According to the report, flagship missions are uniquely capable of addressing big questions that cannot be answered by smaller, less ambitious missions. For example, the Hubble Space Telescope has revolutionized our understanding of the universe by providing stunning images of distant galaxies and helping to measure the expansion rate of the universe. The Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn revealed a complex and dynamic world with a methane lakes, a global ocean, and a hexagonal-shaped storm at its north pole.
In addition to making major scientific discoveries, flagship missions also inspire the public and the next generation of scientists and engineers. The success of the Apollo moon landing program in the 1960s sparked a wave of interest in science and engineering and helped to establish the United States as a leader in space exploration.
However, flagship missions are also expensive and time-consuming to develop. The James Webb Space Telescope, which is scheduled to launch in 2021, has a total cost of over $10 billion and has been in development for more than 20 years. The report acknowledges that the high cost of flagship missions is a challenge, but argues that the benefits of these missions outweigh the costs.
The report recommends that NASA continue to invest in flagship missions and develop a sustainable long-term plan for these missions. The report also calls for NASA to work with international partners to share the cost and risk of these missions.
The NASEM report is a valuable contribution to the debate over the future of NASA's flagship mission program. The report provides a thoughtful analysis of the benefits and challenges of these missions and makes recommendations for how to sustain the program in the future.
