CASIS Hearing: No News Expected. No One Cares.
The International Space Station: A Platform for Research, Collaboration, and Discovery
“The U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation will hold a hearing on “The International Space Station: A Platform for Research, Collaboration, and Discovery.” With assembly of the International Space Station complete as of May 2011, the focus has now shifted from construction to full scientific utilization through 2020 and beyond. This hearing will examine research progress, the potential for scientific breakthroughs, and any impediments to maximizing the utilization of this orbiting national laboratory.”
Prepared Statements
William Gerstenmaier (and Don Pettit)
James Royston
Thomas Reiter
Sen. Rockefeller
Sen. Hutchison
Keith’s note: Sources note that prior to this public hearing a private meeting will be held wherein the teams that bid on the contract that CASIS won – and explain how they would have approached this task. That said, nothing spectacular should be expected from the public hearing. Sen. Nelson has staged all of this behind the scenes – from contract award to providing political protection – so as to send jobs to Florida. Actual performance on the task is of secondary importance. As such, Sen. Nelson is unlikely to allow the status quo to be upset during this hearing – and the ongoing incompetence demonstrated by CASIS will be allowed to continue.
Three weeks after an ISS conference co-sponsored by CASIS, they have only managed to figure out how to post a small fraction of what was presented – 2 NASA presentations and 3 CASIS presentations. The rest of what was presented i.e. the vast majority – is being ignored.
Meanwhile, real research results continue to be distributed by NASA – but CASIS is either oblivious to this research or is uninterested in telling potential users of the ISS about what is being done on the ISS.
– NASA Spaceline Current Awareness 11 July 2012 (Recent Space Life Science Research Results)
– NASA Spaceline Current Awareness 20 July 2012 (Recent Space Life Science Research Results)
– The Impact of Long-Term Exposure to Space Environment on Adult Mammalian Organisms: A Study on Mouse Thyroid and Testis, PLoS One
“By participating to the “Tissue Sharing” team lead by R. Cancedda, we had the access to tissues and organs of mice which had been exposed to the space environment for 91 days on board of the ISS, while kept inside the “Mouse Drawer System” (MDS), a facility built by “Thales Alenia Space-Italy” for the “Agenzia Spaziale Italiana”. This is presently the longest-duration spaceflight mission ever endured by any living animal, obviously excluding human astronauts.”
Previous CASIS postings
Very disappointing, especially given the new emphasis on utilization by the ISS Program. You’d think they could get their act together.
No doubt, there are some people in all of this who are working real hard, but the public face on the whole thing I find very disappointing. The web pages that they did manage to post — amateur; the astronauts speaking in the “opening video” — amateur. Access to events and/or results (at any time) — amateur. You get my drift.
In my opinion, CASIS needs professional input and guidance to put this whole thing into a smooth-running, professional-looking, much more functional package, even if it costs money to do so, since most of the money they’re spending now doesn’t seem to be gaining them much. When I say “professional-looking,” I don’t mean glittery and blow-your-mind video; I am talking about the timeliness and effectiveness of the communications. If you knew nothing at all about this event, and your only source of information was what’s on the CASIS web site, you’d still know pretty much nothing.
I find that even the basic (not event specific) content of what they present is ineffective communication:
What CASIS can do for you
The CASIS management team will support and assist researchers and principal investigators in transitioning their science and research experiments into manifested payloads that will be launched and delivered directly to the National Lab.
CASIS also offers researchers the opportunity to network with colleagues, businesses and funding sources to expedite the forward movement of your research projects.
One thing that really made me shake my head:
“To get started, interested parties should contact CASIS to provide an overview or white paper that includes biographies of the principal investigators and indicates whether the proposed research is already funded or will require funding, either as a whole or in part“
Reading this “white paper” sounds like a key first step, doesn’t it? Does it exist anywhere on the web site? No, it doesn’t. So, in the very first step CASIS is making potential users do unnecessary, delaying work, for no reason. This does not instill a whole lot of confidence.
I don’t like to complain, but I’m pro-ISS and pro-R&D, and have been both for decades. And now that we finally have “finished” research facility in orbit, there doesn’t appear to be any straight forward method for making real use of it. It’s been going on 20 years since ISS-related work began and we don’t have a process for using it. It begs the question: how were the requirements for it ever determined?
Steve
Steve,
I have to say, your last question is amazing. Why would you ask such an funny question? The requirements for the ISS were determined in the same manner as the process that’s used during a Presidential race. It’s been SOP Standard Operating Procedure for decades in this country.
The presidential contenders build their platform and identify the primary national issues, which is similar to identifying the ISS requirements. Then the contenders campaign and make thousands of promises, with all of the voters naively trusting them and taking them on their word, equivalent to the representations made in an ISS proposal. Then the campaign and competition ends when the voters vote, or as with the ISS, the source selection board declares a winner.
Then in a matter of months all of the ISS requirements are forgotten just like all of the promises made by the president are forgotten.
There has simply been a flow down of the process from the presidential level to Congress and NASA, then permeating the nation. Today it is completely acceptable to promise a Maserati and deliver a tricycle or even a POS.
As for the White Paper requirement, given CASIS’s position, don’t you agree it makes sense? They are the ISS gatekeepers. You have to prove you are worthy of their attention and they are requiring you describe what you are doing and why it is amazing or valuable or how it will make them and the ISS successful. As for their failure to show the requirement or a process for it on the website, maybe they’ll get around to that next year.