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Title 51 — National and Commercial Space ProgramsRelease 119-73not60

§20305 National Academies Decadal Surveys

Title 51 › Subtitle Subtitle II— General Program and Policy Provisions › Chapter 203— RESPONSIBILITIES AND VISION › § 20305

Last updated Apr 5, 2026|Official source

Summary

Administrator must make periodic agreements with the National Academies for decadal surveys to review Earth, space, and aeronautics and recommend priorities for the next decade. Agreements should, when possible, include estimates of missions’ life‑cycle cost and technical readiness. Committees must flag events (e.g., major cost growth or big scientific or technological advances) that would warrant reexamining priorities.

Full Legal Text

Title 51, §20305

National and Commercial Space Programs — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)The Administrator shall enter into agreements on a periodic basis with the National Academies for independent assessments, also known as decadal surveys, to take stock of the status and opportunities for Earth and space science discipline fields and Aeronautics research and to recommend priorities for research and programmatic areas over the next decade.
(b)The agreements described in subsection (a) shall include independent estimates of the life cycle costs and technical readiness of missions assessed in the decadal surveys whenever possible.
(c)The Administrator shall request that each National Academies decadal survey committee identify any conditions or events, such as significant cost growth or scientific or technological advances, that would warrant the Administration asking the National Academies to reexamine the priorities that the decadal survey had established.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Historical and Revision Notes

Revised SectionSource (U.S. Code)Source (Statutes at Large) 2030542 U.S.C. 17823.Pub. L. 110–422, title XI, § 1104, Oct. 15, 2008, 122 Stat. 4809.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Implementation of Decadal Survey’s Recommended Decision Rules Pub. L. 112–55, div. B, title III, Nov. 18, 2011, 125 Stat. 622, provided in part: “That NASA shall implement the recommendations of the most recent National Research Council planetary decadal survey and shall follow the decadal survey’s recommended decision rules regarding program implementation, including a strict adherence to the recommendation that NASA include in a balanced program a flagship class mission, which may be executed in cooperation with one or more international partners, if such mission can be appropriately de-scoped and all NASA costs for such mission can be accommodated within the overall funding levels appropriated by Congress”.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

51 U.S.C. § 20305

Title 51 — National and Commercial Space Programs

Last Updated

Apr 5, 2026

Release point: 119-73not60