The technology storehouse supporting
NASA's effort to launch astronauts back to the moon by 2020 is dependent on
proper funding and clear mission goals, but lacks a comprehensive testing plan,
according to a new report.
Released Thursday by the National
Research Council, the 158-page report stemmed from a 10-month review of NASA's
Exploration Technology Development Program (EDTP), which is charged with
developing and providing the new technologies required for the agency's return
to the moon and beyond.
NASA currently plans to retire its
three aging space shuttles by 2010 after completing construction of the
International Space Station. Their replacement, the Orion
Crew Exploration Vehicle, is slated to make its first crewed flight no
earlier than 2014 atop the new Ares I rocket.
"We need a little more time to
digest it," said NASA spokesperson Gray Hautaluoma at the agency's headquarters
in Washington, D.C., of the report. "We always are appreciative of any analysis
and advice."
A committee of 25 veteran aerospace
experts took part in the independent review entitled "A Constrained Space
Technology Development Program" which found that NASA's 22-project technology
development program is making progress toward its goals to support the agency's
moon effort.
But there was room for improvement,
particularly in communicating the risks and human health factors associated
with new technologies, as well as with longer term projects aimed at reaching
past the moon to Mars and beyond. Other hurdles include federal budget
limitations and shifting requirements of NASA's Constellation program
overseeing the development
of Orion, Ares I, the new Altair lunar lander and its heavy-lift Ares V
rocket.
"This was and is a resource-challenged
technology development program, but that technology is necessary for future
human exploration," said former astronaut Bonnie Dunbar, president CEO of the Museum
of Flight in Seattle who co-chaired the review committee. "Even the most
talented of engineers and scientists will find it difficult to make forward
progress without the necessary tools to do so."
The
review also stressed the lack of an integrated test program for several EDTP
projects "that are needed to advance the technology to technology readiness level."
Because
of NASA's short-term focus on returning to the moon and limiting the gap
between the space shuttle retirement and the first operational Orion flights,
the agency has canceled some longer-term programs such as nuclear thermal
rocket propulsion that could be important for long range missions to Mars,
the report stated. More progress on the effectiveness of technology that will
allow astronauts to battle
pervasive moon dust, tap into off-planet
resources and monitor their environment is also required, it went on.
Dunbar said
that while the committee worked hard to provide an objective assessment, it
does firmly support the national vision to continue human space exploration to
the moon and Mars.
"We hope
that this report will help to strengthen that road to the future, not cause it
to be questioned," she said in an e-mail interview.
Hautaluoma told SPACE.com that
NASA officials will meet with the NRC review panel to further discuss their
findings at a later date.
The NRC report is the second in as
many weeks stressing the need for more stable federal funding and requirements
for NASA's Constellation program. An earlier report, released Aug. 11 by the
independent Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel, stressed that budget limitations
and the lack of a clear direction for the Constellation program posed
significant challenges for the project.
NASA Constellation program managers
said then that it was primarily budget concerns that prompted the agency to push back its
internal target for the first crewed launch of Orion by one year to 2014.
The space agency remains confident that its Orion shuttle successor will meet
its official deadline to begin operational flights into orbit no later than
2015, they added.
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