By Walt Bonner

Space Shuttle Discovery lifts off at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. April 5, 2010.(AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

NASA could lose its lead in the space race to China or Russia if it doesnt revitalize its workforce, a new study has found.

In the longer term (two to three decades from now), China appears to be best positioned to be a challenger for the top spot, Prof. Loizos Heracleous of Warwick Business School in the U.K. told FoxNews.com. He and Steven Gonzalez of NASAs Johnson Space Center co-authored the study, Two modest proposals for propelling NASA forward, which waspublished on Nov. 17 inSpace Policy.

This is due to the amount of resources [China] dedicates to space activities, the breadth of its programs, its long-term thinking and its determination, Heracleous continued.

He noted that other countries, too, are getting in on the space game nations like India, which recently launched an orbiter to Mars at the incredibly low cost of $74 million, though its program lacks the scope of the U.S., Russian or Chinese programs.

But those countries space programs are gaining momentum and closing ground, he said.

Heracleous and Gonzalez have written in their study that NASA can overcome its predicament by addressing two issues its lack of employee turnover and its budgetary problems.

It would be beneficial if NASA could be given the freedom to manage its human resources and infrastructure based on performance-based, market-oriented, competitive principles, Heracleous said. Such a move would have positive consequences organizationally and strategically, including the ability to revitalize its workforce and facilitate transfer of relevant competencies from wherever they reside.

Heracleous blames lack of support and funding for NASAs struggles. NASA has not been resting on its laurels, he said. However, it has been constrained by several factors, including a misalignment between long-term project timescales on one hand, and uncertainty in terms of political support, funding cycles and leadership stability on the other hand.

View post:

NASA space skills gap?