A NASA report
recommends cutting a Kennedy Space Center program for research of space rocks and space dust.
A new report on NASA’s facilities recommends cutting a research program for space rocks, space dust and other material recovered from space at Kennedy Space Center on Florida’s Space Coast.
It also recommends continued investment in other areas at Kennedy, including the Space Life Sciences Center run by Space Florida.
The report, by the space agency’s inspector general, is aimed at eliminating overlap in NASA locations and, at the same time, updating aging facilities.
There’s only a small reference – one sentence – to cutting the program at Kennedy, which is known as in-situ research utilization or ISRU. The report makes a clear recommendation that NASA’s Glenn Research Center, in Cleveland, Ohio, should take the lead on in-situ research: “In addition, Glenn will have a primary role in In-Situ Resource Utilization work, while Kennedy will divest of that activity.”
There was no further information in the report about the extent of that research at Kennedy or how many people at Kennedy could be cut or moved. Kennedy’s media office did not reply immediately to requests for more information.
It’s not the first time the agency has mentioned cutting the ISRU program at Kennedy.
Ray Lugo, director of the Orlando-based Florida Space Institute, said Kennedy’s ISRU program has been a big part of the local NASA Swampworks program, which conducts research with students and other community partners. ISRU research has also occurred at the institute, which is part of UCF, and Embry Riddle Aeronautical University.
Lugo said he believes about 20 people may work on the ISRU program at Kennedy.
“We will work closely with the Kennedy and NASA folks to see how the Space Institute can preserve some of that research and capability locally,” Lugo said. He said his goal would be to keep federal grants for ISRU research in Central Florida, along with scientists.
Kennedy’s website says the insitu research is part of its Exploration Technology Development Division, and it notes that such research is done jointly with Johnson Space Center, Glenn Research Center, Marshall Space Flight Center, Ames Research Center and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Glenn Research Center, one of ten NASA centers, promotes itself as being focused on “game-changing technology for spaceflight that enables further exploration of the universe.”
Tuesday’s report recommends that NASA move faster on cuts and streamlining that have been recommended throughout recent years.
The report notes that “more than 70 percent of facilities are at least 50 years old… Moreover, as of September 2016, the Agency had approximately $2.4 billion in annual deferred maintenance costs.”
The Office of Inspector General is “concerned that the Agency’s efforts have been slow to produce meaningful results,” according to the report. “Failure to do so increases the risk the Agency will continue to spend valuable resources on unneeded technical capabilities and be unable to deliver the technical capabilities required for future missions.