NASA announced Monday that it has set up a new department focused on analysis of how existing space programs are going and how best to get Americans back to the moon and eventually to Mars.
The space agency's Office of Program Analysis and Evaluation has no authority to hire, fire or pay, but it does have the ear of NASA Administrator Michael Griffin, a rocket scientist who has been candid about the need for change.
The office was set up on April 29, two weeks after Griffin was sworn in, but it was publicized on Monday during a telephone briefing with Scott Pace, its new chief.
Pace, a scientist and policy analyst who has worked at NASA and the White House, said he aims to answer basic questions: "What is it we need? How much does it cost? Can we afford it? ... Are we in fact ready to use these investments? How are we doing on investments that we have made?"
There are already two studies in the works. One is looking at how best to use the space shuttle fleet to finish building the international space station before 2010, when the fleet is set to retire.
The second study takes a broad view of how to realize the Bush administration's "Vision for Space Exploration," an ambitious program to return U.S. astronauts to the moon and eventually send a human mission to Mars.
Pace said his office does not have a say in the push to return the shuttles to flight, more than two years after the Columbia disaster. The shuttle Discovery is set for launch in July.
The analysis group is expected to consider input from the scientific community on a possible repair for the aging Hubble Space Telescope, Pace said, but not until several shuttle missions have been flown. One current plan is to send shuttle astronauts to fix and upgrade the orbiting telescope.
Monday's announcement came soon after the June 13 resignation of Craig Steidle, who heads NASA's Exploration Systems Mission Directorate, which was meant to develop the next generation of human spacecraft. His resignation is effective Friday.
