ORLANDO, Fla. – NASA’s new report of its facilities gives a recommendation to cut some of the Kennedy Research programs for space dust, space rocks, and other recovered materials from space at the Kennedy Space Center on the Space Coast in Florida.
The report also recommends that the investment in other areas such as the Space Life Sciences Center that is being run by the Space Florida be continued. This report by the inspector general at the space agency aims to eliminate the overlap in all NASA locations as well as to update any aging facilities.
A small reference to the report states that the recommendation to cut the ISRU, or the In-Situ Research Utilization, program at the Kennedy Space Center.
This is not the first time that the space agency mentioned anything about cutting Kennedy’s ISRU programs. The director of the Florida Space Institute based in Orlando, Ray Lugo, said that the ISRU program of the Kennedy Space Center has been a huge part of the Swampworks program of the local NASA which does research with community partners and students.
The ISRU research also happens at the Florida Space Institute which is a part of the UCF in Orlando and the Embry Riddle Aeronautical University.
The report has a clear statement that recommends the Glenn Research Center of NASA to be the one to take the lead on the in-situ research while the Kennedy will be stripped of the activity. Glenn Research Center is one of the 10 NASA centers that focuses on the game-changing technology for the spacelight to achieve further exploration and study of the universe.
There wasn’t any additional information written in the report about the extent of cutting recommended such as the specific number of people working at the Kennedy to be moved or cut. The media in the Kennedy office has not given any information either.
Lugo said that there are about 20 people in the Kennedy Space Center ISRU program and he added that the Orlando-based Florida Space Institute will work closely with those in Kennedy and everyone in NASA to help preserve the research locally. He also said the goal is to keep the federal grants for all the ISRU research along with the scientists in Central Florida.
Last Tuesday’s report also recommends NASA to move faster on both the cuts and streamlining the recommendations made through the years. It added that the Office of the Inspector General is quite concerned about the Agency’s slow efforts in producing meaningful results and the failure to do as recommended increases the Agency’s risk to continue spending valuable resources without really delivering technical capabilities for future missions.
