Technology development for NASA science missions: Challenges and potential opportunities

Abstract

NASA has made tremendous progress in addressing critical questions about our solar system but often the knowledge gained raises new and more challenging questions. Future robotic space missions need to be endowed with more capable instruments, spacecraft subsystems and ground support to answer the new and more difficult questions that lay before us. Developing future instrument, spacecraft subsystem, or ground support technologies for robotic planetary missions is a complicated and challenging endeavor. Recognizing this, the Planetary Science Division (PSD) in NASA's Science Mission Directorate recently chartered a panel to review its current technology development programs and provide recommendations on process and policy improvements that will enable better utilization of technology resources. This paper discusses the work and findings of that panel, known as the Planetary Science Technology Review (PSTR) panel.