Nasa chastised for poor space research

Nasa must improve its science research output or "cease to characterise the International Space Station as a science driven initiative", an independent audit has reported.

The review, carried out by the Research Maximization and Prioritization Task Force, paints a gloomy picture of the future of the ISS.

Reported in the American Chronicle of Higher Education, and presented to Nasa's advisory council this week, the audit recommends that on each ISS mission one crew member be a designated science officer, and a third of available crew time should be dedicated to science operations. At present, said the report, science was not a high priority.

If minimal goals for scientific achievement by the ISS are not met by 2007, the audit recommends the station is no longer described as a science-related mission.

A spokesman for the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council (PPARC), which distributes public funds for space research in the UK, said plans were underway to reduce crew numbers on the space station from six to three. If this happens, the capacity to do research on the station would be seriously undermined, he said.

The UK is not part of the ISS project. It chose to undertake its space activities largely through the European Space Agency.

The ISS is designed to test the idea of having a permanent fixture in space. It has a 10-year lifespan, due to end in 2005 at the cost of $37bn, paid for by 16 member nations. It weighs 150 tonnes and is bigger than a three-bedroom house. It is designed to house seven people.

Since astronauts began using it in 2000, 28 spacewalks have been carried out.

The report criticised the lack of opportunities for researchers in universities to access the best equipment for space research. "Education of the next generation of scientists and engineers suffers because graduate and postdoctoral students are constrained from participating in Nasa research by unpredictable flight opportunities with intervals often exceeding students' time in training," it said.

Next year, Nasa's budget will increase by 1.4% to $15bn. This will see the agency's space-science budget grow by 19% to $3.428bn.

In June, the American astronaut Eugene Cernan, the last man to walk on the moon, vented his frustration at the US space programme. "After Apollo 17, America stopped looking towards the next horizon. The United States had become a space-faring nation, but threw it away. We have sacrificed space exploration for space exploitation, which is interesting but scarcely visionary. The space shuttle and International Space Station are fantastic craft, but they're not really going anywhere. I am very disappointed and disillusioned with America's space programme."