A Space Physics Paradox Why Has Increased Funding Been Accompanied by Decreased Effectiveness in the Conduct of Space Physics Research? (1994) / Chapter Skim
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6 Trends in the Conduct of Space Physics
6 Trends in the Conduct of Space Physics
Pages 43-70
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SATELLITE OBSERVATIONS Explorer Program A vital element of space physics research is the availability of in situ data. Without intending to imply that quantity equals quality, one relevant measure of space physics research opportunities remains the number of launches and experiments.
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Figure 6.1a shows the number of Explorer launches from 1958 to the present, along with projected launches for programs approved through 1997 (projected launch times should be considered uncertain)
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45 to to to en 1 r c Is _ L r 1 1 1 , ~ ~ CO Cal ~ O O O sagounel to ~equlnN 1 l 1 .: to slueul! Jadxa to DOWN Cal ·.
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that argued strongly that NASA return to its earlier philosophy of making available to the scientific community more small and rapidly implemented satellites dedicated to focused scientific problems. Implementation Times The desire for rapid implementation discussed in the Explorer program report t13]
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, this large an implementation time (over 10 years) represents "a terrible mismatch in time scale between science and space missions." It does not provide support for contemporary science questions, graduate students, instrument engineering staff, timely data analysis, theoretical studies, or stability of experimental research teams.
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It provides insight into how excessive planning and study activities arise and shows the potentially devastating effects to a research field and its relations with funding agencies. Reliance on New-Start Approvals The ISTP program illustrates another trend in space physics programs, narnely, the increasing reliance on major programs that require new-start approval on a project-by-project basis by Congress.
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factors to increasing implementation times. Implementation of Solar Satellite Missions This section presents data on the prelaunch duration (implementation phase)
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, so the prelaunch phase is taken to begin with the AOSO opportunity. The Orbiting Solar Laboratory (OSL)
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* OSO 6 - P78-1 OS0_2 1 Spacelab_2 1 1 1 1 1980 Launch date ~ 1 SOHO Yohkoh 1 1 1 1 1 1,, 1 1 1 1 1 1 1960 1970 1 990 2000 FIGURE 6.4 Implementation times for solar physics missions, 1962-2005.
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The comparison can be made more directly for these ground-based projects than for space missions because there has not been the same striking evolution in the complexity, scope, and cost of ground-based efforts. The McMath Telescope project, executed in less than five years, was a major undertaking fully comparable to current programs; the McMath and LEST were each designed to be the world's largest solar telescope, and the McMath still is.
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Figure 6.6 compares their project time lines in more detail. Although the total projected cost of the LEST project is twice as large as the cost of the McMath Telescope, the cost to the U.S.
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Figure 6.3 showed that implementation times for solar satellite programs have increased from two to three years in the early 1960s to the present value of well over 10 years. In the solar ground observatory program, where there has been a much less dramatic evolution in complexity than in the satellite program,
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FIGURE 6 6 Detailed time lines on same scale for the McMath telescope and the LEST program. we also see a major increase in implementation times.
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as large an impact on increasing implementation times as have the elements of project size and technical complexity. ROCKET OBSERVATIONS The NASA suborbital program supports scientific experiments carried out on airplanes, balloons, and sounding rockets.
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TRENDS IN THE CONDUCT OF SPACE PHYSICS GONG 1 984 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 First workshop Scientific Organizing Committee Proposal $14.77M Program manager instrument definition team NSF funding $0.3M for technology development Start breadboard NSF funding Start prototype Start installation -~ First light FIGURE 6.8 Time line for the GONG program. 57 Sounding rocket payload weight has more than quadrupled in the last 20 years, from about 125 pounds in 1970 to 600 pounds in 1990.
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About 261 papers were published in refereed journals based on results obtained from sounding rocket experiments during the period 1986-1990. The overall NASA funding for rocket sciences increased by approximately 20 percent (in constant-year dollars)
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launches decreased by approximately 45 percent, but payload weight increased substantially. The demand for sounding rocket support has been increasing steadily since the mid-1970s due to decreased opportunities in orbital missions.
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The trends in the two data sets are consistent. Three cosmic-ray groups provided information about flight rates and implementation times: the California Institute of Technology, University of Chicago, and Goddard Space Flight Center.
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Although payload weight increased, the reliability has remained relatively constant (Harvey Neddleman, Balloon Projects Branch, Wallops Flight Center, personal communication, 1993) , except for periods of specific difficulty in the late 1970s discussed further below.
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The number of grants and the number of projects are shown in Figure 6.16. The increase in payload complexity has led to multiinstitution (and hence multigrant)
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1965 1970 1975 Year 1980 1985 1990 FIGURE 6.14 Sample balloon implementation times for cosmic-ray payloads, 19641990.
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Both aspects of space physics science have evolved over the past few decades. As discussed earlier in this chapter and in Chapter 2, experimental space physics has been getting steadily `'bigger," starting in the early l950s with sounding rockets and progressing to larger and more expensive satellite programs.
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Consider the theory and modeling component of NASA's Space Physics Division SR&T funding for FY 1991 (excluding the balloon and suborbital programs)
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Part of this is associated with advances in numerical simulations of space plasma phenomena, which require a larger infrastructure than traditional theory. One example of this is NASA's Space Physics Theory program (previously the Solar Terrestrial Theory program)
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Theory is an important part of space physics, and numerical plasma simulations have played an increasingly important role in this field. The emphasis on simulation has resulted in some increase in the scale of operations for theory over the past couple of decades, but theoretical space plasma physics seems to have found a balance between big and little science.
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guest investigator program funded 39 investigations at a total cost of $1.45 million, resulting in roughly two new publications per investigator per year. In 1991, NASA's Space Physics Division initiated a plan for the archiving and analysis of data from six Explorer missions.
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As for the third element, 41 guest investigators were supported in 1991, but the funding for continuation of this important program is highly uncertain. The space physics community is united in its support of vigorous guest investigator programs for many reasons: (1)
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