NASA Ground and Launch Systems Processing Technology Area Roadmap

In 2010, NASA developed a set of 14 draft roadmaps to guide the development of space technologies under the leadership of the NASA Office of the Chief Technologist. Each of these roadmaps focused on a particular technology area. The roadmaps are intended to foster the development of advanced technologies and concepts that address NASA’s needs and contribute to other aerospace and national needs. NASA contracted with the National Research Council (NRC) to perform an independent critique of the draft roadmaps. NASA assessed the NRC’s prioritizations and recommendations and developed the Strategic Space Technology Investment Plan (SSTIP) to outline the future investment strategy. The Ground and Launch Systems Processing (GLSP) Technology Area Roadmap was developed to identify ground, launch and mission technologies that would dramatically transform future space operations, with significant improvement in life-cycle costs and the quality of life on earth, increasing reliability and mission availability, and enhancing methods to assess safety and mission risk posture. Since operations costs can constitute roughly 40% of the total mission costs, by realizing savings in this technology area, NASA could redirect significant investments toward supporting a broader customer base with robust exploration missions