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No surprise here.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2006/06/09/nasa_shelves_climate_satellites/
NASA shelves climate satellites
Environmental science may suffer
By Beth Daley, Globe Staff | June 9, 2006
NASA is canceling or delaying a number of satellites designed to give
scientists critical information on the earth's changing climate and
environment.
The space agency has shelved a $200 million satellite mission headed
by a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor that was
designed to measure soil moisture -- a key factor in helping
scientists understand the impact of global warming and predict
droughts and floods. The Deep Space Climate Observatory, intended to
observe climate factors such as solar radiation, ozone, clouds, and
water vapor more comprehensively than existing satellites, also has
been canceled.
And in its 2007 budget, NASA proposes significant delays in a global
precipitation measuring mission to help with weather predictions, as
well as the launch of a satellite designed to increase the timeliness
and accuracy of severe weather forecasts and improve climate models.
The changes come as NASA prioritizes its budget to pay for completion
of the International Space Station and the return of astronauts to
the moon by 2020 -- a goal set by President Bush that promises a more
distant and arguably less practical scientific payoff. Ultimately,
scientists say, the delays and cancellations could make hurricane
predictions less accurate, create gaps in long-term monitoring of
weather, and result in less clarity about the earth's hydrological
systems, which play an integral part in climate change.
''Today, when the need for information about the planet is more
important than ever, this process of building understanding through
increasingly powerful observations . . . is at risk of collapse,"
said Berrien Moore III, director of the Institute for the Study of
Earth, Oceans, and Space at the University of New Hampshire.
Moore is cochairman of a National Research Council committee that
will recommend NASA's future earth science agenda later this year. It
is unclear, however, whether NASA will follow those recommendations.
''NASA has canceled, scaled back, or delayed all of the planned earth
observing missions," he said.
Despite NASA's best-known role as a space agency, one of its key
missions is to study the earth. Scientists collect data through
ground- and space-based observatories using instruments that can
sense heat and through which they can see with exquisite detail from
many miles up. In recent years, these missions have increased in
importance and visibility as global temperatures rise and scientists
rush to better understand the phenomenon and the role of humans in it.
While NASA is proposing similarly deep cuts to other important
science programs such as astrobiology -- the search for life in space
-- the earth science mission cancellations and delays take on greater
significance, some scientists say, given recent allegations by a top
NASA researcher and other government scientists that the Bush
administration tried to silence their warnings about global warming.
While scientists interviewed for this story said they do not believe
the earth science cuts are a deliberate attempt to stall science on
climate change, they say it comes at a time when more research, not
less, is needed. NASA's earth science budget also has sustained a
prior round of cuts during the last two years.
NASA, which projects its budget five years out, intends to cut the
overall science budget about $3.1 billion below program projections
over that time. In 2004, the overall science budget was projected to
grow from about $5.5 billion to about $7 billion in 2008. The new
projections provide for $5.38 billion in 2008, and less than the cost
of inflation after that, according to a report issued last month by
the Space Studies Board, a National Research Council committee
charged with analyzing NASA's science program. The exact amount of
cuts to earth science programs could not be determined because they
are not listed separately in the budget proposal.
A NASA earth science official acknowledged that the proposed earth
science cuts are steep, and said the agency is attempting to replace
some of the funding. He noted the satellite data are used by other
agencies, from the military to the US Department of Agriculture. But
given competing priorities, there is little chance all the money will
be replaced, he said.
''Right now, we are going through the program carefully looking for
efficiencies to restore some of these cuts," Bryant Cramer, acting
director of NASA's earth science division, said in an interview. ''We
are keenly aware of the shortfall, of the necessary research that
should be funded, and we are trying to respond. I can't tell you a
solution yet."
Almost every planned earth studying mission, all that have some
contribution to understanding global warming, has been affected. The
$100 million Deep Space Climate Observatory , already built, was
canceled earlier this year. First proposed by then-Vice President Al
Gore in the 1990s, the satellite was planned to give researchers a
continuous picture of the sunlit surface of the earth and allow the
first direct measurements of how much sunlight is absorbed and
emitted, key information that could serve as an indicator of global
warming.
The Global Precipitation Measurement mission, designed to record
rain, snow, and ice fall more accurately, has been delayed 2 1/2
years. It is meant to replace another satellite whose mission was
extended last year. Now, scientists do not believe the older
satellite will last until the Global Precipitation mission is
launched, creating a big gap in data collection for weather
prediction and climate modeling.
Another key satellite, the $10 billion National Polar-orbiting
Operational Environmental Satellite System, is over budget and has
been delayed at least 18 months. And while NASA previously told earth
scientists to start developing proposals for other earth-centered
missions to be chosen in 2004, no such round of proposals will be
analyzed until 2008.
Scientists at area universities say that they are worried most about
a proposed 20 percent cut to research and analysis in the earth
science budget, which funds smaller-scale projects. Many of these
projects analyze data from satellites and help with long-term
monitoring of earth systems. The cuts also may have a chilling effect
on attracting and retaining university scientists, who realize their
research could be only partially funded -- or not at all.
''Missions can be delayed a year or two, but the most urgent issue
right now is to restore the cuts to research and analysis," said
Ronald G. Prinn, director of the Center for Global Change Science at
MIT. ''We need to understand the climate system much better than we
do."
NASA's earth science program was fairly robust until about two years
ago, when several missions were canceled or delayed -- a situation
that has made the current round of cuts all the more painful,
scientists said. Last month, a report by the Space Studies Board
concluded that the space and earth science program is neither robust
nor sustainable.
''There is a widespread sense that earth sciences has been suffering
more than its fair share," said Drew Shindell, a physicist at NASA's
Goddard Institute for Space Studies.
Beth Daley can be reached by e-mail at bdaley@globe.com.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2006/06/09/nasa_shelves_climate_satellites/
NASA shelves climate satellites
Environmental science may suffer
By Beth Daley, Globe Staff | June 9, 2006
NASA is canceling or delaying a number of satellites designed to give
scientists critical information on the earth's changing climate and
environment.
The space agency has shelved a $200 million satellite mission headed
by a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor that was
designed to measure soil moisture -- a key factor in helping
scientists understand the impact of global warming and predict
droughts and floods. The Deep Space Climate Observatory, intended to
observe climate factors such as solar radiation, ozone, clouds, and
water vapor more comprehensively than existing satellites, also has
been canceled.
And in its 2007 budget, NASA proposes significant delays in a global
precipitation measuring mission to help with weather predictions, as
well as the launch of a satellite designed to increase the timeliness
and accuracy of severe weather forecasts and improve climate models.
The changes come as NASA prioritizes its budget to pay for completion
of the International Space Station and the return of astronauts to
the moon by 2020 -- a goal set by President Bush that promises a more
distant and arguably less practical scientific payoff. Ultimately,
scientists say, the delays and cancellations could make hurricane
predictions less accurate, create gaps in long-term monitoring of
weather, and result in less clarity about the earth's hydrological
systems, which play an integral part in climate change.
''Today, when the need for information about the planet is more
important than ever, this process of building understanding through
increasingly powerful observations . . . is at risk of collapse,"
said Berrien Moore III, director of the Institute for the Study of
Earth, Oceans, and Space at the University of New Hampshire.
Moore is cochairman of a National Research Council committee that
will recommend NASA's future earth science agenda later this year. It
is unclear, however, whether NASA will follow those recommendations.
''NASA has canceled, scaled back, or delayed all of the planned earth
observing missions," he said.
Despite NASA's best-known role as a space agency, one of its key
missions is to study the earth. Scientists collect data through
ground- and space-based observatories using instruments that can
sense heat and through which they can see with exquisite detail from
many miles up. In recent years, these missions have increased in
importance and visibility as global temperatures rise and scientists
rush to better understand the phenomenon and the role of humans in it.
While NASA is proposing similarly deep cuts to other important
science programs such as astrobiology -- the search for life in space
-- the earth science mission cancellations and delays take on greater
significance, some scientists say, given recent allegations by a top
NASA researcher and other government scientists that the Bush
administration tried to silence their warnings about global warming.
While scientists interviewed for this story said they do not believe
the earth science cuts are a deliberate attempt to stall science on
climate change, they say it comes at a time when more research, not
less, is needed. NASA's earth science budget also has sustained a
prior round of cuts during the last two years.
NASA, which projects its budget five years out, intends to cut the
overall science budget about $3.1 billion below program projections
over that time. In 2004, the overall science budget was projected to
grow from about $5.5 billion to about $7 billion in 2008. The new
projections provide for $5.38 billion in 2008, and less than the cost
of inflation after that, according to a report issued last month by
the Space Studies Board, a National Research Council committee
charged with analyzing NASA's science program. The exact amount of
cuts to earth science programs could not be determined because they
are not listed separately in the budget proposal.
A NASA earth science official acknowledged that the proposed earth
science cuts are steep, and said the agency is attempting to replace
some of the funding. He noted the satellite data are used by other
agencies, from the military to the US Department of Agriculture. But
given competing priorities, there is little chance all the money will
be replaced, he said.
''Right now, we are going through the program carefully looking for
efficiencies to restore some of these cuts," Bryant Cramer, acting
director of NASA's earth science division, said in an interview. ''We
are keenly aware of the shortfall, of the necessary research that
should be funded, and we are trying to respond. I can't tell you a
solution yet."
Almost every planned earth studying mission, all that have some
contribution to understanding global warming, has been affected. The
$100 million Deep Space Climate Observatory , already built, was
canceled earlier this year. First proposed by then-Vice President Al
Gore in the 1990s, the satellite was planned to give researchers a
continuous picture of the sunlit surface of the earth and allow the
first direct measurements of how much sunlight is absorbed and
emitted, key information that could serve as an indicator of global
warming.
The Global Precipitation Measurement mission, designed to record
rain, snow, and ice fall more accurately, has been delayed 2 1/2
years. It is meant to replace another satellite whose mission was
extended last year. Now, scientists do not believe the older
satellite will last until the Global Precipitation mission is
launched, creating a big gap in data collection for weather
prediction and climate modeling.
Another key satellite, the $10 billion National Polar-orbiting
Operational Environmental Satellite System, is over budget and has
been delayed at least 18 months. And while NASA previously told earth
scientists to start developing proposals for other earth-centered
missions to be chosen in 2004, no such round of proposals will be
analyzed until 2008.
Scientists at area universities say that they are worried most about
a proposed 20 percent cut to research and analysis in the earth
science budget, which funds smaller-scale projects. Many of these
projects analyze data from satellites and help with long-term
monitoring of earth systems. The cuts also may have a chilling effect
on attracting and retaining university scientists, who realize their
research could be only partially funded -- or not at all.
''Missions can be delayed a year or two, but the most urgent issue
right now is to restore the cuts to research and analysis," said
Ronald G. Prinn, director of the Center for Global Change Science at
MIT. ''We need to understand the climate system much better than we
do."
NASA's earth science program was fairly robust until about two years
ago, when several missions were canceled or delayed -- a situation
that has made the current round of cuts all the more painful,
scientists said. Last month, a report by the Space Studies Board
concluded that the space and earth science program is neither robust
nor sustainable.
''There is a widespread sense that earth sciences has been suffering
more than its fair share," said Drew Shindell, a physicist at NASA's
Goddard Institute for Space Studies.
Beth Daley can be reached by e-mail at bdaley@globe.com.