The Role of NASA

What or who moves the decision process forward? The key governmental insti­tution providing direction and pace for the Mars program in the United States is NASA. NASA and the Mars politics engulfing it are the orientation of this study. NASA is the engine that powers Mars exploration. Sometimes the engine motors well; other times, it sputters. NASA is involved where major decisions are made. It is often influential in policy development, always critical in imple­mentation. NASA provides money and management to enable programs and projects to go from agenda setting to completion—or failure. But who influ­ences NASA? NASA has internal and external constituencies that seek to com­mand its behavior.

The internal core for Mars policymaking is in NASA’s Washington headquar­ters, the Science Mission Directorate (SMD). This division has had different names over its history. NASA has almost always had a “Science Directorate,” headed by an associate administrator who reported to the NASA Administrator.

Below the associate administrator usually has been a planetary director. Below the planetary director would typically be found the Mars program. Bureaucrati­cally, Mars is not and has not been high on the agency’s organization chart. But it has a visibility that far exceeds its place in the hierarchy. At times in history, it has had a visibility beyond much else that NASA did.

The associate administrator for science has always had considerable power among directorates within NASA, generally second only to the associate ad­ministrator for human spaceflight. SMD gets ample advice from the technical community, including the National Academy of Sciences. Indeed, scientists are extremely active in the agenda-setting stage of policy and produce planning doc­uments galore.

SMD is also subject to pressures from superiors and field centers within NASA and beyond. The associate administrator of SMD is a decision maker embracing most aspects of space science in addition to Mars. He or she inte­grates many factors in priority choices, including his or her own personal pref­erences. While key decisions affecting Mars may emanate from the associate ad­ministrator, generally a senior career official, NASA’s top politically appointed executive—the NASA Administrator—makes final decisions on the most costly and controversial matters. For the SMD head, Mars is one interest among many seeking decisions and resources. From the NASA Administrator’s perspective, SMD is one interest among many wanting decisions and resources. The NASA leader (like the associate administrator) has to balance a multitude of pressures. There is never enough time or money to satisfy everyone.

The associate administrator for science and the NASA Administrator have influential external constituencies. They consist of individuals and institutions that develop, use, fund, and learn from space science and technology. They in­clude scientists, engineers, the president, White House surrogates (especially the Office of Management and Budget [OMB]), Congress, media, industry, univer­sities, foreign governments, and the general public. Both internal and external constituencies seek to shape decision making by the associate administrator for science and NASA Administrator in a myriad of ways. The NASA Administra­tor deals most often with the external political world. The associate administra­tor interacts primarily with the external scientific community. Both cope with the other participants in decision making within and outside NASA.

There are many individuals (such as the deputy administrator, the agency’s “number two”) who are important players in Mars policy. But, in headquarters, the associate administrator for science and NASA Administrator stand out in

influence over the Mars endeavor by virtue of their formal positions in NASA. The associate administrator can make Mars the directorate’s science priority. The Administrator can make it an agency priority.