology Roadmaps and Priorities: Restoring NASA's Technological Edge and Paving the Way for a New Era in Space. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13354.
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Staff

ALAN C. ANGLEMAN, Senior Program Officer, Study Director

JOSEPH K. ALEXANDER, Senior Program Officer

IAN W. PRYKE, Senior Program Officer

ROBERT L. RIEMER, Senior Program Officer

JOHN WENDT, Senior Program Officer

MAUREEN MELLODY, Program Officer

CATHERINE A. GRUBER, Editor

AMANDA R. THIBAULT, Research Associate

DIONNA WILLIAMS, Program Associate

TERRI BAKER, Senior Project Assistant

RODNEY HOWARD, Senior Project Assistant

LINDA WALKER, Senior Project Assistant

ANNA B. WILLIAMS, Christine Mirzayan Science and Technology Policy Fellow

MICHAEL H. MOLONEY, Director, Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2012. NASA Space Technology Roadmaps and Priorities: Restoring NASA's Technological Edge and Paving the Way for a New Era in Space. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13354.
×

AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ENGINEERING BOARD

RAYMOND S. COLLADAY, RC Space Enterprises, Inc., Chair

LESTER LYLES, The Lyles Group, Vice Chair

ELLA M. ATKINS, University of Michigan

AMY L. BUHRIG, Boeing Commercial Airplanes Group

INDERJIT CHOPRA, University of Maryland, College Park

JOHN-PAUL B. CLARKE, Georgia Institute of Technology

RAVI B. DEO, EMBR

VIJAY DHIR, University of California, Los Angeles

EARL H. DOWELL, Duke University

MICA R. ENDSLEY, SA Technologies

DAVID GOLDSTON, Harvard University

R. JOHN HANSMAN, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

JOHN B. HAYHURST, The Boeing Company (retired)

WILLIAM L. JOHNSON, California Institute of Technology

RICHARD KOHRS, Independent Consultant

IVETT LEYVA, Air Force Research Laboratory, Edwards Air Force Base

ELAINE S. ORAN, Naval Research Laboratory

ALAN G. POINDEXTER, Naval Postgraduate School

HELEN R. REED, Texas A&M University

ELI RESHOTKO, Case Western Reserve University

EDMOND SOLIDAY, United Airlines (retired)

Staff

MICHAEL H. MOLONEY, Director

CARMELA J. CHAMBERLAIN, Administrative Coordinator

TANJA PILZAK, Manager, Program Operations

CELESTE A. NAYLOR, Information Management Associate

CHRISTINA O. SHIPMAN, Financial Officer

SANDRA WILSON, Financial Assistant

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2012. NASA Space Technology Roadmaps and Priorities: Restoring NASA's Technological Edge and Paving the Way for a New Era in Space. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13354.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2012. NASA Space Technology Roadmaps and Priorities: Restoring NASA's Technological Edge and Paving the Way for a New Era in Space. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13354.
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Preface

In late 2010, NASA developed a set of 14 draft roadmaps to guide the development of space technologies under the leadership of the NASA Office of the Chief Technologist (OCT).1,2 Each of these draft roadmaps focuses on a particular technology area (TA). The roadmaps are intended to foster the development of advanced technologies and concepts that address NASA’s needs and contribute to other aerospace and national needs. In June of 2010, Robert Braun, NASA’s Chief Technologist at the time, requested that the National Research Council (NRC) conduct a study to review the roadmaps. The role of the study was to gather and assess relevant community input, make recommendations and suggest priorities to inform NASA’s decisions as it finalizes its roadmaps, and undertake a time-sequenced and prioritized advanced space technology development program that lays the technical foundation for future NASA missions. The full statement of task appears in Appendix A of this report. Specific elements of the statement of task include the following:

•   Establish a set of criteria to enable prioritization of technologies within each and among all of the technology areas that the NASA technology roadmaps should satisfy;

•   Consider technologies that address the needs of NASA’s exploration systems, Earth and space science, and space operations mission areas, as well as those that contribute to critical national and commercial needs in space technology;

•   Integrate the outputs to identify key common threads and issues and to summarize findings and recommendations; and

•   Prioritize the highest-priority technologies from all 14 roadmaps.

In response to this request, the NRC appointed the 18-member Steering Committee for NASA Technology Roadmaps and six study panels with a total of 56 additional experts. The study panels were organized by technical area, based on the organization of the 14 roadmaps, as follows:

image

1The draft roadmaps are available at http://www.nasa.gov/offices/oct/home/roadmaps/index.html.

2 This study (and the 14 draft roadmaps) does not cover aeronautics technologies except to the extent that they are needed to achieve NASA and national needs in space. Guidance on the development of core aeronautics technologies is already available in the National Aeronautics Research and Development Plan, which was published in 2010 by the White House National Science and Technology Council and Office of Science and Technology Policy. It is available at http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/microsites/ostp/aero-rdplan-2010.pdf.

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2012. NASA Space Technology Roadmaps and Priorities: Restoring NASA's Technological Edge and Paving the Way for a New Era in Space. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13354.
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•   Panel 1: Propulsion and Power

—   TA01 Launch Propulsion Systems

—   TA02 In-Space Propulsion Technologies

—   TA03 Space Power and Energy Storage

—   TA13 Ground and Launch Systems Processing

•   Panel 2: Robotics, Communications, and Navigation

—   TA04 Robotics, TeleRobotics, and Autonomous Systems

—   TA05 Communication and Navigation

•   Panel 3: Instruments and Computing

—   TA08 Science Instruments, Observatories, and Sensor Systems

—   TA11 Modeling, Simulation, and Information Technology and Processing

•   Panel 4: Human Health and Surface Exploration

—   TA06 Human Health, Life Support, and Habitation Systems

—   TA07 Human Exploration Destination Systems

•   Panel 5: Materials Panel

—   TA10 Nanotechnology

—   TA12 Materials, Structures, Mechanical Systems, and Manufacturing

—   TA14 Thermal Management Systems

•   Panel 6: Entry, Descent, and Landing Panel

—   TA09 Entry, Descent, and Landing Systems

After initial discussions by the study chair and a few members of the steering committee and staff to plan committee meetings and draft a uniform set of evaluation criteria, an initial meeting of the steering committee and all six panels was held in Washington, D.C. The January 2011 meeting reviewed and approved the evaluation criteria and study process and also served as a forum to discuss the content of the roadmaps with NASA staff. The steering committee subsequently held three additional meetings between January and September 2011 for information gathering, deliberations, and report writing. During that same time period, each of the six panels also held two additional meetings and hosted a 1-day public workshop for each roadmap under its purview. At each public workshop, the study panels engaged with invited speakers, guests, and members of the public in a dialogue on the technology areas and their value to NASA based on the common evaluation criteria established by the steering committee. More detailed information on each workshop, including a complete agenda and copies of many presentations, can be viewed at http://sites.nationalacademies.org/DEPS/ASEB/DEPS_060733.

Broad community input was also solicited from a public website where 144 individuals provided 244 sets of comments on the draft roadmaps in terms of criteria (such as benefit, risk and reasonableness, and alignment with NASA and national goals) that the steering committee established. The individuals providing these inputs included 91 personnel from NASA (including the Jet Propulsion Laboratory), 6 from other government organizations, 26 from industry, 16 from academia, and 5 from other organizations or no organization at all. (The data provided in the public input forms can be found at http://www8.nationalacademies.org/asebsurvey/tabs/publicview.aspx.) In addition, 87 sets of general comments were received via e-mail from 7 individuals who completed the public input forms noted above and from 68 individuals who did not. These individuals included 47 personnel from NASA (including the Jet Propulsion Laboratory), 1 from another government agency, 7 from industry, 4 from academia, 5 from other organizations, and 11 whose organization is unknown.

Based on the important input from the community and its own deliberations, the steering committee prepared a brief interim report that makes high-level observations on the roadmaps and addresses the advisability of modifying the technologies included within each of the existing draft roadmaps, as well as technology gaps that cut across multiple roadmaps. This interim report is available at http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=13228.

From these various forms of public input, as well as their own internal deliberations, the study panels prioritized technologies for each of their assigned roadmaps into high, medium, and low categories; described the value of the high-priority technologies; identified gaps in the draft roadmaps; identified development or schedule changes of the technologies covered; and summarized the public workshop that focused on the draft roadmap. The results of

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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2012. NASA Space Technology Roadmaps and Priorities: Restoring NASA's Technological Edge and Paving the Way for a New Era in Space. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13354.
×

the panels’ work are summarized in this report in 14 appendixes (D through Q; one for each roadmap). This input from the panels was then integrated by the steering committee and documented in the main body of this report.

The steering committee and panels would like to acknowledge the significant contributions of the following staff members of the Aerospace Corporation who assisted the steering committee, the panels, and the NRC staff in this effort: Torrey Radcliffe, Dean Bucher, Robert Kinsey, Kristina Kipp, Marcus Lobbia, and Gregory Richardson. Finally, I wish to personally recognize the hard work and dedicated efforts of the steering committee, and of the panel members and their chairs, and the outstanding support from the NRC staff, without which we would not have been able to meet our delivery milestones. In particular, the tireless and professional attention to all aspects of the study by Alan Angleman and Michael Moloney supported by Maureen Mellody was exceptional.

Raymond S. Colladay, Chair
Steering Committee for NASA Technology Roadmaps

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2012. NASA Space Technology Roadmaps and Priorities: Restoring NASA's Technological Edge and Paving the Way for a New Era in Space. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13354.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2012. NASA Space Technology Roadmaps and Priorities: Restoring NASA's Technological Edge and Paving the Way for a New Era in Space. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13354.
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Acknowledgment of Reviewers

This report has been reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise, in accordance with procedures approved by the National Research Council’s (NRC’s) Report Review Committee. The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the institution in making its published report as sound as possible and to ensure that the report meets institutional standards for objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the study charge. The review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the deliberative process. We wish to thank the following individuals for their review of this report:

Ellen Bass, University of Virginia,

Robert H. Bishop, Marquette University, David C. Byers, Consultant,

Elizabeth Cantwell, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory,

Robert L. Crippen, U.S. Navy (retired),

Joseph H. Koo, University of Texas, Austin,

Kurt Kreiner, Boeing Space and Intelligence Systems,

Jonathan Lunine, Cornell University,

Alfred U. MacRae, MacRae Technologies,

Bruce D. Marcus, TRW (retired),

Edward D. McCullough, The Boeing Company (retired),

Joseph Nainiger, Alphaport Incorporated,

Michael Norman, University of California, San Diego,

Robert Pinkerton, Orbital Sciences Corporation,

George H. Rieke, University of Arizona,

Stephen M. Rock, Stanford University, and

Al Sacco, Jr., Texas Tech University.

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2012. NASA Space Technology Roadmaps and Priorities: Restoring NASA's Technological Edge and Paving the Way for a New Era in Space. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13354.
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Although the reviewers listed above have provided many constructive comments and suggestions, they were not asked to endorse any conclusions or recommendations, nor did they see the final draft of the report before its release. The review of this report was overseen by Martha P. Haynes, Cornell University, and Ronald M. Sega, Colorado State University. Appointed by the NRC, they were responsible for making certain that an independent examination of this report was carried out in accordance with institutional procedures and that all review comments were carefully considered. Responsibility for the final content of this report rests entirely with the authoring committee and the institution.

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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2012. NASA Space Technology Roadmaps and Priorities: Restoring NASA's Technological Edge and Paving the Way for a New Era in Space. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13354.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2012. NASA Space Technology Roadmaps and Priorities: Restoring NASA's Technological Edge and Paving the Way for a New Era in Space. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13354.
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Page xvii Cite
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2012. NASA Space Technology Roadmaps and Priorities: Restoring NASA's Technological Edge and Paving the Way for a New Era in Space. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13354.
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Page xviii Cite
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2012. NASA Space Technology Roadmaps and Priorities: Restoring NASA's Technological Edge and Paving the Way for a New Era in Space. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13354.
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NASA Space Technology Roadmaps and Priorities: Restoring NASA's Technological Edge and Paving the Way for a New Era in Space Get This Book
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NASA's Office of the Chief Technologist (OCT) has begun to rebuild the advanced space technology program in the agency with plans laid out in 14 draft technology roadmaps. It has been years since NASA has had a vigorous, broad-based program in advanced space technology development and its technology base has been largely depleted. However, success in executing future NASA space missions will depend on advanced technology developments that should already be underway. Reaching out to involve the external technical community, the National Research Council (NRC) considered the 14 draft technology roadmaps prepared by OCT and ranked the top technical challenges and highest priority technologies that NASA should emphasize in the next 5 years. This report provides specific guidance and recommendations on how the effectiveness of the technology development program managed by OCT can be enhanced in the face of scarce resources.

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