The Macroeconomics of Space Symposium 

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The Macroeconomics of Space Symposium 

Join OTPS and NASA’s Agency Chief Economist at the Macroeconomics of Space Symposium on September 5, 2024

NASA’s Office of Technology, Policy, and Strategy invites you to join us at the “Macroeconomics of Space Symposium” happening on Thursday, September 5, 2024, from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. EDT in the James Webb Auditorium at NASA Headquarters and virtually via WebEx.

OTPS is bringing together civil servants and leading researchers on the economic impacts of public R&D spending, to discuss the macroeconomics of space investments. This symposium will will feature academic presentations, a panel discussion, highlights from the upcoming FY23 NASA Economic Impact Report, and a keynote speech from Heather Boushey of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers—the first ever CEA appearance at NASA! 

We’ll explore multiple perspectives, from annual economic impacts to decades-long effects on aggregate productivity, to offer a new level of integrated insight into the macroeconomic impacts of NASA investments. For more information, a preview at our agenda, and to RSVP, see details below. We hope to see you there!

Register to attend in-person or virtually through WebEx: https://nasaevents.webex.com/weblink/register/r87edd3ab76a8929e05115dc74063e295 

Background

The macroeconomic implications of space-related government spending have long been a topic of interest within NASA and the Federal government more broadly. While NASA programs often focus on scientific and exploration goals, questions of NASA’s economic impacts and benefits to American society at large are frequent topics of interest from members of Congress and the general public. Toward this end, NASA publishes a biannual Economic Impact Report to assess economic benefits of NASA spending across the country. While this is of substantial interest to the US space community – as evidenced by media attention the previous report received – there remain open questions about long-run impacts through channels like NASA-developed technologies proliferating through the economy, NASA-funded methods of production enhancing output over time, and NASA-incentivized activities spurring further private investments in productive activity.

A recent wave of economic research provides new evidence on these long-run impacts. Their magnitude creates macroeconomic implications for national space policy. By some estimates, non-defense R&D spending – the bulk of which has historically been NASA spending – accounts for about one quarter of business productivity growth in the postwar period, with long-run social returns – the cumulative benefit to American society per dollar spent – of about 200%. For comparison, the social rate of return on overall US R&D investment is about 67%. As Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen recently noted: “… there is ample evidence [government research and development] is undersupplied, including due to a significant decline in federal R&D spending.” Paired with the evidence from the Economic Impact Report regarding annual employment effects generated by NASA spending around the country, these results suggest NASA offers a unique mechanism to promote American economic resilience, opportunity, and growth.

This symposium convenes leading researchers on the economic impacts of public R&D spending and civil servants to discuss the macroeconomics of space investments. It bridges multiple perspectives, from annual employment impacts to decades-long effects on aggregate productivity, to offer an unprecedented level of comprehensive insight into the macroeconomic impacts of NASA investments.

Event highlights (All times listed are in EDT and subject to change)

• 8:30 -9 a.m.        In-person arrival and check-in
• 9-9:15 a.m.         Introduction to workshop 
• 9:15-9:30 a.m.   Keynote speaker Heather Boushey, Council of Economic Advisers 
• 9:30-10:45 a.m. Presentations:
  • Andrew Fieldhouse/Karel Mertens, The Returns to Government R&D: Evidence from U.S. Appropriations Shocks
    Measuring the causal impact of government R&D on business-sector productivity, using postwar changes in federal R&D appropriations to estimate long-term economic returns to non-defense R&D.
  • Arnaud Dyèvre, Public R&D Spillovers and Productivity Growth
    Quantifying the impact of declining public R&D funding on U.S. productivity growth using 70 years of firm-level patent and balance-sheet data to compare public and private R&D spillovers.
  • Shawn Kantor/Alexander Whalley, Moonshot: Public R&D and Growth
    Examining the Space Race to assess the impacts of windfall R&D spending on manufacturing and regional economies using declassified National Intelligence Estimates of technologies needed for space missions, detailed Census data, and data on patent funding.
• 10:45-11 a.m. Coffee break 
• 11-11:20 a.m. NASA Economic Impact Report with Alex MacDonald
• 11:20-11:50 p.m. Closing panel, “Space in the Federal R&D portfolio” with Alex MacDonald, Arnaud Dyèvre, Andrew Fieldhouse, and Shawn Kantor. Akhil Rao as moderator.

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Bill Keeter

Rescuers at the Ready at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center 

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Rescuers at the Ready at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center 

If there’s an emergency at the launch pad during a launch countdown, there’s a special team engineers at Kennedy Space Center teams can call on – the Pad Rescue team.

Trained to quickly rescue personnel at the launch pad and take them to safety in the event of an unlikely emergency, NASA’s Pad Rescue team at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida has been in place since the Apollo Program. Today they help support crewed missions launching from Launch Complex 39A and B, as well as Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. 

Stationed in mine-resistant ambush protected vehicles, or MRAPs, the Pad Rescue team stands poised near the launch pad to assist with any emergency requiring the personnel to quickly leave the pad. If needed, they will head to the pad and break up into two separate teams – one that heads up the launch tower to aid personnel and another that is stationed at the perimeter of the pad for when crews come down the emergency escape or egress system. Once everyone is on the ground and inside the MRAPs, Pad Rescue will drive teams to one of the triage site locations at Kennedy. 

They’re spaceflight knights in shining armor. Except instead of saving crew from a fire breathing dragon, it’s from a fully loaded skyscraper-sized rocket that’s getting ready to lift off. 

«Pad Rescue isn’t going up to fight fire or troubleshoot anything. This is a snatch and grab operation. We’re going up there to assist people and get them out as quickly as possible. 

CHRISTOPHER YOUNG

NASA Kennedy Fire Protection Chief and Pad Rescue Program Operational Lead

The team is made up of approximately 25 firefighters and fire officers, with 10 pad rescuers assigned per mission. Since the team supports a diverse range of launches – Artemis, the Commercial Crew Program and some private commercial crew launches – part of their training requires learning the differences between the launch pads, the emergency egress systems, the spacecraft, and even the spacesuits.  

“The hatch itself can be very complex,” said Dylan Reid, Pad Rescue program manager. “The seats are different. The suits are completely different and the connections on the suits are different. As we expand Pad Rescue to support different programs, our teams are absorbing all of the highly technical and different needs.”  

When the launch team sent in the red crew during the Artemis I launch countdown to help fix a hydrogen leak, the Pad Rescue team was nearby to help in case anything went wrong. Now as teams train for Artemis II – the first crewed Artemis mission – they’re learning all the new additions at Launch Complex 39B that come with having astronauts onboard.  

This includes learning the Artemis emergency egress system. Before Artemis II launches, the Pad Rescue team – along with other teams like the Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) Program responsible for launching the Artemis missions, and the closeout crew who are responsible for helping the astronauts get inside the Orion spacecraft – will thoroughly train for all kinds of emergency procedures that can occur during the launch countdown.  

The most recent training ahead of Artemis II included practicing several emergency egress situations such as helping aid the closeout and the simulated flight crew off of the launch tower after a simulated hydrogen leak occurred during a launch countdown.

“It’s a sense of pride for all of us that are on this team. They step up and they volunteer to be a part of this. Working with EGS, the Commercial Crew Program, and other commercial space companies makes me feel really involved with the space program. This is a one-of-a-kind rescue team.” 

CHRISTOPHER YOUNG

NASA Kennedy Fire Protection Chief and Pad Rescue Program Operational Lead

Artemis II will send four astronauts – commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover and mission specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen from the Canadian Space Agency – around the Moon on NASA’s path to establishing a long-term presence at the lunar surface for science and exploration through Artemis. The 10-day flight will test NASA’s foundational human deep space exploration capabilities, the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket, Orion spacecraft, for the first time with astronauts. 

About the Author

Antonia Jaramillo

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Antonia Jaramillo

Rings and Things

The subject of this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image is situated in the Perseus Cluster, also known as Abell 426, 320 million light-years from Earth. It’s a barred spiral galaxy known as MCG+07-07-072, seen here among a number of photobombing stars that are much closer to Earth than it is.

MCG+07-07-072 has quite an unusual shape for a spiral galaxy, with thin arms emerging from the ends of its barred core to draw a near-circle around its disk. It is classified as an SBc(r) galaxy: the c denotes that its two spiral arms are loosely wound, each only performing a half-turn around the galaxy, and the (r) is for the ring-like structure they create.

Rings in galaxies come in quite a few forms, from merely uncommon, to rare and scientifically important! Lenticular galaxies are a type that sit between elliptical and spiral galaxies. They feature a large disk, unlike an elliptical galaxy, but lack any spiral arms. Lenticular means lens-shaped, and these galaxies often feature ring-like shapes in their disks.

Meanwhile, the classification of “ring galaxy” is reserved for peculiar galaxies with a round ring of gas and star formation, much like spiral arms look, but completely disconnected from the galactic nucleus — or even without any visible nucleus! They’re thought to be formed in galactic collisions. Finally, there are the famous gravitational lenses, where the ring is in fact a distorted image of a distant, background galaxy, formed by the ‘lens’ galaxy bending light around it. Ring-shaped images, called Einstein rings, only form when the lensing and imaged galaxies are perfectly aligned.

Media Contact:

Claire Andreoli
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD
claire.andreoli@nasa.gov

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Monika Luabeya

NASA-Funded Research Institute Selects New Class of Space Health Fellows

The NASA-funded Translational Research Institute for Space Health (TRISH) announced its selections for the institute’s 2024 postdoctoral fellowship, a space health program intended to launch the careers of a new generation of researchers tackling various challenges involved with human space exploration.

The program supports early-career scientists pursuing research with the potential to reduce the health risks associated with spaceflight. Selected fellows will participate in TRISH’s Academy of Bioastronautics, a mentorship community for space health professionals, and receive a two-year salary stipend. Fellows were selected based on the strengths of the various projects they proposed. Projects are expected to begin in September.

“Our TRISH program has always prioritized providing the next generation with the tools to further human health in space,” said Dr. Rihana Bokhari, acting TRISH chief scientific officer and assistant professor at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. “As space becomes more accessible to more people, investing in these early-career scientists is necessary to develop solutions to mitigate the health risks that life in space may pose. We are eager to have this group join our postdoctoral fellowship program and enhance their research for spaceflight.”

The following fellows were selected:

Carolyn Chlebek, Ph.D.

MaineHealth

Mentor: Clifford Rosen, M.D.

Project: Bone Metabolism is Altered by Skeletal Unloading and Nutrient Limitation During Long-duration Spaceflight

Katharyn Flickinger, Ph.D.

University of Pittsburgh

Mentor: Clifton Callaway, M.D., Ph.D.

Project: Metabolic Measurement, Manipulation, and Countermeasure Strategies

Patrick Opdensteinen, M.Sc., Ph.D.

University of California, San Diego

Mentor: Nicole Steinmetz, Ph.D. Project: Streamlined Molecular Farming of Virus-Like Particle (VLP) Therapeutics in Space

The institute is supported by NASA’s Human Research Program to solve the challenges of human deep space exploration. Led by Baylor College of Medicine’s Center for Space Medicine, the consortium leverages partnerships with Caltech in Pasadena, California and Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge.

NASA’s Human Research Program pursues the best methods and technologies to support safe, productive human space travel. Through science conducted in laboratories, ground-based analogs, and missions to the International Space Station, the program scrutinizes how spaceflight affects human bodies and behaviors. Such research continues to drive NASA’s mission to innovate ways that keep astronauts healthy as space exploration expands to the Moon, Mars, and beyond.

-end-

Kelly Humphries / Laura Sorto

Johnson Space Center, Houston

281-483-5111
kelly.o.humphries@nasa.gov / laura.g.sorto@nasa.gov

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Nathan Cranford

Kansas Students to Hear from NASA Astronauts Aboard Station

Students from Topeka, Kansas, will have the opportunity Wednesday, Aug. 21, to have NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick and Tracy C. Dyson answer their prerecorded questions aboard the International Space Station.

The 20-minute space-to-Earth call with students from Mose J. Whitson Elementary, Most Pure Heart Catholic School, and Aviation Explorers Post 8, will stream live at 10:30 a.m. EDT Aug. 21, on NASA+, NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency’s website. Learn how to stream NASA TV through various platforms, including social media.

Media interested in covering the event must RSVP no later than 5 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 19, by contacting Aaron Gray at agray@tps501.org or 785-295-2900.

In preparation for the event, students from Whitson Elementary joined high school members of Aviation Explorers Post 8 for a local airport control tower tour and a pre-flight inspection demonstration. The Lawrence Amateur Astronomy Club, University of Kansas graduate students, and other astronomy enthusiasts provided presentations for the Whitson Starry Night Astronomy Title I family night. On the day of the event more than five schools from across the community will tune in.

For more than 23 years, astronauts have continuously lived and worked aboard the space station, testing technologies, performing science, and developing skills needed to explore farther from Earth. Astronauts aboard the orbiting laboratory communicate with NASA’s Mission Control Center in Houston 24 hours a day through SCaN (Space Communications and Navigation) Near Space Network.

Important research and technology investigations taking place aboard the International Space Station benefit people on Earth and lays the groundwork for other agency missions. As part of NASA’s Artemis campaign, the agency will send astronauts to the Moon to prepare for future human exploration of Mars; inspiring Artemis Generation explorers and ensuring the United States will continue to lead in space exploration and discovery.

See videos and lesson plans highlighting space station research at:

https://www.nasa.gov/stemonstation

-end-

Abbey Donaldson / Gerelle Dodson
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
Abbey.a.donaldson@nasa.gov / gerelle.q.dodson@nasa.gov

Sandra Jones 
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
sandra.p.jones@nasa.gov

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Abbey A. Donaldson