NASA begins to “Think Small”

Abstract

NASA has begun to show clear signs of scaling down its science missions as it bows to reigning budget realities. The mammoth Earth Observing System (EOS) is already well on the way to being split into smaller components (see Eos, Sept. 24, 1991). Concurrently, a committee of scientists has advised NASA's Office of Space Science and Applications (OSSA) to rank smaller missions before large ones. “Small innovative missions” that “provide frequent access to space for each discipline” should be placed ahead of intermediate and large missions, said Berrien Moore III, chair of OSSA's scientific advisory committee, in a letter to Lennard Fisk, the office's associate administrator. The letter conveyed the recommendations from the committee's meeting at Woods Hole this summer.