Earth Science and Applications from Space Urgent Needs and Opportunities to Serve the Nation (2005) / Chapter Skim
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Executive Summary
Executive Summary
Pages 1-8
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In this regard, recent changes in federal support for Earth observation programs are alarming. At NASA, the vitality of Earth science and application programs has been placed at substantial risk by a rapidly shrinking budget that no longer supports alreadyapproved missions and programs of high scientific and societal relevance.
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civilian Earth observing system centers on the environmental satellites operated by NOAA;1 the atmosphere-, biosphere-, ocean-, ice-, and land-observation satellites of NASA's Earth Observing System (EOS) ;2 and the Landsat satellites, which are currently managed under a cooperative arrangement involving NASA and the U.S.
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. The Global Precipitation Measurement mission is an international effort to improve climate, weather, and hydrological predictions through more accurate and more frequent precipitation measurements.
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Three other missions -- Ocean Vector Winds, Landsat Data Continuity, and Glory -- as well as development of enabling technology such as the now-canceled wide-swath ocean altimeter, should be urgently reconsidered, as described below. Evaluate Plans for Transferring Needed Capabilities to NPOESS Instruments on the following three canceled missions may be either reinstated as independent NASA missions as originally planned or replaced with appropriate instruments for flight on the National Polarorbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS)
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The committee recommends that NASA, NOAA, and the USGS commission three independent reviews, to be completed by October 2005, regarding the Ocean Vector Winds, Landsat Data Continuity, and Glory missions.5 These reviews should evaluate: · The suitability, capability, and timeliness of the OLI and CMIS instruments to meet the research and operational needs of users, particularly those that have relied on data from Landsat and QuikSCAT; · The suitability, capability, and timeliness of the APS and TIM instruments for meeting the needs of the scientific and operational communities; · The costs and benefits of launching the Landsat Data Continuity and Glory missions prior to or independently of the launch of the first NPOESS platform; and · The costs and benefits of launching the Ocean Vector Winds mission prior to or independently of the launch of CMIS on NPOESS. If the benefits of an independent NASA mission(s)
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Finally, the European Space Agency plans to launch in 2008 a mission to measure winds in the atmosphere using an ultraviolet laser, but in the United States active remote sensing techniques for such measurements are not yet at a comparable level of technology readiness. The committee recommends that NASA significantly expand existing technology development programs to ensure that new enabling technologies for critical observational capabilities, including interferometric synthetic aperture radar, wide-swath ocean altimetry, and wind lidar, are available to support potential mission starts over the coming decade.
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leadership in both Earth science and Earth observations, and they undermine the vitality of the government-university-private sector partnership that has made so many contributions to society. Strengthen Baseline Climate Observations and Climate Data Records The nation continues to lack an adequate foundation of climate observations that will lead to a definitive knowledge about how climate is changing and will provide a means to test and systematically improve climate models.
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Today the nation's Earth observation program is at risk. If we succeed in implementing the near-term actions recommended above and embrace the challenge of developing a long-term observation strategy that effectively recognizes the importance of societal benefits, a strong foundation will be established for research and operational Earth sciences in the future, to the great benefit of society -- now and for generations to come.
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