A new study that inventories U.S.-Russian joint work in science and technology has given a thumbs-up regarding the benefits of such collaboration, although obstacles to and opportunities for strengthening research alliances in the future do exist.

The study, U.S. Government Funding for Science and Technology Cooperation with Russia, was prepared for the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy by RAND's Science and Technology Policy Institute, based in Washington, D.C.

The RAND study observes that the United States government spent, on average, $350 million a year in the 1990s to support science and technology cooperation with Russia. The top area receiving a good chunk of American dollars is in aerospace. Large-scale, international NASA projects -- where both sides toss in funding and know-how -- account for a number of these projects.

While not directly addressing the America-to-Russia cash flow used to build the International Space Station (ISS), money spent on the mega-project helped push aerospace to the top of the partnership list.

"Aerospace cooperation shows up as a disproportionately large share of total cooperation because costs of equipment are so large. For the purposes of our study, ISS is considered as a single project. So we count the full amount in our inventory," said RAND's Caroline Wagner, who led the study.

"This is why aerospace funding commitments look so large when compared to other activities, Wagner said. "It doesn't necessarily mean that the government is placing policy emphasis on aerospace cooperation over other possible areas," she told SPACE.com.

Wagner said the RAND study did not address specifically the International Space Station (ISS) as a flagship for international space cooperation.

The RAND study finds that NASA dollars spent on Russia rank first among U.S. government agencies engaged in cooperative science and technology projects with that country.

For 1994, 1996, 1998, and 1999, NASA sent an estimated $712.1 million in cooperative activities with Russia to support 143 projects, the RAND study notes.

For instance, major levels of cash spent in 1996 and 1998 centered on two activities:

• The Mars 98 Orbiter and Lander projects that carried Russian science gear - two NASA Mars probes that failed to achieve their goal, but not due to Russian involvement.
• Advanced aerospace technology work at the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center and data management system work for the International Space Station.

The RAND report cites a number of NASA-Russian joint research efforts that span a variety of scientific fields, such as:

• a bilateral project to measure air pollution from Russian space equipment which ran from 1996 to 1999;
• a decade-long bilateral effort -- begun in 1993 and stretching through 2004 -- under the Joint U.S.-Russian Human Space Flight Activities initiative;
• In 1992, a multilateral cell and developmental biology study began to refine the gravity field of Mars and determine its spin pole orientation; and
• A multilateral scientific study of land surface climatology in the Eurasian and African continents contrasted to remote sensing data assessments.

The RAND study found that the science and technology relationships between the United States and Russia grew during the 1990s for both scientific and political reasons.

"Scientific reasons included the opening up of Russian institutes to greater international collaboration, offering unprecedented opportunities for joint work. Political reasons included the many complex factors involved in transitioning formerly defense-oriented Russian research centers to civilian activities," the study explains.

However, it's not a completely rosy picture.

"Russia's budget crisis has taken a toll on science and technology funding, and many areas of Russian science are reportedly receiving less than they did in the mid-1990s," the RAND report points out.

Furthermore, doing research in Russia has its challenges. Some U.S. researchers surveyed by RAND found a lack of cooperation from local officials, poor facilities, bureaucratic red tape and a maze of domestic travel and export controls, as well as communication problems.

Despite the issue of Russia's shortfall of science and technology funds, U.S.-based researchers said their Russian counterparts provided a significant contribution to joint work.

"Most of the assistance has come as in-kind contributions, such as research experiments conducted in Russian labs or assistance to U.S. scientists in acquiring permits and other documentation. In addition, Russian partners have provided invaluable access to data and resources, according to U.S. scientists. Although Russian financial contributions did not equal that of the United States, scientists reported that the joint work could not have been done without Russian collaboration," the RAND study comments.

The RAND study advises that there are several science pursuits where U.S.-Russian joint work may be strengthened in the future.

One such area is in the earth sciences. The Russian government has set aside funds for international cooperation in this discipline. However, the United States is not making a significant investment in this area of joint work, the RAND report notes.

As Russian science continues to be restructured, the RAND study team concludes, funding patterns in U.S.- Russian science and technology cooperation will likely change over time "to look more like the U.S. relationship with other scientifically advanced countries."