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Yet Another Pointless NASA Advisory Council Meeting

By Keith Cowing
NASA Watch
August 9, 2022
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Yet Another Pointless NASA Advisory Council Meeting

NASA Advisory Council Meeting
“Tuesday, August 9, 2022, 1 p.m.-5:30 p.m. Eastern Time; and Wednesday, August 10, 2022, 1 p.m.-5:30 p.m. Eastern Time. The agenda for the meeting will include reports on the following NAC priority focus areas:
-Climate Change
-Commercial and Industry Partnerships
-Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility
-International Collaboration
-Program Management and Acquisition
The agenda for the meeting will also include reports from the following NAC committees:
-Aeronautics Committee
-Human Exploration and Operations Committee
-Science Committee
-STEM Engagement Committee
-Technology, Innovation and Engineering Committee”

Keith’s note: These NASA Advisory Council meetings are increasingly pointless. No one on the 9th floor at NASA HQ particularly cares what the NAC says – or does not say. The NAC committee chairs report and the NAC chair says thank you. The agency’s top management goes through the motions of briefing the NAC, the NAC asks questions, and later they write up recommendations that eventually show up somewhere in a meeting summary and nothing is ever really done about whatever the NAC asked for – and the NAC never really cares.
I have been listening to these things for 25 years. To be fair, some of the people who serve on the NAC are well-intentioned and are dedicated to trying to help NASA . More often they are there because they are semi-retired and now do advisory committees as a sideline – with a chance to hear themselves pontificate – again, on points whose relevance evaporates the moment the meeting ends. Then there are the political members who are simply there for show or gravitas or whatever. At best only a fraction of the NAC actually contributes anything of value.
And of course, despite all the NASA PAO tag lines about how everyone is dedicated to the “Artemis Generation” no one on the NAC or its committees seems to be under the age of 50 – certainly none of them are actual members of the Artemis Generation, you know, the up and coming folks who will inherit all of these things. One would think that their input might ne of some interest. Then again, this is NASA.

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

One response to “Yet Another Pointless NASA Advisory Council Meeting”

  1. Juisarian says:
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    Jim Bridenstine is 47 and claims to be part of the Artemis Generation. What’s the cut-off age?

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