Advancing Aeronautics: A Decision Framework for Selecting Research Agendas

Abstract

Publicly funded research has long played a role in the development of aeronautics, ranging from foundational research on airfoils to development of the air-traffic control system. Yet more than a century after the research and development of successful controlled, sustained, heavier-than-air flight vehicles, there are questions over the future of aeronautics research. The field of aeronautics is relatively mature, technological developments within it have become more evolutionary, and funding decisions are sometimes motivated by the continued pursuit of these evolutionary research tracks rather than by larger factors. These developments raise questions over whether public funding of aeronautics research continues to be appropriate or necessary and at what levels. Tightened federal budgets and increasing calls to address other public demands make these questions sharper still. To help it address the questions of appropriate directions for publicly funded aeronautics research, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA's) Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD) asked the RAND Corporation to assess the elements required to develop a strategic view of aeronautics research opportunities; identify candidate aeronautic grand challenges, paradigms, and concepts; outline a framework for evaluating them; and exercise the framework as an example of how to use it. Accordingly, this research seeks to address these questions: What aeronautics research should be supported by the U.S. government? What compelling and desirable benefits drive government-supported research? How should the government--especially NASA--make decisions about which research to support? Advancing aeronautics involves broad policy and decisionmaking challenges. Decisions involve tradeoffs among competing perspectives, uncertainties, and informed judgment.

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 2011
Accession Number
ADA538802

Entities

People

  • Chad J. Ohlandt
  • Clifford Grammich
  • James G. Kallimani
  • Jan Osburg
  • Liisa Ecola
  • Philip S. Anton
  • Raj Raman
  • Thomas Light

Organizations

  • RAND Corporation

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Autonomy
  • Biomedical
  • Engineered Resilient Systems
  • Ground and Sea Platforms
  • Human Systems
  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Transportation
  • Aircraft Equipment
  • Aircraft Industry
  • Aircrafts
  • Airframes
  • Climate Change
  • Commercial Aviation
  • Computational Fluid Dynamics
  • Control Systems
  • Greenhouse Effect
  • Jet Aircraft
  • Materials Science
  • National Security
  • Short Takeoff Aircraft
  • Target Recognition
  • Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
  • Unmanned Systems

Readers

  • Defense Technology Research and Development.
  • Economics

Technology Areas

  • Space