Space Studies Board Annual Report 1991 (1992) / Chapter Skim
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4 Letter Reports
4 Letter Reports
Pages 42-72
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From page 42... ...
In addition, the Board itself has expressed concern as to whether the CHAPTER 2 redesigned station will adequately support the research required to make CHAPTER 3 CHAPTER 4 important national decisions about long term human spaceflight. The Committee CHAPTER 5 on Microgravity Research and the Committee on Space Biology and Medicine APPENDIX were briefed by space station officials on redesign ground rules and guidelines on January 10 and February 8 of this year, respectively.
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From page 43... ...
Space Program, chaired by Norman Augustine, recommended that the development of a U.S. space station with research facilities must give top priority to life sciences research, with microgravity research assuming a significant but secondary role.1 The Board notes that this recommendation is fully consistent with the 1983 Space Studies Board position on the space station, as well as with the 1988 National Academy of Sciences/National Academy of Engineering report to then newly-elected President Bush.2,3 In the judgment of the Board, Space Station Freedom, at the present stage of redesign, does not meet the basic research requirements of the two principal scientific disciplines for which it is intended: (1)
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From page 44... ...
Space Research Requirements, Opportunities, and Alternatives Life Sciences Research The Augustine Committee recently concluded that the primary objective of a space station should be life sciences research.6 The Space Studies Board strongly endorses the position that a space-based laboratory is required to study the physiological consequences of long-term space flight.7,8 The Board notes that many of the fundamental problems in life sciences research involve a long period of time for their pursuit and solution. In its present form, the redesigned space station does not provide the facilities required for such research.
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From page 45... ...
technology base, and supporting a long-term human space exploration initiative. In the judgment of the Board, the proposed redesign of Space Station Freedom does not meet the stated national goal of enabling the life sciences research necessary to support extended human space exploration, nor does it meet the stated needs of the microgravity research community-most of whose goals could be achieved in both a more timely and more cost-effective manner by alternative means.
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From page 46... ...
The Space Studies Board's Committee on Space Biology and Medicine, and the Board itself wish to emphatically emphasize that the above requirements are absolutely fundamental to the acquisition of the data necessary to determine the feasibility of long-term human space exploration. Inadequacy of the Redesigned Space Station Freedom for Space Biology and Medicine Research Requirements The Committee on Space Biology and Medicine and the Space Studies Board conclude that Space Station Freedom, in its present redesigned form, will be inadequate to meet the requirements for space biology and medicine research described above because of the following: 1.
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From page 47... ...
If plans proceed to conduct microgravity research on the redesigned Space Station Freedom, the Board and its Committee on Microgravity Research recommend that adequate provisions be made for supporting only those microgravity research questions that can best be addressed using a space station. The following minimum facility requirements for microgravity research aboard a space station are based on the conclusions and recommendations described in the cited reports and on recent briefings presented to the Committee on Microgravity Research and the Space Studies Board.18 Critical Requirements for Conducting Microgravity Research on a Space Station 1.
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From page 48... ...
the bulk of the microgravity program could be conducted using independent, more cost-effective facilities. SPACE STUDIES BOARD file:///C|/SSB_old_web/an91ch4.htm (7 of 31)
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Allen Director COMMITTEE ON SPACE BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE L Dennis Smith, Chairman, Executive Vice Chancellor, University of California, Irvine Robert M
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2Space Science Board Assessment of the Scientific Value of a Space Station and letter to NASA Administrator James Beggs, September 9, 1983. See also Space Studies Board, Testimony to U.S.
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Briefing to Committee on Space Biology and Medicine, William Taylor, Chief Scientist, Space Station Freedom, February 8, 1991. Briefing to Space Studies Board, William Raney, Special Assistant, Space Station Freedom, and John-David Bartoe, Deputy Director, Space Station Freedom Operations and Utilization, February 28, 1991.
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From page 52... ...
Briefing to Committee on Space Biology and Medicine, William Taylor, Chief Scientist, Space Station Freedom, February 8, 1991. Briefing to Space Studies Board, William Raney, Special Assistant, Space Station Freedom, and John-David Bartoe, Deputy Director, Space Station Freedom Operations and Utilization, February 28, 1991.
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From page 53... ...
Signed by Louis J Lanzerotti Chair, Space Studies Board SPACE STUDIES BOARD POSITION ON THE NASA EARTH OBSERVING SYSTEM Introduction Complex scientific questions and major policy issues together provide the motivation for a comprehensive attempt to improve our understanding of the earth system.
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From page 54... ...
Other nations, notably Japan, Canada, and the member states of the European Space Agency, have made commitments for significant contributions to the total EOS program, including instruments and ground facilities. In short, EOS, as currently planned, will be the largest single component of the most ambitious scientific enterprise ever undertaken.
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From page 55... ...
Scientific Significance of the EOS Program The scientific questions motivating and shaping studies of the Earth generally, and the EOS program specifically, are very challenging. They are different in some respects from the questions that motivate much of space research, for they concern the behavior of an entire complex system, the role of feedback and interfacial processes in controlling its evolution, and the development of parameterizations that can be used to make long-term statistical projections.
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These and other deficiencies in the planned observations are discussed in the Space Studies Board's Committee on Earth Studies report, Assessment of Satellite Earth Observation Programs -- 1991 (Space Studies Board, 1991) , as well as in The U.S.
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From page 57... ...
The necessary interfaces of the EOS program, with the relevant government agencies and the appropriate private-sector users, must be an integral part of EOS program planning if the broader applications of EOS data are to be realized. Given the planned long duration of the EOS program, such sensors may in some cases become the operational systems of choice, once their capabilities have been demonstrated.
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From page 58... ...
These issues are all significant, because answers to the scientific questions that drive EOS are central to understanding, and possibly ameliorating, global change and its impacts. The Space Studies Board concludes that the EOS program is a potentially valuable initiative to serve the best interests of science and the nation.
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As it develops and proceeds, EOS can be strengthened through continuing review by the earth science and space research community. Management of the EOS program should institutionalize the flexibility necessary to accommodate evolution in understanding of the key scientific questions, and in technological capabilities for observation of the Earth from space.
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A number of important unresolved issues involving EOS science and system configuration still remain. The Space Studies Board will therefore continue to review the EOS program as it progresses.
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Space Studies Board (1991) Assessment of Satellite Earth Observation Programs-1991, Committee on Earth Studies, National Academy Press, Washington, D.C., in press.
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At that meeting, several invited participants from the government, notably from the Office of Management and Budget, and from the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, expressed an interest in receiving the views of the CES on the research applications of the Landsat program and its role in the broader satellite Earth observations context. This letter provides a focused analysis based in large part on the previous advice given on this program by the CES, SSB, and other National Research Council (NRC)
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From page 63... ...
Landsat data are important to achieving the primary science objectives for continental geology from space, which were established by the CES in its report, A Strategy for Earth Science from Space in the 1980's-Part I: Solid Earth and Oceans (Space Science Board, National Academy Press, Washington, D.C., 1982)
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. As noted in the committee's most recent report, Assessment of Satellite Earth Observation Programs -- 1991 (Space Studies Board, National Academy Press, Washington, D.C., 1991)
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From page 65... ...
or foreign -- before the end of the decade. LANDSAT IN THE BROADER LAND REMOTE SENSING CONTEXT Although the existing and potential applications of Landsat data provide a compelling incentive for the future continuation of the program, it is important to understand the role of the Landsat system in the overall land remote sensing context.
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From page 66... ...
Repeat Cycle 16 days 26 days (1- 17 days 22 days 44 days 41 days 5 days with pointing) Orbital 98.2° 98.7° 99.1° polar 98° 98.6° Inclination Notes: SPOT - Satellite Pour l'Observation de la Terre MOS - Marine Observation Satellite IRS - Indian Remote Sensing Satellite JERS - Japanese Earth Resources Satellite ADEOS - Advanced Earth Observing Satellite Years in parentheses indicate planned launch dates.
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From page 67... ...
The ASTER instrument, which is being designed and built by Japan as a contribution to the NASA EOS program, would provide data most comparable to Landsat data. The ASTER is expected to have three visible and near-infrared bands at 15-m resolution, six shortwave infrared bands at 30-m resolution, and five thermal infrared bands at 90-m resolution.
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From page 68... ...
These impediments may be divided into three categories: those associated with the perennial uncertainty about the long-term continuation of Landsat observations, those related to the cost of the data, and those concerning effective archiving of the data. As noted in the committee's most recent report (Assessment of Satellite Earth Observation Programs -- 1991, Space Studies Board, 1991)
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From page 69... ...
Lennard Fisk, Associate Administrator for the NASA Office of Space Science and Applications, estimated that it would cost over $50 million to purchase enough Landsat Thematic Mapper data to compose one "snapshot" of Earth. Even if access to Landsat data were not significantly inhibited by cost, there would still be a problem in using many of the oldest data.
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From page 70... ...
Early inclusion of the Landsat data set in the EOSDIS would be especially useful for the prototype data analysis studies planned under the EOS program. The recommendation is consistent with the "Data Management for Global Change Research Policy Statements," officially released by the Office of Science and Technology Policy on July 2, 1991, which states: Data should be provided at the lowest possible cost to global change researchers in the interest of full and open access to data.
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From page 71... ...
It is particularly important to note that many of the Landsat observations of areas outside North America -- relevant to global change research -- are received and archived by Landsat ground stations in other countries, and can only be obtained through them. Maintenance of Historical Data As the 1990 GAO report (Environmental Data -- Major Effort Is Needed to Improve NOAA's Data Management and Archiving)
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From page 72... ...
Annual Report 1991: Letter Reports Last update 2/24/00 at 9:45 am Site managed by Anne Simmons, Space Studies Board The National Academies Current Projects Publications Directories Search Site Map Feedback file:///C|/SSB_old_web/an91ch4.htm (31 of 31)
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