S. Alan Stern used to be a big cheese at NASA. From the looks of things, he’d like to be so again.
Stern, former associate administrator at the space agency, has been getting his name out there in a big way.
He certainly thinks it’s time for change.
“A cancer is overtaking our space agency: the routine acquiescence to immense cost increases in projects,” Stern writes in a New York Times op-ed piece.
He continues:
…This cancer is bad, but it is curable. The new presidential administration could begin by accounting for cost increases more honestly, using the initial basis on which missions are started, rather than today’s practice of neglecting certain kinds of cost escalation. Further, scientists and engineers should be required, when formulating missions, to ensure their scope matches their budget.
…
Yes, controlling the costs of space missions, while ensuring their success and safety, will be a steep challenge for NASA, but NASA’s workforce, from technicians to top executives, is among the government’s most dedicated and capable. This is a challenge that can be met with appropriate leadership.
Who might provide such leadership? Let’s move on to Stern’s next salvo: ‘Imagine reconnecting NASA’, on the Space Review website (a modified version of an earlier essay published in Aviation Week).
“Our space program does not enjoy the strong support it once did,” warns Stern. “A part of the reason for this is that the current program is too disconnected from everyday life and American society.”
What’s to be done Alan? Well apparently “combining NASA’s space exploration portfolio with new and innovative initiatives that address hazards to society, make new applications of space, and foster new industries”. Things like Earth monitoring for climate change and natural disaster research and moving into the nascent human spaceflight industry.
In fact, the only NASA-thing Stern doesn’t seem to have an opinion on is the pressing matter of the spider loose on the International Space Station.
Sadly Stern never gets round to addressing the elephant in the room: who will lead NASA into this brave future? Where will we find someone with a grasp of all the issues and a media-savvy, public friendly face?
If you know anyone who fits that bill, why not drop the Obama transition team a line…
UPDATE
One of Stern’s big issues in his NY Times piece is the “poorly-managed, now-over-$2 billion Mars Science Laboratory”.
AP is reporting that NASA is cutting the MSL’s planned ‘basket of rocks’ which would hold Mars samples for a future mission to collect and bring back to Earth.
Stern is not happy:
The Mars program is slowly committing suicide in front of our very eyes. The only concrete step toward a sample return has been tossed after it has already been built. How does that save money?
Image: NASA/Bill Ingalls