Space Exploration: The Role of the Innovative Partnerships Program

The goals of the Vision for Space Exploration are to implement a sustained and affordable program, extend human presence across the solar system, develop innovative technologies, knowledge and infrastructures, and promote international and commercial participation. NASA’s Innovative Partnerships Program (IPP) has a major role to play in achieving all of these goals, but in none more so than making it sustainable and affordable.

How do we sustain this grand vision, over such a long period of time, through multiple administrations and Congresses, and in the face of so many competing national needs? I believe we can sustain it only by consciously and deliberately creating benefits to the public every step of the way and making sure everybody knows it. As the Aldridge Commission put it, “To sustain this program over many presidential administrations and congressional sessions, our leaders must routinely explain and demonstrate the value, affordability, and credibility of the program.” And further, “While discovery is the goal of space exploration, the Commission is certain that the benefits here on Earth will make the journey at least as important as the destination.”

How do we make the vision affordable so that it fits within the nearly flat budgets that are projected for NASA? One of the ways this can be done is to leverage NASA’s investments through partnerships involving companies and universities. In order to make those partnerships a reality, though, potential industrial partners must be convinced that it is in their economic interests to put up their own money to help NASA get back to the Moon and go on to Mars. The best way to do that is to forge partnerships that can serve both NASA’s space exploration needs and the needs of the commercial application partners, both in space and on Earth.

If past experience is any guide, the enhanced commercial activity that will come out of such partnerships will involve all kinds of companies large and small, aerospace and non-aerospace, high-tech and low-tech. And it will inevitably bring benefits to people here on Earth in ways that we can scarcely imagine now in areas such as telemedicine, autonomous medical care, advanced materials, satellite communications, ultra-high resolution imaging, intelligent robotics, closed-loop life support, new sources of energy and other space resources, to name just a few.

Innovative partnerships like those being developed in the IPP can have consequences far beyond the research laboratory and the commercial marketplace. They can form the basis of a space economy that can be the engine for carrying humanity out into the solar system and returning benefits to people back here on Earth. As NASA goes back to the Moon in preparation for its new future in space, such partnerships will increasingly involve private space entrepreneurs in all areas, from launch services to tourism to space resources. Space exploration, after all, cannot be forever just a government program. It must spawn a truly independent space industry if the ultimate benefits are to be realized.

The Innovative Partnerships Program has a key role to play in making the Vision for Space Exploration sustainable and affordable through partnerships between industry, academia and government. In fostering these partnerships the IPP can also play an important role in the transition of space exploration from a purely government program into one that will involve all segments of society.

The Innovative Partnerships Program, part of the Exploration Systems Research and Technology (ESR&T) office of the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate, consists of the following program elements: Technology Transfer, Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR), Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR), Industry-Led Partnerships and University-Led Partnerships, the latter including the Research Partnership Centers (RPCs) and the University Research Engineering and Technology Institutes (URETIs). Cross-cutting elements include industry outreach, coordination with other federal agencies, international cooperation and promotion of benefits to the public.

The National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) recently reviewed the Technology Transfer program. The results are covered in a report titled, “Technology Transfer: Bringing Innovation to NASA and the Nation.” Among its many observations the report found that a comprehensive strategy for identifying technology needs and commercialization opportunities is lacking, the external tech transfer network is fragmented and the roles and responsibilities of component organizations overlap and are unclear.

The NAPA report recommends reformulation and streamlining of the external technology transfer network. That recommendation will be implemented through a new contract to support the efforts of the IPP and the NASA field centers in carrying out technology transfer functions such as identifying and documenting available technologies in light of NASA’s needs, evaluating and prioritizing those technologies, reaching out to find new partners and facilitating the establishment of partnerships. The complete statement of work for the new contract is currently being formulated for inclusion in a Request For Proposal (RFP) expected to be released this year.

The IPP can help infuse technology into NASA's programs through existing partnerships, such as the Research Partnership Centers. These partnerships, which have been recently realigned into a dual-purpose role, have flown more than 170 scientific payloads on Shuttle, MIR and ISS during their 20-year history.

The purpose of the SBIR and STTR programs is to create and mature new technologies through the nation’s small business and university research communities. The programs are aligned to directly support NASA's four mission directorates, which are Exploration Systems Mission Directorate (ESMD), Science Mission Directorate (SMD), Space Operations Mission Directorate (SOMD) and Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD). Because they have historically served the private marketplace, the SBIR and STTR programs now have an inherent dual purpose, as do all the Innovative Partnership Programs.

While infusion of technology into NASA’s programs is ultimately the responsibility of the program managers, as was recognized in the NAPA report, the IPP can help through its existing partnerships such as the RPCs. These partnerships, which have been realigned recently into a dual-purpose role, have flown more than 170 scientific payloads on Shuttle, MIR and ISS during their 20-year history. They have demonstrated the ability to develop and fly scientific experiments at a fraction of the cost of traditional payloads. Through their industrial partners, which number more than 160, they have developed new and improved products and processes that have delivered documented benefits to the public in a cost-effective manner. They have educated hundreds of university students in science and engineering fields that are critical to NASA’s exploration goals and also to the Nation’s economic well-being. And, they have conducted education and outreach programs that have motivated and inspired thousands of students in K-12 classes and the general public.

Other university-led partnerships such as the URETIs have made significant advances in areas as diverse as nanomaterials and biologically inspired materials. These university-led partnerships will be augmented by a new category of industry-led partnerships that will be designed to pick up technologies at higher Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs) and mature them for possible insertion into ESMD’s Constellation Systems or the private marketplace. Such high-TRL technology maturation is more appropriately done in a focused industry setting than in the more diverse university environment where student educational needs are an important factor.

Another new program in the IPP is the Janus Challenge Grant program. Like Janus (Jay'-nus), the Roman god of gates and doorways, who had two faces pointing in opposite directions, this program looks both to the promise of space and to the needs of Earth. It will consist of grants for dual-use research awarded to teams composed of a university principal investigator, one or more industrial researchers and ESMD program element staff from one or more NASA field centers. The grantees will do research and development on topics of interest to NASA that also have application on Earth.

In the IPP, we believe all these kinds of dual-purpose partnerships will be critical to NASA’s space exploration programs. While their approaches differ, the overarching goals of all of them working together are to make space exploration more affordable through leveraged partnerships with industry and academia and to make it more sustainable by creating benefits to the public.

Because the very survival of the exploration vision depends on NASA achieving these goals, and because all of the elements within the IPP are agency-wide programs that can contribute to the goals, the IPP will lead NASA in helping to achieve them.

The IPP will take the following steps to fulfill our leadership role:

1. The IPP will vigorously pursue and promote benefits to the public in all ESMD research and development, including the nurture of external relationships and partnerships of all kinds to aid in this task.

The IPP office will make use of all of its programs, including Technology Transfer, SBIR, STTR, the RPCs and the URETIs, and through cooperation with the Centennial Challenges program, to foster creation of Earth benefits throughout all of ESMD and NASA.

2. The IPP will deliberately identify opportunities for creating Earth benefits throughout the ESMD and NASA research and development portfolio.

This will be done by IPP as the Broad Agency Announcements (BAAs) or other procurement vehicles are written. Language will be included in BAAs conveying NASA’s desire that, where feasible and appropriate, research and development activities should lead to public benefits, in addition to meeting an exploration requirement. For the Janus Challenge Grants and the Research Partnership Centers (RPCs) renewal proposals, the dual-use requirement is mandatory.

3. The IPP will consciously create an environment conducive to pursuing Earth benefits from space exploration research and development.

Specific actions directed toward producing such an environment will include the following: a strong emphasis on and support of partnerships of all kinds between academia, government and industry for the creation of dual-use technologies; regular seminars presenting new benefits; prizes and awards for new ideas that create or mature dual-use technologies; Centennial Challenge prizes for public benefits; and a special fund for research and development in areas related to public benefits that can be used to leverage existing mission-oriented projects, contracts and cooperative agreements to pursue public benefits involving industrial partners.

4. The IPP will rigorously manage the responsibility for benefits within the Program office through the following actions:

a. Conduct regular economic analyses of the public benefits of space exploration through the Office of Innovative Partnerships. These studies will be similar to those done by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), which have proven highly successful. The IPP office will conduct retrospective analyses on individual projects and overall programs for the purposes of verifying benefit claims and advocating for the exploration vision. It also will conduct prospective analyses for the purpose of predicting cost-benefit ratios of planned projects and programs.

b. Improve and expand the means of capturing, validating and storing data on Earth benefits. Building upon the highly successful “Spinoffs” database, criteria for inclusion and guidelines for use will be developed that will enhance the utility of the database and turn it into the single, authoritative repository for all Earth benefits stemming from space exploration.

c. Establish a permanent coordinating body, led by the IPP office, and including representatives from the offices of Exploration Systems Research & Technology, Human Systems Research & Technology, Constellation Systems, Public Affairs, Legislative Affairs, Education, and the Outreach coordinators for ESMD, Innovative Partnerships, and SPD. This body will guide and monitor implementation of the plan, ensuring that input to decisions is received from all concerned parties and that all offices having NASA-wide responsibility for dealing with the public are aware of ESMD activities related to Earth benefits.

Implementation of this plan to deliberately and consciously create societal benefits from ESMD and other NASA research is already underway within the Program. The IPP is proud and honored to have the leadership role in this important task and looks forward to working with all of NASA and its stakeholders to achieve the mutual goals.

NASA Official: Jonathan Root • Web Design: Printing & Design Office, NASA Headquarters • Credits