Vision and Voyages for Planetary Science in the - Solar System ...

Sample curation facilities are critical components of any sample return mission, and must be
designed specifically for the types of returned materials and handling requirements. Early planning and
adequate funding are needed so that an adequate facility is available once samples are returned and
deemed ready for curation and distribution. Every sample return mission flown by NASA should
explicitly include in the estimate of its cost to the agency the full costs required for appropriate
initial sample curation.
The most important instruments for any sample return mission are the ones in the laboratories on
Earth. To derive the full scientific return from sample return missions, it is critical to maintain technical
and instrumental capabilities for initial sample characterization, as well as foster expansion to encompass
appropriate new analytical instrumentation as it becomes available and as different sample types are
acquired. Well before planetary missions return samples, NASA should establish a well-coordinated
and integrated program for development of the next generation of laboratory instruments to be
used in sample characterization and analysis.
Technology Development
The future of planetary science depends on a well-conceived, robust, stable technology
investment program. Ongoing missions such as Dawn and the Mars Exploration Rovers underscore the
value of past technology investments. Early investment in key technologies reduces the cost risk of
complex projects, allowing them to be initiated with reduced uncertainty regarding their eventual total
costs. Continued success depends upon strategic investments to enable the future missions that have the
greatest potential for discovery. Although this may seem obvious, in recent years investments in new
planetary exploration technology have been sharply curtailed and monies originally allocated to it have
been used to pay for flight project overruns. Reallocating technology funds to cover tactical exigencies is
tantamount to “eating the seed corn.” The committee unequivocally recommends that a substantial
program of planetary exploration technology development should be reconstituted and carefully
protected against all incursions that would deplete its resources. This program should be
consistently funded at approximately 6 to 8 percent of the total NASA Planetary Science Division
budget. The technology program should be targeted toward the planetary missions that NASA intends to
fly, and should be competed wherever possible. This reconstituted technology element should aggregate
related but presently uncoordinated NASA technology activities that support planetary exploration, and
their tasks should be reprioritized and rebalanced to ensure that they contribute to the mission and science
goals expressed in this report. 4
Technology readiness level (TRL) is a widely used reference system for measuring the
development maturity of a particular technology item. In general, low-TRL refers to technologies just
beginning to be developed (TRL 1-3), and mid-TRL covers the phases (TRL 4-6) that take an identified
technology to a maturity where it is ready to be applied to a flight project. A primary deficiency in past
NASA planetary exploration technology programs has been over-emphasis on TRLs 1-3 at the expense of
the more costly but vital mid-level efforts necessary to bring the technology to flight readiness. This
failure to continue to mature the technologies has resulted in a widespread “Mid-TRL Crisis.” A flight
project desiring to use a specific new technology must either complete the development itself, with the
concomitant cost and schedule risk, or forgo the capability altogether. To properly complement the flight
mission program, therefore, the committee recommends that the Planetary Science Division’s
technology program should accept the responsibility, and assign the required funds, to continue the
development of the most important technology items through TRL 6.
In recent competed mission solicitations, NASA provided incentives for infusion of new
technological capabilities in the form of increases to the proposal cost cap. Specific technologies
included as incentives were the following:
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