Ensuring the Enduring Viability of the Space Science Enterprise: New Questions, New Thinking, New Paradigms

Pursuing ground breaking science in a highly cost-constrained environment presents new challenges to the development of future space astrophysics missions. Within the conventional cost models for large observatories, executing a flagship “mission after next” appears to be unsustainable. To achieve our nation’s science ambitions requires not a paradigm shift but a completely new paradigm of system design, development and manufacture. This paper explores the nature of the current paradigm and proposes a series of steps to guide the entire community to a sustainable future.