Regarding the op-ed “The Diminishing Space Science Workforce: A Crisis in the Making” by Daniel N. Baker, Lennard A. Fisk and Harlan E. Spence [Commentary, June 2, page 19], no matter how endangered the space science workforce is, that cannot be used as an explanation of the ills that exist in the space science community. And money is not the biggest problem.
The fact that the system does not encourage ideas, the program managers are not nurturing ideas and keeping funding within established groups, and the scientists building the instruments are forgetting that instruments are built not for the sake of “data collection” are only a few of those problems.
We know that space science workforce needs to change, but how and who our government will trust to execute the change is what will determine the future of a field that was once at the forefront of plasma and physics science.
Edisher Kaghashvili
Nashua, N.H.
