Exploring the Unknown - NASA's History Office

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SPACE AS AN INVESTMENT IN ECONOMIC GROWTH
having better information about future yields is having information with a significant economic
value. The extent that remote-sensing satellites can help provide that information
and the subsequent influence that the information has on the futures market can be measured
in terms of reducing the speculative swings on the market.
Recognizing that the NASA efforts to transfer technology have had a very uneven and
often uncoordinated history, NASA established an internal task force in 1992 to study the
problems and recommend changes. The final task force report had a series of recommendations
to improve the system. These recommendations also included the development
of measures to evaluate the performance of the components of the transfer process.
[III-32] It is interesting to note that these findings and recommendations are not very different
in thrust from those of the Doctors study of 1971. 33 The process of technology transfer
and information dissemination still took too much time. Paperwork and other formal
efforts remained cumbersome and slow. The money allocated to the program was insufficient.
There was a lack of good data and feedback on many of the programs between
NASA and industry, universities, and nonprofit organizations that use the technology
transfer–generated information and facilities, and NASA employees generally did not get
recognized for their efforts in fostering technology transfer.
The technology transfer programs at NASA are not unique in their frustrations and
problems in implementing more effective programs. Other agencies face similar issues.
There has been a general recognition of these problems, and Congress has passed a number
of acts to help force the agencies to address the measurement and management of
technology. One of the most important of these acts is the Government Performance and
Results Act, which requires government agencies to develop new performance measures. 34
It is a clear signal from Congress that measuring economic activities and impacts is an
important effort, not only to manage the programs better, but also to help justify continued
government financial support of the programs. All R&D agencies are struggling with
finding appropriate measures, and NASA is no exception.
Summary
Economics and commercial/industrial activities have never been the top priority of
NASA space programs. NASA is an R&D agency, dedicated to advancing science and technology.
That is its history and its culture. NASA’s aeronautics activities have a very different
history and a different relationship to industry than space activities, but they were
never able to become models for the space side of NASA. The documents included in this
chapter amply reflect the push and pull of economics. The push is to attempt to find uses
of the innovative space technology in consumer applications. The pull is that if a robust
set of market-driven uses for space can be developed, there will be a continued demand
for resources, both public and private, to accelerate future space programs.
Various economic studies and forecasts have whetted the appetites of the public that
there may actually be robust commercial uses of space that have been promised and that
space spinoffs are very beneficial today. However, without the development of truly ongoing,
profitable, and publicly visible commercial space ventures, the studies and projections
will fall short of being convincing.
As space technology matures and as innovative products and services are developed
using space technology, commercial and market developments will materialize. There are
33. Doctors, NASA Technology Transfer Program. However, because the technology transfer program has
changed, the specific recommendations are quite different.
34. Government Performance and Results Act, Public Law 103–62, August 3, 1993.