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ASAP Warns NASA: A Full Plate Without Realistic Expectations And Schedules = Future Problems
ASAP Warns NASA: A Full Plate Without Realistic Expectations And Schedules = Future Problems

Keith’s note: According to this press release NASA’s Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel Releases 2023 Annual Report. According to the ASAP Report: “The current budget environment has significant implications for mission and safety risk. NASA has a very full mission plate. To the extent that their budget request is not fully funded, the leadership will need to acknowledge and make critical decisions with respect to program content or schedules, which will need to be adjusted to meet fiscal realities. Attempting to do all planned efforts on expected timelines will introduce unacceptable and unmanaged risk. The Agency will need to rely on its developed strategic vision, objectives, and architecture to establish well-defined priorities to ground its endeavors in reality – taking fully into account the risk-benefit tradeoffs. It is equally critical that the Agency be transparent about these realities and choices with its stakeholder and workforce. Stakeholders must come to understand and respect realistic expectations and schedules, and the Agency cannot bow to external pressure to exceed rational anticipations. The workforce must be confident that NASA leadership’s expectations are reasonable and authentic. The Agency is blessed with a workforce that has traditionally given one hundred percent to achieving difficult goals. If those talented and dedicated personnel are cognizant that they are embarked on a journey that is not just challenging and risky, but not realistically achievable, there will be both a serious erosion of morale and an undermining of the essential safety culture. On the assumption that NASA will make the tough choices to execute safely and effectively within budgeted resources, an even greater challenge resides in the budget uncertainty resulting from Congress’ consistent inability to provide timely and definitive appropriations. The ambiguity within which NASA must plan and execute its mission is deeply troublesome. It causes distraction from the focus on the “real work,” including safety, adds untold hours and days of unproductive labor, and (perhaps most important) hampers the ability to make timely decisions that ultimately impact safety and mission assurance. Given that it is unlikely that Congress will provide appropriate and timely budget clarity, NASA will be compelled to deal with this ambiguity. NASA should be candid and clear about – and Congress and other stakeholders should open their eyes to – the consequences of dealing with budget uncertainty.”

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  • NASA Watch
  • January 27, 2024
ASAP: NASA Really Needs To Fix Its Human Spaceflight Program Management
ASAP: NASA Really Needs To Fix Its Human Spaceflight Program Management

NASA’s Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel Releases 2021 Annual Report, ASAP “… Funding such endeavors will obviously take considerable resources. However, history suggests (as shown in Figure 1) it is unlikely NASA’s budget will ever again exceed 1% of the federal budget, as it did during the lead-up to the Apollo Program. Consequently, it will not be possible for NASA to single-handedly carry out all of the missions now envisioned. Considering […]

  • NASA Watch
  • January 11, 2022
Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel 2020 Annual Report
Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel 2020 Annual Report

NASA’s Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel Releases 2020 Annual Report “… We believe that NASA must make some strategically critical decisions, based on deliberate and thorough consideration, that are necessary because of their momentous consequences for the future of human space exploration and, in particular, for the management of the attendant risks. These decisions involve: • What role NASA intends to perform going forward and why. • How the Agency will […]

  • NASA Watch
  • January 19, 2021
ASAP Sees Little To Worry About During COVID-19

The Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel meeting was supposed to go for 75 minutes. It lasted 31 minutes. There does not seem to be a lot of worrying by this panel about safety at #NASA during the whole #COVID19 thing. — NASA Watch (@NASAWatch) April 23, 2020 Keith’s note: You would think that there would be more in terms of safety for the ASAP to discuss in a pubic meeting during […]

  • NASA Watch
  • April 23, 2020
More Program Management Advice From The NASA Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel
More Program Management Advice From The NASA Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel

NASA’s Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel Releases 2019 Annual Report “NASA’s human space flight brand and reputation are driven by 60 years of operational excellence performing complex missions in extraordinarily difficult endeavors. Nevertheless, the dynamic environment of Lunar 2024, imposed on an Agency still involved in complex and hazardous operations in orbit, while simultaneously developing or sponsoring development of new rockets, spacecraft, and critical equipment, will challenge the NASA community. As […]

  • NASA Watch
  • January 7, 2020
The NASA Advisory Council Is About To Shrink
The NASA Advisory Council Is About To Shrink

Executive Order on Evaluating and Improving the Utility of Federal Advisory Committees, White House “By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, and consistent with the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), as amended (5 U.S.C. App.), it is hereby ordered as follows: Section 1. Review of Current Advisory Committees. (a) Each executive department and agency (agency) shall evaluate […]

  • NASA Watch
  • June 15, 2019
Annual ASAP Report Says The Same Stuff It Did Last Year
Annual ASAP Report Says The Same Stuff It Did Last Year

NASA’s Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel Releases 2017 Annual Report “The report, released Thursday, is based on the panel’s 2017 fact-finding and quarterly public meetings; “insight” visits and meetings; direct observations of NASA operations and decision-making processes; discussions with NASA management, employees and contractors; and the panel members’ own experience. “It is clear to the panel that NASA is at a critical juncture in human spaceflight development and that this is […]

  • NASA Watch
  • January 11, 2018
Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel Releases 2016 Annual Report
Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel Releases 2016 Annual Report

NASA’s Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel Releases 2016 Annual Report “At this critical time, with designs maturing, hardware being produced, and testing intensifying, it is important to maintain a focus on safety, risk reduction, and mission assurance. Challenges and difficult decisions will need to be faced with clarity, transparency, and thoroughness. Inevitably, there will be risks that must be accepted, but that should occur only after thought- ful deliberation of alternatives, […]

  • NASA Watch
  • January 11, 2017
Advisory Committee Has Issues With Fueling Crewed Falcon 9
Advisory Committee Has Issues With Fueling Crewed Falcon 9

Experts concerned by SpaceX plan to fuel rockets with people aboard, Reuters “It was unanimous … Everybody there, and particularly the people who had experience over the years, said nobody is ever near the pad when they fuel a booster,” [Chair Tom] Stafford said, referring to an earlier briefing the group had about SpaceX’s proposed fueling procedure. SpaceX needs NASA approval of its launch system before it can put astronauts […]

  • NASA Watch
  • November 1, 2016
ASAP: NASA Has No Plan or Firm Funding For Its #JourneyToMars
ASAP: NASA Has No Plan or Firm Funding For Its #JourneyToMars

Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel Annual Report 2015 “In October 2015, NASA published what it called “a detailed outline” of its next steps in getting to the Red Planet. Unfortunately, the level of detail in the report, NASA’s Journey to Mars: Pioneering the Next Steps in Space Exploration, does not really validate whether NASA would be capable of achieving such an ambitious objective in a reasonable time period, with realistically attainable […]

  • NASA Watch
  • January 13, 2016