Mapping the Unknown: How NASA Identifies Data Gaps for Its Return to the Moon
NASA systems engineer Richard Spolzino explains how the agency documents what it doesn’t know—from lunar regolith strength to instrument priorities—so that future missions and industry partners can focus on the gaps that matter most.
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When Richard Spolzino watches a rocket lift off, he doesn’t see a spectacle—he sees the culmination of countless decisions about what data really matters. At NASA’s Langley Research Center, Spolzino works on Moon Base’s mission architecture and systems interoperability effort, helping the agency pinpoint what it still doesn’t know about the Moon and Mars. His goal is simple, almost poetic: “I want to be able to look at a rocket launch and say, ‘I touched a piece of this.’” That drive shapes a daily practice built around data gaps.
For Spolzino, a data gap is “synonymous with a knowledge gap.” He explains, “You can think of it as synonymous with a knowledge gap.” It is a formal way of documenting the thing we don’t know, why it matters, what current knowledge falls short, and a specific measurable target that industry and international partners can aim for.
Documenting the Missing Piece
Consider lunar regolith—the fine dust that coats the Moon’s surface. Its geotechnical properties determine how far a rover can safely travel and whether a habitat’s foundation will hold. “How much weight can it bear? What’s its shear strength?” Spolzino asks. Answering those questions shapes mission design. A data gap lays out exactly what is unknown, why it is critical, where existing data ends short, and what target value the community should strive for. Last year Spolzino’s team published roughly 25 such gaps; they are on track for 60 by year’s end.
From Concept to Cargo
The gap list only matters if it influences decisions. Two recent cases illustrate the process. When the lunar lander company now called Voyager (formerly Astrobotic) was preparing its Griffin‑1 mission, Spolzino’s team did not select instruments—that was already locked—but helped prioritize what data gets sent home first through a communication pipeline that cannot transmit everything simultaneously. “How do you prioritize all the things you say you want, and what gets sent back through that constrained pipeline?” he asks.
On the other side, Spolzino’s group evaluates proposed instruments—spectrometers, sample‑collection tools, technology demonstrations—against the published data gaps. Proposals that map cleanly onto a documented need stand a better chance of moving forward; those that do not are filtered out. Industry partners have taken notice, and NASA leadership now asks companies pitching new instruments to show how their proposal aligns with a data gap before the conversation proceeds.
A Reputation Built on Constant Work
Spolzino admits he once assumed NASA had everything figured out. After three years on the job, he sees the agency differently: “Keeping the kind of reputation NASA has takes constant, deliberate work.” The agency runs on people figuring things out in real time, which means early‑career employees have room to contribute meaningfully, rather than simply executing a preset playbook.
His advice to students eyeing NASA is practical: “Grades matter less than people think. The projects you work on, and the results of that work, are what people look at first.” He encourages joining clubs, taking on real projects, and building something tangible. “It’s less about credentials and more about giving yourself something to show up with.”
Spolzino’s Sci‑Fi Shelf
When asked about inspirations, Spolzino mentions Liu Cixin’s Three‑Body Problem trilogy, especially The Dark Forest, which he was reading when a flight from New York to Houston was diverted to San Antonio. “I did not care that I was three or four hours late,” he says. He also credits the older game Kerbal Space Program, a rocket‑building simulator whose simplified but accurate physics helped cement his interest in space before college.