Scientists increasingly set the long-term research agenda for NASA through decadal studies conducted by the National Academies' National Research Council (NRC) in fields from earth sciences to astrophysics. But those studies have come under fire recently from NASA chief Michael Griffin, who argues that the NRC routinely--and dramatically--underestimates the cost of future missions and then complains when the cash-strapped agency must scale back or cancel projects.
This week, an NRC study acknowledged that the surveys, although largely successful, are saddled with "notable problems" such as overly rosy cost estimates and an inability to take into account changing budgets and agency planning cycles. For example, the panel notes, skyrocketing costs for large missions from the Mars Viking to the Hubble Space Telescope ended up penalizing a host of smaller research missions. The study proposes adding cost experts to future panels and obtaining independent cost estimates of NASA missions. It also advises putting international or interagency projects under special scrutiny.
Meanwhile, last week AAAS (which publishes Science) joined the growing chorus calling for NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to restore funding for planned earth science missions--a crisis outlined by the earth sciences decadal survey released earlier this year.
