Space Technology Roadmaps: The Future Brought To You By NASA

Space Technology Roadmaps: The Future Brought To You By NASA

 

NASA’s Space Technology Roadmaps (STRs) have now been finalized and are available through the links below.

The effort to develop the STRs began in 2010 when NASA identified fourteen technology areas and then assigned agency specialists to describe their technology area’s top technical challenges, the spaceflight missions they could impact or enable, and – as a byproduct – the important terrestrial fields they could advance. The set of draft STRs, which cover both human and robotic technologies, was distributed publicly in December 2010. At the same time, NASA contracted with the National Research Council (NRC) to perform an independent critique of the draft roadmaps. Through the NRC’s participation, public comment was received, and independent expert panels subsequently reviewed the comments, established evaluation criteria, identified gaps, and prioritized the technologies within each technology area. An overall steering committee of the NRC then furtheprioritized across the technology areas, and released their final report early in 2012. Click here for the NRC's "NASA Space Technology Roadmaps and Priorities".

The final STRs now reflect the NRC’s assessment. Specifically, each of these fourteen final roadmaps includes the original draft roadmap augmented by a new section that summarizes the NRC’s recommendations and comments about the technology area. As such, they offer ‘one-stop shopping’ for people interested in an area.

Based on the NRC reports, NASA has also updated the Technology Area Breakdown Structure (TABS) for all fourteen technology areas. The TABS is being used not only by NASA but by other space agencies as an organizing framework for technology development and demonstration efforts.