By focusing on large missions such as the Hubble and James Webb space telescopes, NASA’s astrophysics program is squeezing out smaller missions, the U.S. National Research Council said Feb. 7.

The NASA-sponsored, one-year study to assess the programs in the agency’s astrophysics division found that while the division’s budget is near a historic high, cost overruns of roughly $2 billion from 2000 to 2010 on large missions have left fewer resources for small missions. Cuts to these smaller missions have disrupted the training of young scientists who would be the natural leaders of the medium and large-size missions in the future, the study said.

“The progress in astrophysical science over the past decade has been remarkable,” Martha Haynes, vice chair of the committee that wrote the report and Goldwin Smith Professor of Astronomy at Cornell University, said in a statement. “However, the revolutionary discoveries were based on missions NASA developed the decade before. We are concerned about 2010 and beyond because there are no low-cost, quick-response science programs being prepared today.”

The report recommends that NASA should restore funding for the Science Mission Directorate’s Explorer Program to its level from five years ago in order to fund more small-scale, low-cost missions that can be quickly conceived, built and launched. The committee also recommends that NASA explore less expensive launch services for smaller missions as well as relax de-orbiting requirements. The agency also should look to cut costs on all missions by exploring more international collaborations sizes, the report said.

The private, nonprofit National Research Council is part of the National Academies and is the principal operating agency of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering.