Review of the Restructured Research and Analysis Programs of NASA's Planetary Science Division (American Geophysical Union)

National Academies Of Sciences, Engineering, And Medicine; Division On Engineering And Physical Sciences; Space Studies Board; Committee On The Review Of NASA's Planetary Science Division's Restructured Research And Analysis Program

ISBN 10: 0309458706 / ISBN 13: 9780309458702

Published by National Academies Press, 2017

Very Good condition. A copy that may have a few cosmetic defects. May also contain light spine creasing or a few markings such as an owner's name, short gifter's inscription or light stamp. Seller Inventory # G12A-03027

Synopsis:

The Research and Analysis (R&A) program managed by NASA's Planetary Science Division (PSD), supports a broad range of planetary science activities, including the analysis of data from past and current spacecraft; laboratory research; theoretical, modeling, and computational studies; geological and astrobiological fieldwork in planetary analog environments on Earth; geological mapping of planetary bodies; analysis of data from Earth- and space-based telescopes; and development of flight instruments and technology needed for future planetary science missions. The primary role of the PSD R&A program is to address NASA's strategic objective for planetary science and PSD's science goals.

Recently, PSD reorganized the R&A program to provide better alignment with the strategic goals for planetary sciences. The major changes in the R&A program involved consolidating a number of prior program elements, many of which were organized by subdiscipline, into a smaller number of thematic core research program elements. Despite numerous efforts by PSD to communicate the rationale for the reorganization and articulate clearly the new processes, there has been significant resistance from the planetary science community and concerns in some sectors regarding the major realignment of funding priorities.

Review of NASA's Planetary Science Division's Restructured Research and Analysis Programs examines the new R&A program and determines if it appropriately aligns with the agency's strategic goals, supports existing flight programs, and enables future missions. This report explores whether any specific research areas or subdisciplinary groups that are critical to NASA's strategic objectives for planetary science and PSD's science goals are not supported appropriately in the current program or have been inadvertently disenfranchised through the reorganization.

Table of Contents

• Front Matter
• Executive Summary
• 1 Introduction
• 2 NASA's Planetary Science Division R&A Process
• 3 Linkage Between Planetary R&A and NASA PSD Science Goals
• 4 Linkage Between Planetary R&A and NASA PSD Missions
• Appendixes
• Appendix A: Statement of Task
• Appendix B: Letter of Request
• Appendix C: Center Leads and Analysis Group Comments
• Appendix D: Committee Members and Staff Biographies
• Appendix E: Glossary and Acronyms

Bibliographic Details

Title: Review of the Restructured Research and ...
Publisher: National Academies Press
Publication Date: 2017
Binding: Soft cover
Condition: Very Good