This report is one in a series written by the standing discipline committees of the Space Studies Board. The purpose of this new series is to assess the status of our nation's space science and applications research programs and to review the responses of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and other relevant federal agencies to the Board's past recommendations. It is important, periodically, to take stock of where research disciplines stand. As an advisory body to government, the Space Studies Board should regularly examine the advice it has provided in order to determine its...

Finding an effective and reasonably objective method for setting priorities across scientific disciplines is something of a holy grail of science policy, and one whose urgency continues to grow. The Space Studies Board Task Group on Priorities in Space Research presented a thorough analysis of the pros and cons of priority setting and recommended that an effort to develop such a method proceed. The next phase involved this task group, and eventually the full Board, in an ambitious attempt to construct a formal, semiquantitative methodology to set priorities among major space science projects...

This report focuses on the scientific importance of long-term space experiments for the advancement of biological science and the benefit of humankind. It includes a collection of papers that explore the scientific potential provided by the capability to manipulate organisms by removing a force that has been instrumental in the evolution and development of all organisms. Further, it provides the scientific justification for why the long-term space exposure that can be provided by a space station is essential to conduct significant research. While past history has shown that new frontiers of...

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is preparing to launch a manned space station---Space Station Freedom--by the mid-1990s. Because Space Station Freedom will be a closed complex environment, some contamination of its atmosphere is inevitable. Several hundred chemicals are likely to be found in the closed atmosphere of the space station, most in very low concentrations. Important sources of atmospheric contaminants include metabolic waste products of crew members and off-gassing of cabin materials and equipment. Release of chemicals from experiments performed on board...

Over the last three decades the Life Sciences Program has significantly contributed to NASA's manned and unmanned exploration of space, while acquiring new knowledge in the fields of space biology and medicine. The national and international events which have led to the development and revision of NASA strategy will significantly affect the future of life sciences programs both in scope and pace. This document serves as the basis for synthesizing the options to be pursued during the next decade, based on the decisions, evolution, and guiding principles of the National Space Policy. The...

Visionaries have long speculated over a future in which humans understand the scientific truth about their origins, control their environment on Earth, and live successfully outside of that environment. Their speculations, however, have frequently overlooked some fundamental facts: that the universe is complex and mostly inhospitable and that life as we know it evolved in the protective shelter of an atmosphere and a constant gravitational force. The knowledge obtained by space life sciences will play a pivotal role as humankind reaches out to explore the solar system. To conduct the types of...

This volume in NASA's continuing series of annual chronologies records the events of 1973. The 15th year of the space agency's existence is memorable to the public as the Year of Skylab and the Year of Jupiter. The nation's first earth-orbital laboratory was launched. Beginning with a dramatic 10-day fix-it effort that restored Skylab's capability to generate electrical power, three three-man crews rendezvoused and docked with the space laboratory. Their total of 12 351 man-hours in space supported the feasibility of prolonged manned space flight. Even more impressive were the volume and...

The goal of this work is ultimately to assist in the achievement of space science and exploration missions and thus to assist in the implementation of the National Space Policy. This analysis commenced with a self initiated inquiry concerning the importance of and the need for more advanced forms of space mission energy conversion, thereby permitting the accomplishment of more ambitious space science objectives. As one set of questions led to another during the initial phase of the inquiry, a drive developed to conduct an independent investigative analysis on where the space program is headed...

The Mariner-10 flybys of Mercury in 1974 and 1975 resulted in the discovery of a planetary magnetic field and an active magnetosphere similar to that of Earth. Based upon the small size of the planet, Mercury's interior was expected to have cooled and solidified long ago. The presence of an intrinsic magnetic field, however, implied an internal dynamo in a fluid core, posing fundamental, unresolved issues concerning the origin, composition, and thermal history of Mercury. The Mariner-10 spacecraft also detected intense particle bursts and magnetic field disturbances, indicating that...

President Clinton has called technology "the engine of economic growth." It is a key element in attaining one of the major goals enunciated by the President: reinvigorating American competitiveness in the global marketplace. Technological innovation is today the principal currency of international competition. The rewards for bringing superior new products and processes to the marketplace are a robust economy for the successful nation and an elevated standard of living for its people. The great storehouse of technology NASA has built in 37 years of pursuing aeronautical and space goals...