For years, the face of man\u27s exploration of space has been one of individuals. In recent times, that face has turned to one of partnership and cooperation. One needs to look only as far as the International Space Station to see what can be accomplished through that cooperation. This concept should not only apply to governments and corporations, but to all interested parties in the exploration of space.
Throughout the history of space exploration, post-secondary institutions have played an important but often small part in that exploration. The role they played is one mainly of a think tank, developing new ideas and evaluating data. There was even the occasional experiment or payload. However, today\u27s post-secondary institutions are changing. Schools are becoming more competitive and the students desire more participation. This creates a resource of great potential for space exploration

Ward, Robert S.

English

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University

The Space Congress® Proceedings 1997 (34th) Our Space Future - Uniting For Success May 1st, 1:00 PM Paper Session III-D - NASA Industry, and Secondary Education: A Blueprint for the Future Robert S. Ward Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Follow this and additional works at: https://commons.erau.edu/space-congress-proceedings Scholarly Commons Citation Ward, Robert S., "Paper Session III-D - NASA Industry, and Secondary Education: A Blueprint for the Future" (1997). The Space Congress® Proceedings. 24. https://commons.erau.edu/space-congress-proceedings/proceedings-1997-34th/may-1-1997/24 This Event is brought to you for free and open access by the Conferences at Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in The Space Congress® Proceedings by an authorized administrator of Scholarly Commons. For more information, please contact commons@erau.edu. NASA, Industry and Post-Secondary Education: A Blueprintfor the FuturebyRobert S. WardEmbry-Riddle Aeronautical UniversityFebruary 24, 1997For years, the face of man's exploration of space has been one of individuals.  In recent times, thatface has turned to one of partnership and cooperation.  One needs to look only as far as theInternational Space Station to see what can be accomplished through that cooperation.  Thisconcept should not only apply to governments and corporations, but to all interested parties in theexploration of space.Throughout the history of space exploration, post-secondary institutions have played an importantbut often small part in that exploration.   The role they played is one mainly of a think tank, devel-oping new ideas and evaluating data.  There was even the occasional experiment or payload.However, today's post-secondary institutions are changing.   Schools are becoming more com-petitive and the students desire more participation.  This creates a resource of great potential forspace exploration.Today, the space industry is constantly faced with the challenge,  "to do more with less."   Althoughmany have risen to the challenge, there is still alot to be done.  All too often, many potentialscientists and engineers are lost due to the lack of, or the misconceptions about, jobs.With this in mind, a new way is needed for approaching the future of space exploration.  This newapproach needs to be one that brings together the talents and strengths of many individuals work-ing as a team, to solve the many problems ahead.The primary players in this new era are NASA, the aerospace industry, and post-secondary edu-cational institutions.   Through combining talents with new innovative programs and using theresources of one to benefit another, a successful blueprint for the future of space exploration andbe created.   That blueprint, to be effective, should promote cooperation and full partnership amongNASA, Industry and post-secondary educational institutions.In the past, NASA has had a budget adequate enough to meet its programs.   However, in today'shostile political environment the budget of NASA continues to decrease.  Many programs withgreat potential have been canceled because of the lack of funding.  Increasing costs of operationsare further hampering the efforts of NASA.  The reasons for this are many but the result is clear.  Ithas become much harder for NASA to proceed with serious exploration of space with its budgetaryhands tied.In addition, the public image of NASA has not been entirely helpful during the past several years.After the conclusion of the Apollo program in the early 1970s the public's image of NASA began todecline.  NASA's public support declined even further with the Challenger accident of 1986.  Inrecent years, the public image of NASA has improved somewhat.  With the Shuttle/Mir dockingsand the success of the Galileo mission, NASA programs have enjoyed an upswing in public opin-ion.  While the advent of the philosophy,  "faster, better, cheaper"  has helped improve NASA'simage, much more can be done.The aerospace industry is faced with many problems today.   One is the increasing cost of doingbusiness.  Coupled with increasing competition, the industry is also forced to do more with less.There is a shortage of skilled workers entering the aerospace industry.   This creates a problem forvarious companies due to the fact that many of the experienced personnel are soon to retire, or ismoving on to greener pastures, and many are lost due to layoffs.  If this trend is allowed to con-tinue, a vacuum of experience will be created within the aerospace industry.Many aspects of modern post-secondary education are dramatically different from that of a fewyears ago.  The cost of education continues to increase at an alarming rate.  Many families find ithard to send their children to college because of these increases in tuition.  In addition, with higheroverheads for educational institutions, the quality of post-secondary education is in danger ofdecline.Also, in recent years many colleges have begun emphasizing less theory and more application, or"hands on", learning.   Many post-secondary institutions are finding that students today want tolearn more by doing than through lectures.   The cost for this style of learning is higher due to theneed for laboratories, equipment, and innovative instruction.With this background in mind, it is time to look at the current needs of the three key players.  Witha firm knowledge about what the needs are, a plan can be constructed to meet those needs.Currently, NASA needs programs that will accomplish several objectives.  These objectives are toprivatize operations, to do more with less, and to improve their public image.  These needs can bemet with relative ease but only through cooperation and teamwork.The aerospace industry's current needs include doing more with less, surviving increasing com-petitiveness, and provide for better training and retention of personnel.  There are currently pro-grams underway but many more need to be developed.The current needs of post-secondary education include ways to reduce the cost of education whileincreasing the quality, and bringing hands-on-learning to the classroom.  Many institutions haveachieved one of these goals, but not all of them.An effective solution would address the current and projected needs of all parties involved.  Thissolution is one that is multilateral.  It depends on all sides to work together in order for it to beeffective.   To present this blueprint effectively, it is necessary to look at each of the players indi-vidually.NASA, over the past several years, has accomplished much in assisting industry and educationthrough many of its programs.  This involvement goes virtually unnoticed by the general public.There needs to be mentioned that NASA has a proven track record with helping research initiavesand programs.  However, there is always room for improvement.During the past few years, NASA has been under mandate privatize some of its operations.  Manyfeel that NASA should become a customer rather than a provider for space related services.   Byturning over some of its operations, NASA could free up money in its budget while generating newprograms.  These operations need not be extended to industry alone.  Many post-secondary insti-tutions have the expertise to perform tasks at a lower cost.  This would allow for the institution toprovide a hands-on education while lowering costs and increasing quality.The privatization of operations need not only apply to post-secondary institutions.  The aerospaceindustry would also benefit greatly by assuming some of the operations of NASA.   This wouldallow for the aerospace infrastructure to expand into other areas and help strengthen the technol-ogy base.A second way for NASA to expand into is to provide additional, perhaps less restrictive, researchopportunities to post-secondary institutions and industry.   Who better to conduct research thaneducational institutions?   Post-secondary institutions could utilize these new opportunities to en-hance their classroom instruction and expand their instructional base.   The aerospace industrywould also benefit in that they would be generating funds to help lower their overhead while pro-viding a service for NASA.  Industry could even become a research clearinghouse by using NASAresearch funds and teaming up witheducational institutions to do the research.One important way that NASA could contribute to this blueprint is expanding sponsorship of de-sign competitions for post-secondary institutions.  These competitions could provide a minimalamount of start up funding and end with the winning team receiving a cash prize.  This would allowfor NASA to conduct a vast amount of research at minimal cost and be able to select the best resultto aid its needs.Another area that NASA can help in this blueprint is in privatizing some operations at some of itssmaller, task specific facilities.  As the budgets within NASA tightens, NASA has had to shut downfacilities that could be turned over to institutions or industry to aid their programs.  This could evenbe an area of privatizing for NASA to turn over the operations of facilities to the private sector.With all of that in mind, it is important to look at some programs that are already in place and thatare accomplishing a small part of these goals.  They are the National Space Grant Consortiums,United Space Alliance, and possible parabolic aircraft operations at Embry-Riddle AeronauticalUniversity.The state Space Grant Consortiums for several years have been using NASA funding to helpsponsor research and various programs.  While these programs are having positive benefits thereis not enough funding, mainly due to the requirement for matching funding, and often that lack of acommon objective.During its first year of operations, United Space Alliance, a large commercial conglomerate, hasdone an excellent job as the prime contractor for the space shuttle This is an excellent example ofNASA privatizing operations.  Although it is new the results thus far have been excellent and agreat justification for NASA privatizing more operations to industry.During the past several months, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University representatives have haddiscussions with several NASA officials with regards to privatizing parabolic aircraft operations.When discussions began it was agreed that Embry-Riddle was well suited for such operations.This is only the beginning.   There needs to be more done in this area by identifying institutions thatare best suited for privatizing operations.Cooperating with NASA, with the privatizing of operations and in conducting research, the aero-space industry would benefit NASA by providing higher quality products due to increased compe-tition and in also lowering costs.The cooperation between NASA and industry is one that must be a two-way street.  The aero-space industry can become the facilitator of the needs of NASA, but perhaps more importantprovide the goods and services that NASA needs.  This would help to achieve the long term goalsof significantly increased interaction between industry and universities.The aerospace industry should forge new partnerships with awarding an increased number ofsub-contracts for institutions that provide a good or service.  Programs should also be encouragedwhich double as an educational tool.  A good example is in the area of the ever-expanding internet.Many institutions offer computer degrees and those students and their institutions are often wellsuited to design and maintain an information internet sites for industry, which enhances classroominstruction.Other areas include sponsoring classroom instruction.   This can be done as a single projects or inconjunction with the training needs of the company, This area can also provide an excellent av-enue for screening potential new employees.Still another area is in sponsoring design competitions.  This would be an avenue to help facilitateresearch with minimal funding but one that would generate a wealth of solutions to many of theproblems facing the aerospace industry.One example of current cooperation, the aerospace industry is working with post-secondary insti-tutions is as part of the Florida Space Institute.  This is a consortium of Florida colleges that haveteamed together with industry to conduct classes at Cape Canaveral Air Station and KennedySpace Center.  Now in its second year, FSI, has forged a highly practical partnership betweenindustry and post-secondary institutions.A second example is the United Space Research Association, or USRA.  For more than 25 years,the USRA has been providing a valuable link between NASA, Industry and educational institutionsfor space research.  However, the USRA is limited in their scope and size.The third group of players in this blueprint for the future are post-secondary institutions.  They area source of students to assist NASA and the aerospace industry.  One area these students canassist is by significantly increasing the number of cooperative learning positions or internships.Students, participating in such programs are placed into a job for learning purposes.  It is duringthese co-ops that students learn what it means to work in a particular area and gain valuableexperience along the way.  In addition, the company or government agency providing the co-ophas a opportunity to evaluate the co-op students for possible job openings.  In addition, studentsdevelop a real appreciation of deadline pressures, quality standards, and what is actually beingaccomplished as part of various programs instead of relying on media reports for their information.They provide an inexpensive solution to placing more workers into the industry.  They will allowcompanies and NASA to do more with less and achieve more returns on the investment by helpingcollege students.With more co-op and internship opportunities made available, there would be a rise in the numberof skilled workers who are eager to enter the aerospace workforce.  This increase in the number ofskilled workers would benefit everyone by increasing the quality of the product and the commit-ment of the voters to space exploration.  Co-ops and internships transfer knowledge from theworkforce to the student.  This knowledge will be invaluable in the future as that student enters theworkforce.Another area that post-secondary institutions can benefit NASA and the aerospace industry is inpayload development.  A payload idea can be turned over to a group of students for use as aclassroom instructional tool.  In this day, when companies pride themselves on outreach, allowinga college to develop a payload is viewed as the right thing to do but the problems and regulationsimposed on such payloads often prevent projects from developing past the conceptual stage.Some examples of how post-secondary institutions can help in this blueprint include co-op pro-grams and payload programs.A good example of how co-ops have benefited industry and education one needs only to look atEmbry-Riddle.  Last year, more than five hundred students participated in cooperative educationprograms and that number is on the rise.  This provides a large outpouring of knowledgeablestudents to assist industry and in return enhances the classroom experience by allowing the stu-dent to place theory into practical application.With regards to payload development, a good example is the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous,(NEAR), spacecraft.  This payload was developed by Johns Hopkins University and achieved theobjectives and under the planned budget.  Currently, this space craft is journeying toward itsrendezvous with an asteroid.The examples presented here are but a small sampling of what is currently being done to combinethe talents and strengths of NASA, the aerospace industry and post-secondary education.  Thereare many more out there.  But even as a waterfall must start as a single drop of water, it takes allparts working together to make things happen.Today, the future of space exploration is a perilous one.  With shrinking budgets and a lack ofpublic and political interest, those exploring space are in need of new innovative ways to accom-plish their goals.  This blueprint for the future is one way that can be accomplished, primarilythrough the significant expansion of programs which are almost all already in place.

Paper Session III-D - NASA Industry, and Secondary Education: A Blueprint for the Future

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Paper Session III-D - NASA Industry, and Secondary Education: A Blueprint for the Future

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