National Academies Advisory Boards and Reports

The National Research Council was organized by the National Academy of Sciences in 1916 to associate the broad community of science and technology with the Academy's purposes: seeking further knowledge and advising the federal government. Functioning in accordance with general policies determined by the Academy, the National Research Council has become the principal operating agency of both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering in providing services to the government, the public, and the scientific and engineering communities. The National Research Council is administered jointly by both Academies and the Institute of Medicine. OBPR utilizes primarily two boards of the National Research Council: The Space Studies Board (SSB) and the Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board (ASEB). Many of the reports on OBPR activities are produced throught joint activities between the two boards.

Established in June 1958, the SSB provides external and independent scientific and programmatic guidance to NASA and other government agencies in the basic subdisciplines of space research. The SSB oversees a constellation of standing committees and ad hoc task groups, which produce long-range strategic research plans, set priorities for goals, nd assess progress.

The SSB, its committees, and ad hoc task groups document their work through peer-reviewed reports and letters. In addition, based on its publicly established opinions, the Board may comment in testimony to the Congress.

The ASEB was established in 1967 "to focus talents and energies of the engineering community on significant aerospace policies and programs." In undertaking its responsibility, the ASEB recommends priorities and procedures for achieving aerospace engineering objectives and offers a way to bring engineering and other related expertise to bear on aerospace issues of national importance. In addition, ASEB serves as a catalyst for introducing scientific and engineering ideas into existing aerospace programs. The Board also serves to stimulate innovation that will become the basis for future aerospace programs.

The ASEB makes recommendations concerning major national aeronautics and space programs. It assesses the quality of various technologies and programs, and advises on the relative importance of those programs. It also is concerned with important issues of technology transfer including (1) the effectiveness of technology transfer to industry from NASA's research and development programs, (2) incorporation of the best technologies from outside of NASA in NASA programs, and (3) enhancing the two-way flow of technologies developed in the defense sector and in civil aerospace.

The SSB and ASEB are part of the Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences (DEPS) of the National Research Council, the principal operating agency of the National Academies.

• Factors Affecting the Utilization of the International Space Station for Research in the Biological and Physical Sciences (TGRISS Phase II) [National Research Council (Task Group on Research on the International Space Station Membership), Committee on Space Biology and Medicine/Space Studies Board, September 2002]
  (http://www.nationalacademies.org/ssb/tgrissIIfront.html)
• Safe on Mars: Precursor Measurements Necessary to Support Human Operations on the Martian Surface [National Research Council/SSB/ASEB, 2002]
  (http://www.nap.edu/books/0309084261/html/)
• Safe Passage: Astronaut Care for Exploration Missions [Institute of Medicine/Board on Health Sciences Policy/Committee on Creating a Vision for Space Medicine During Travel Beyond Earth Orbit, 2001]
  (http://www.nap.edu/books/0309075858/html/)
• The Role of Microgravity and Physical Sciences Research at NASA (Phase I) [National Research Council/SSB, December 2001]
  (http://www.nationalacademies.org/ssb/cmgr01front.html)
• Readiness Issues Related to Research in the Biological and Physical Sciences on the International Space Station (TGRISS Phase I) [National Research Council (Task Group on Research on the International Space Station Membership), Committee on Space Biology and Medicine/Space Studies Board, December 2001]
  (http://www.nationalacademies.org/ssb/tgriss01front.html)
• Review of NASAs Biomedical Research Program [National Research Council/SSB/Committee on Space Biology and Medicine]
  (http://www.nationalacademies.org/ssb/biomedmenu.htm)
• Microgravity Research in Support of Technologies for the Human Exploration and Development of Space and Planetary Bodies [National Research Council/SSB/Committee on Microgravity Research (2000)]
  (http://www.nationalacademies.org/ssb/heds2menu.htm)
• Future Biotechnology Research on the International Space Station [National Research Council/SSB/Task Group for the Evaluation of NASA's Biotechnology Facility for the International Space Station (2000)]
  (http://www.nationalacademies.org/ssb/btfmenu.htm)
• Institutional Arrangements for Space Station Research [National Research Council/SSB, 2000]
  (http://books.nap.edu/catalog/9757.html)

• Bibliography of SSB Reports Relevant to Microgravity and Gravitational Physics Research
  (http://www.nationalacademies.org/ssb/cmgrbib.htm)
• Bibliography of SSB Reports Relevant to the Space Life and Medical Sciences
  (http://www.nationalacademies.org/ssb/csbmbib.htm)
• Bibliography of SSB Reports Relevant to the Human Exploration of Space
  (http://www.nationalacademies.org/ssb/chexbib.htm)
• Complete Bibliography of SSB Reports (by subject area)
  (http://www.nationalacademies.org/ssb/bibbrowse.htm)

• A Review of the Centers for the Commercial Development of Space: Concept and Operation [National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) 1994]
• Engineering Research and Technology Development on the Space Station [National Research Council, 1996]
• The International Space Station Commercialization Study, [Potomac Institute for Policy Studies, 1997]
• Reflections on the Commercial Space Center (CSC) Program [National Academy of Public Administration, June, 1998]

• Setting Priorities for Space Research: Opportunities and Imperatives [National Academy Press, 1992]
• Setting Priorities for Space Research: An Experiment in Methodology [National Academy Press, 1995]
• RAND, Setting Priorities and Coordinating Federal Research and Development Across Fields of Science: A Literature Review; Executive Summary and Annotated Bibliography [National Science Board DRU-2286/1-NSF, April 2000]
• Federal Research Resources: A Process for Setting Priorities [National Science Board, October 11, 2001]
• U. S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, Federally Funded Research: Decisions for a Decade [OTA-SET-490 (Washington, DC: U. S. Government Printing Office, May 1991) Chapter 5, Priority Setting in Science]