To successfully send humans back to the moon and eventually on to Mars, NASA must implement sweeping cultural changes, transforming itself into a leaner, more innovative agency that relies much more heavily on private industry and international cooperation, a presidential panel reported today.

Artist's concept of astronauts at a moon base. Credit: NASA/Commission Report

Equally important, the commission concluded, the American public must buy into the goals of the re-structured program and lawmakers must provide steady funding over the next two decades and beyond to turn the dream into reality.

"This is a tremendous thing for NASA," said panel chairman Edward "Pete" Aldridge Jr., a former Air Force secretary. "For years, they didn't have a direction (like the one) clearly articulated by the president now. And it's got to be multiple presidents. This has got to last through 10 presidential terms, at least. ... It's got to be sustainable over a long period of tiem.

"The sustainability issue is very critical," he added. "The American people have to achieve ownership of this. And they have to be shown the value of the space program to their way of life."

The President's Commission on Implementation of United States Space Exploration Policy was created by executive order on Jan. 27, two weeks after President Bush unveiled his new moon-Mars initiative in a Jan. 14 speech at NASA headquarters.

The president called for sending robots and then astronauts back to the moon between 2015 and 2020 and eventually, on to Mars. As part of that plan, the space shuttle will be retired by 2010, or whenever assembly of the international space station is complete, and NASA will develop a new manned spacecraft capable of carrying astronauts to and from low-Earth orbit and on into deep space.

The moon-Mars initiative resulted in part from criticism by the Columbia Accident Investigation Board that pointed to a lack of clear, long-range goals in the space program that contributed in part to the shuttle disaster.

The Aldridge commission was given 120 days to come up with a set of recommendations for turning the president's vision into reality. Today, the results of that work - a 60-page report built around eight findings and 14 recommendations - was presented to Vice President Cheney at the White House.

A key theme in the report is the need for NASA to cut its managerial ties to the past and to develop a new approach to conducting business on the high frontier.

"We conclude that fundamental changes must take place in how the nation approaches space exploration and manages the vision for success," Aldridge said in a cover letter to President Bush.

"This national effort calls for a transformation of NASA, building a robust international space industry, a discovery-based science agenda and educational initiatives to support youth and teachers inspired by the vision."

Artist's concept of astronauts on Mars. Credit: NASA/Commission Report

The report offers a variety of sweeping recommendations for transforming NASA's management structure and culture, increasing the role of private industry and bringing in international cooperation. But the central unknown remains just that: How to "sell" a restructured space program to the American public and how to ensure it receives the multi-decade support it will need from future presidents and congresses.

In a section titled "Why Go?" the panel laid out its view of the answer to those questions. A sustained space exploration program, the report said, would inspire the nation's youth, generate new jobs and markets and contribute to the nation's security by ensuring leadership in high-technology fields. It would also, of course, expand the nation's scientific horizons and answer fundamental questions about the birth, evolution and fate of the universe.

"Exploring the moon, Mars and beyond is a great journey worthy of a great nation," the report said. "The impulse to explore the unknown is a human imperative and a notable part of what animates us as a people. This endeavor presents an opportunity to inspire a new generation of American explorers, scientists, entrepreneurs and innovators who will provide positive American leadership to the world."

Listing three "imperatives for success," the panel said the new initiative must be sustainable, affordable and credible to achieve the public support necessary for long-term survival.

"The space exploration vision sets a complex course that must be sustained for several decades," the commission wrote. "Obviously, this will require the support of multiple presidents, multiple Congresses and a couple of generations of American taxpayers.

"And at its core, the vision requires a sustained commitment from the American public."

To get the program underway, the president's plan would give NASA $1 billion in new funding over the next five years. Over the same period, NASA was directed to come up with another $11 billion from its own projected budget, money that would come from existing programs.

Aldridge said NASA can accomplish the moon-Mars initiative within existing budgets and without the need for massive infusions of cash if the panel's recommendations are carried out.

"We support a 'go as you can pay' approach for funding, which allows specific exploration goals to be adjusted as technology advances and periodic milestones are achieved," Aldridge said. "This also allows the space exploration program to remain affordable within the resources available. We do not believe an assessment of a mission's affordability should be based on an unknowable and highly uncertain projection of total mission cost."

Aldridge said he's frequently asked what that total mission cost might be.

"The answer is, I don't know," he said today. "I'll ask the same question. How much is the cure for cancer going to cost? I don't know that, either. But I know what I can afford on an annual basis to try to get there. And this is the same model we're using for the space program.

NASA'S $16 billion budget, he said, "has to be passed at the levels that have been requested and if that is done, then we can get on with this project. The budgets that are projected beyond that are very, very modest, it's less than seven-tenths of one percent of the federal budget. Most people don't realize that the NASA budget is that small.

"It's less than one percent of the federal budget and we accomplish a lot for that small amount of money. If we can get that kind of level of funding for the next 20 years, we believe with the right allocation of the activities, such as phasing out the shuttle at the appropriate time and focusing our attention on this new mission, that it can be done within that which we believe to be affordable in this nation."

Artist's concept of future astronauts on the moon. Credit: NASA/Commission Report

Funding issues aside, the commission's report focused on the need for management changes at NASA.

The panel recommended establishment of a permanent Space Exploration Council, chaired by the vice president or some other high-ranking official, that would include representatives of all appropriate federal agencies. Reporting directly to the president, the council would be empowered "to develop policies and coordinate work by its agencies to share technologies, facilities and talent with NASA to support the national space exploration vision."

At the same time, NASA's Apollo-era management structure "must be decisively transformed," the commission said, recommending that:

• NASA should turn over many functions to private industry with the ultimate goal being to allow "private industry to assume the primary role of providing services to NASA, and most immediately in accessing low-Earth orbit. In NASA decisions, the preferred choice for operational activities must be competitively awarded contracts with private and non-profit organizations." NASA's role, the panel concluded, should be limited to those areas "where there is irrefutable demonstration that only government can perform the proposed activity."
  
  
• NASA should define clear lines of authority and accountability as part of a more focused and integrated agency.
  
  
• NASA field centers should be restructured as Federally Funded Research and Development Centers in which a contractor operates the facility for the government. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., which is operated for NASA by the California Institute of Technology, is an example of a working FFRDC. Putting other NASA centers on a similar footing would "enable innovation" and "stimulate economic development," the panel said. Some functions, however, would remain under direct government control.
  
  
• Three new NASA organizations be created: A technical advisory board that would provide an independent assessment of technical feasibility and risk mitigation; an independent panel to verify cost estimates; a research organization to sponsor development of high-risk technology.
  
  
• NASA should adopt personnel and management reforms in line with accepted policies and practices in place across cutting edge government and industry organizations.

Congress should provide financial incentives, the commission said, to attract entrepreneurs to the high frontier. And Congress should re-examine existing treaties to resolve open questions about property rights in space to encourage development of space infrastructure.

"The commission believes that commercialization of space should become a primary focus of the vision and that the creation of a space-based industry will be one of the principal benefits of this journey," the commission wrote.

"One of the challenges we face is to find commercial rewards and incentives in space. Creating these rewards is an indispensable part of making this partnership work in the right way. It will signal a major change in the way NASA deals with the private sector, and the commission believes that NASA should do all it can to create, nurture and sustain this new industry."

Aldridge said NASA likely would remain in charge of manned launch operations, but unmanned launches to deliver cargo to orbit could be turned over to private industry.

"What we're trying to get to is to have NASA focus on things that are inherently governmental," Aldridge said today. "Probably the human spaceflight part of the NASA mission probably can't be turned over to the private sector. But the unmanned, cargo-like processes could be. ... We believe if NASA can focus on those very difficult, high-risk, clearly not-money-making missions and look for things that the private sector can do in helping NASA focus its attention on the real exploration stuff ... that's what we're talking about."

The commission also recommended that NASA:

• Seek input from the scientific community to "ensure that maximum use is made of existing assets and emerging capabilities."
  
  
• Ask the National Academy of Sciences to consider "how machines and humans, used separately and in combination, can maximize scientific returns."
  
  
• Use a "discovery-based criterion" for selecting destinations beyond the moon and Mars "that also considers affordability, technical maturity, scientific important and emerging capabilities including access to in situ space resources."

Finally, the commission recommended that the president's Space Exploration Steering Council develop an "action plan" to support math, science and engineering education.

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