In the wake of two failed missions to Mars, reports on NASA’s “faster, better, cheaper” approach to space exploration suggest the agency is trying to do too much with too little money and not enough oversight, according to two reviews released Monday.
The reports don’t recommend a return to the large, expensive space missions of the 1970s and ’80s. Instead, management must be held accountable, goals clearly set and, if the money isn’t available, programs downsized.
“We need to slow down some, not rush too quickly into important programs and projects, plan and implement them more carefully, and move away from fixations on cost and near-term gain,” said Tony Spear, who led one of the reviews and is a former manager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin had ordered the reviews.
