The Role of Small Missions in Planetary and Lunar Exploration (1995) / Chapter Skim
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3 Technological and Programmatic Aspects
3 Technological and Programmatic Aspects
Pages 22-32
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From page 22... ...
of launch vehicles and mission operations and data analysis, and are to be chosen from competitive, peer-judged proposals. Based on COMPLEX's preliminary evaluation of the Clementine mission, the NEAR mission now being executed, and the many Discovery-class concepts that were presented at a 1992 workshop,1 $150 million is a reasonable cost cap for limited-scope planetary missions capable of returning significant results.
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From page 23... ...
Despite differing widely from one another in terms of scientific goals, instrumentation, and implementation approach, Explorer missions have constituted a continuing program in that they have been planned and carried out as a predictable line item in NASA's budget. Especially for missions constrained to be implemented within fixed schedules and capped budgets-the premise of the Discovery program-one essential attribute is that NASA make, and keep, its commitments to provide a stated funding profile for the definition, design, and implementation phases; predictable budgets are the key to management effectiveness.
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From page 24... ...
Because this time is brief, the dollars spent by any single mission from one year to the next changes substantially. Thus, the maintenance of an approximately level overall funding profile requires frequent launches, and one launch per year is a reasonable goal.
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From page 25... ...
. COMPLEX notes that, with missions of broader scope having multiple goals, it should be expected that at least some objectives will be satisfied unless a spacecraft failure occurs.
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From page 26... ...
Due to its limited resources, the Discovery program as currently conceived is an inappropriate source of funds for advanced spacecraft design. The role of NASA's Office of Space Access and Technology is to support advanced design, as it is doing with the Lewis and Clark Earth-observation satellites; this expertise should be brought to bear on the Discovery program's needs.
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From page 27... ...
In space-mission design there have been striking examples of innovative technology, some of which were incorporated in Clementine, in part as a result of the Strategic Defense Initiative of the 1980s. Unfortunately, not all the advances in these and other fields have been put to use in civil space missions.4 The Lewis and Clark programs, initiated under the Small Spacecraft Technology Initiative program of NASA's Office of Space Access and Technology, is designed to accelerate this transfer of technology.
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From page 28... ...
Examples of successful student involvement in small missions are provided by the Solar Mesosphere Explorer at the University of Colorado and the Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer at the University of California, Berkeley. While the involvement of a motivated student work force may reduce mission costs, an effective educational outreach program will need additional funds.
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From page 29... ...
The program should not be considered as a fund to support a miscellany of projects or external objectives, but rather should be used only to finance quick, low-cost flight opportunities judged in open competition. Another concern is that differences in national cultures, practices, and mechanisms by which missions are approved may lead to misunderstandings that could sour future relationships.
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From page 30... ...
The past philosophy of costing a mission as "launch plus 30 days" has simply pushed the financial burden into a different part of NASA's budget. A further difficulty arises when a mission survives beyond its initial prime phase; a mechanism needs to be in place for deciding whether extended mission operations should be funded and what the source of those dollars should be.
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From page 31... ...
Nevertheless, proper analysis of the data will require the support of scientists either on the original mission team or as guest investigators. In the past, project management has tended to spend funds originally marked for data analysis on coping with cost overruns in design and construction phases earlier in the mission.
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From page 32... ...
The Role of Small Missions in Planetary and Lunar Exploration: Chapter 3 Washington, D.C., 1994, page 189. Last update 5/22/00 at 1:55 pm Site managed by Anne Simmons, Space Studies Board The National Academies Current Projects Publications Directories Search Site Map Feedback file:///C|/SSB_old_web/smlch3.html (11 of 11)
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