Report: More support, testing needed for NASA exploration

— -- The technology storehouse supporting NASA's effort to launch astronauts back to the moon by 2020 is dependent on proper funding and clear mission goals, but lacks a comprehensive testing plan, according to a new report.

Released Thursday by the National Research Council, the 158-page report stemmed from a 10-month review of NASA's Exploration Technology Development Program (EDTP), which is charged with developing and providing the new technologies required for the agency's return to the moon and beyond.

NASA currently plans to retire its three aging space shuttles by 2010 after completing construction of the International Space Station. Their replacement, the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle, is slated to make its first crewed flight no earlier than 2014 atop the new Ares I rocket.

"We need a little more time to digest it," said NASA spokesperson Gray Hautaluoma at the agency's headquarters in Washington, D.C., of the report. "We always are appreciative of any analysis and advice."

A committee of 25 veteran aerospace experts took part in the independent review — entitled "A Constrained Space Technology Development Program" — which found that NASA's 22-project technology development program is making progress toward its goals to support the agency's moon effort.

But there was room for improvement, particularly in communicating the risks and human health factors associated with new technologies, as well as with longer term projects aimed at reaching past the moon to Mars and beyond. Other hurdles include federal budget limitations and shifting requirements of NASA's Constellation program overseeing the development of Orion, Ares I, the new Altair lunar lander and its heavy-lift Ares V rocket.

"This was and is a resource-challenged technology development program, but that technology is necessary for future human exploration," said former astronaut Bonnie Dunbar, president CEO of the Museum of Flight in Seattle who co-chaired the review committee. "Even the most talented of engineers and scientists will find it difficult to make forward progress without the necessary tools to do so."