Bolden: NASA needs to take more risks - Houston Chronicle
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (AP) — The head of the nation's space agency said Thursday that it will need to take more risks in the future if it wants to remain on the cutting edge of aeronautics research and exploration.
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden told attendees at the New Horizons in Aviation Forum at the Virginia Beach Convention Center that innovation requires that risks be taken.
"I think we actually have to demand more risks. If you want to be innovative, if you want to make advancements, if you want to do big leaps then you have to put some risk in your programs. You have to be willing to take chances and get it wrong every once in a while," he said. "If something's going to go wrong in our world at NASA I want it to be because we're on the edge of the envelope."
He said that the space agency always learns from its mistakes, including disasters.
"We do dangerous stuff, we experiment, we explore and what that means is every once in a while we're going to screw up," Bolden said. "We do not want to make a stupid mistake, but we're always trying to go a little bit farther than our arms can extend."
NASA's mission is currently focused on deep-space missions that will send astronauts to an asteroid and eventually on to Mars. To do so, NASA has designed the world's most powerful rocket, although it is unclear if the $35 billion program will gain Congressional approval.
NASA has abandoned its space shuttle program, choosing to leave low-orbit flights to the private sector. NASA will then rent space on the private aircraft when it wants to send astronauts to the International Space Station, effectively turning the private spacecraft into a taxi system. Bolden said the ability of private industry to go into space is one of my successes spun off by the space program.
Bolden also says NASA needs to do a better job telling its success stories, especially those that translate into every day uses in the private sector. He says helping tell NASA's story better will make people understand why research and development funding is necessary.
Among other things, Bolden cited the use of vertical wing tips that got their start at NASA that helps private aircraft reduce drag and fuel costs. He also mentioned a recently developed tool for San Francisco International Airport that will help reduce delays caused by fog, resulting in $10 million in savings each year.
"Take (research funding) away and those advances don't occur," he said.
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Online: NASA www.nasa.gov
Brock Vergakis can be reached at www.twitter.com/BrockVergakis
23 Sep, 2011--
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