By 
October 22nd, 2024
The prestigious National Academies has taken a hard look at the NASA of today and what’s ahead.
And for a space agency that has been a leader in exploring our planet and other worlds, it is in a world of hurt.
That’s the thrust of a hard-hitting report from an Academies blue-ribbon committee.
Norm Augustine, committee chair and former Lockheed Martin CEO, details report findings during a webinar.
Image credit: National Academies/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Core issues
The report released last month is titled “NASA at a Crossroads: Maintaining Workforce, Infrastructure, and Technology Preeminence in the Coming Decades.”
Out-of-date infrastructure, pressures to prioritize short-term objectives, budget mismatches, inefficient management practices, and nonstrategic reliance on commercial partners are spotlighted as core issues needing attention.
For an inside look at the report itself, and reactions to its findings, go to my new Space.com story — “NASA at a crossroads: Budget woes, aging infrastructure and hard choices ahead – ‘This is not a time for business as usual'” – at:
https://www.space.com/nasa-crossroads-budget-issues-national-academies-report
Image credit: NASA
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My daughter who works for Lockheed has been on Orion for 9 years. In that time I have seen the most gut wrenching bid manipulations from every contractor working on the Artemis program. NASA would be able to fix every problem if some way they could enforce close end contracts and fine contractors for schedule delays. My idea years ago was to take an additional 10% of the bid award to put in an overage account of sorts. If a contractor exceeded their initial funding there would be that fund available but anything over was the contractors responsibility.
I am well aware that to make this even feasible, which it may not since NASA is not private, the entire bid competition would have to be over hauled