Background

At the university level, the number of balloon flights, suborbital missions, and small space-flight missions has dramatically declined since their peak in 1968 at the height of the Apollo program. In fact, the number of student opportunities provided by hands-on experience has diminished from over 250 per year to consistently less than 50 per year. Most graduate students today never have an opportunity to do hands-on science.

As a direct result, there is a significant deficit of scientists and engineers in the United States with meaningful experience with space instrumentation and space systems. This lack of hands-on experience is jeopardizing the ability of the nation to maintain a vigorous presence in space into the future, regardless of whether we are in space for reasons of commerce, exploration, national defense, or scientific research. This deficit leads not only to a loss of capability, but also to escalating costs of many of the space systems vital to the nation’s security and industrial competitiveness.

Solution

As the largest group of universities involved in space research worldwide, USRA provides a voice on policy issues that are important to our members. The corporate authority of USRA is vested in its 102 member universities through the USRA Council of Institutions (COI), comprised of a representative from each member institution. Our Council of Institutions Issues and Programs Committee, a sub-group our Council of Institutions, was specifically formed to develop national and international policies and to strategically address issues surrounding current scientific policies.

Current Issues and Programs Committee members include:

• David Axon, Rochester Institute of Technology
• Daniel Baker, University of Colorado
• Peggy L. Evanich, University of Florida
• Ken Gertz, University of Maryland
• Edward J. Groth, Princeton University
• Robert Holzworth, University of Washington
• Truell Hyde, Baylor University
• Mary Musgrave, University of Connecticut
• Arthur Poland, George Mason University
• Tom Shih, Iowa State University
• Alan Wells, University of Leicester
• Thomas Zurbuchen, University of Michigan

Results

At the 2008 Council of Institutions Annual Meeting, members unanimously adopted a resolution urging the Congress to take action in the upcoming NASA reauthorization to strengthen university space research. If approved, the resolution calls for setting aside 1% of the NASA budget for university-led missions that have been declining precipitously, and which are essential for properly preparing the space workforce of the future.