Released 06.20.07

To support its space astronomy missions over the years, NASA has established a number of astronomy science centers that serve as an interface between the spacecraft and the research community. These centers have been very successful in enabling the astronomy missions to achieve their scientific potential. For new missions, NASA must decide whether to use existing centers, establish new ones, or pursue other means to support the mission. To help with this decision process, NASA asked the NRC to examine current centers, identify lessons learned and best practices, and consider whether there are optimum sizes or approaches for such centers. This report presents descriptions of the functions and responsibilities of an astronomy science center and of models of centers for various sized missions; an analysis of the principles that should guide the establishment, operation, and evolution of such centers; and recommendations for future NASA centers.

Decadal Science Strategy Surveys: Report of a Workshop (SSB)

Released 05.01.07

The NRC has long used decadal surveys to review the status of and outlook for selected research fields, and to provide recommendations for scientific and programmatic priorities for federal research funding. While widely successful, various fiscal, technical, and policy factors have made implementation of this advice by relevant federal agencies difficult at times. To determine whether the approach to future surveys could be modified or improved to help account more effectively for those factors, the NRC undertook a workshop involving the research community and the relevant agencies to examine this question. This report presents a summary of the workshop. It provides a review of recent decadal surveys; a discussion of how to assess more effectively program cost and technical risk; an analysis of lessons learned from past surveys; and the identification of approaches that could enhance the realism, endurance, and utility of future surveys.