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ISS News

Atlas of ISS Science

By Keith Cowing
NASA Watch
August 23, 2012
Filed under ,

NASA Contract Award to Resources for the Future: Measuring Research Performance in Space Station Research (redacted copy)
“Our objective is to design an Atlas of ISS Science, a systematic, rigorous and peer-reviewed framework and analysis that is then visually displayed to compellingly characterize and demonstrate the new knowledge created from the nation’s “lab aloft”. In essence, the Atlas, and the data and analysis on which it is built, will be the visual representation of the metaphor of maximization of “delta K over K – an expression used by the Chief Scientist of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to appeal to the science community to define, as a task of scientific leadership, how the agency’s research changes our knowledge relative to what we know.”
Keith’s note: NASA JSC PAO worked to provide NASAWatch with this document in response to an inquiry submitted in assocation with an earlier post: Cryptic Space Station Procurement From JSC
2 Applications research is a critical component of the ISS as a national laboratory; however, the goal of this proposal is to design a science of science framework for the basic science research on ISS. The protocol we develop has applicability to applications research, however. The Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS) is developing a database to attempt to evaluate economic benefits/performance through its portfolio, and we may be able to leverage this to some extent if CASIS has advanced its model of their early research portfolio around year 3 of our proposed effort. We have included the opportunity for CASIS to send a representative to our proposed external steering group to allow regular exchange of information.”
Keith’s note: I am surprised (actually no I am not) that CASIS has made zero mention of this Atlas of ISS Science effort thus far. Also, it seems a bit odd that the Resources for the Future team doesn’t plan to talk to CASIS until year 3 of their task i.e. 2015. It certainly sounds like NASA is engaged in yet another well-intentioned, but parallel and somewhat stovepiped activity when it should be combining efforts for maxiumum synergistic efficiency – and making this information available much sooner than seems to be their plan.

NASA Watch founder, Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA, Away Teams, Journalist, Space & Astrobiology, Lapsed climber.

5 responses to “Atlas of ISS Science”

  1. 2814graham says:
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    What a great idea.
    When do they get started? They’re about 12 years into continuously manned ops, including science…. 

    • kcowing says:
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      There are multiple data efforts – some overlap – but none are coordinated. You’d think that someone at NASA wold have tried to collect it all in one simple, easy to use database long before this.

  2. hamptonguy says:
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    Unless cheap fusion or antigravity paint or the like is discovered on the ISS, the ISS will have been a really poor investment.  Right along with Space Shuttle.  Way more bang for the buck in unmanned space and work down on earth.

  3. dannsci says:
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    What if; Someone was to do something along similar lines with regard to Planetary Missions and Science, Science Return, Return on Investment, etc??

    • 2814graham says:
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       It is not that this information  doesn’t exist, somewhere, its that it has not been cataloged and organized in a meaningful manner. What you suggest is fifty years worth of data on hundreds of missions and thousands of experiments.

      Data is developed by program, by mission, by planet, by science discipline, by sponsor, by PI….

      In the case of ISS it would have been much more manageable, especially if NASA had started doing it when the program science began about 12 years ago. And every time new experiments or new experiment facilities went into orbit they would have developed a new ‘page’ and every time a paper was published, it would have been scanned and added to the database. 12 years ago it was a manageable problem-I know because I did a catalog like this for Shuttle in the early 80s. But trying to recover 12 years of data covering 1500 or more payloads/experiments, would be a ‘challenge’.