NASA says Richard Spolzino works at Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, on Moon Base mission architecture and systems interoperability, where he helps identify what NASA still does not know about the Moon and Mars before those unknowns become problems.
Spolzino describes a data gap as a documented knowledge gap: a formal way to spell out what is unknown, why it matters, what NASA already has that is not enough, and a measurable target that industry and international partners can aim for.
NASA says his team started with roughly 25 published data gaps last year and is on track to reach 60 by the end of this year. The profile also says leadership now asks companies pitching new instruments to show how their proposal maps to a data gap before the discussion goes further.
