Heliophysics Program Gets Low Grade
By Jefferson Morris 
The National Academies' National Research Council (NRC) is giving NASA poor marks so far for its implementation of the most recent NRC decadal survey on solar and space physics, which endorsed a number of missions that have since been delayed or scaled back.
The 2003 decadal survey polled the scientific community to lay out an integrated research strategy and a prioritized list of flight missions. "Unfortunately, very little of the recommended NASA program priorities from the decadal survey's Integrated Research Strategy will be realized during the period (2004-2013) covered by the survey," the NRC panel says in its report.
"Mission cost growth, reordering of survey mission priorities, and unrealized budget assumptions have delayed or deferred nearly all of the NASA spacecraft missions recommended in the survey. As a result, the status of the Integrated Research Strategy going forward is in jeopardy, and the loss of synergistic capabilities in space will constitute a serious impediment to future progress."
Mission cost growth was a major factor in NASA's difficulties. The 2003 decadal survey endorsed the completion of three major missions: Solar-B, STEREO, and the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). The survey assumed that SDO could be completed in 2008 for an additional $315 million, but now it will need at least $700 million more before its launch in late 2009 or in 2010, according to the NRC.
The survey allocated $350 million for the development of the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission, characterizing the technical risk involved in its completion as "low." But the current estimates for MMS are $990 million, and launch has slipped from 2010 to 2014.
While the Solar Probe mission received good marks from the panel, the NRC is concerned about NASA's plans to advance it ahead of other heliophysics missions in the pipeline. "NASA has compromised the decadal survey's mission sequence by advancing Solar Probe ahead of the fourth (Multi-Heliospheric Probes), fifth (Geospace Electrodynamic Connections), and seventh (Magnetospheric Constellation) moderate mission priorities identified in the survey, an approach that has reduced the overall grade given to the Integrated Research Strategy," the panel says.
The NRC recommends that if there is not enough additional money provided in future NASA budgets to support the currently scheduled 2017 Solar Probe launch date without adversely affecting other heliophysics efforts, NASA should consult formally with the scientific community to determine if the tradeoff is worth it.
Artist's concept of Solar-B: NASA
