Science:
Because of budget shortfalls and escalating costs, NASA's
Earth-observing satellite program is deteriorating, concluded a
panel of the US National Academies' National Research Council
(NRC). Aging satellites are being replaced too slowly, and new
missions are getting delayed or cancelled. The satellites are
necessary for monitoring changes in Earth's climate, natural
hazards, and land surface. If the situation does not change,
the US may be left with only 25% of its current observing
capacity by 2020, said the NRC panel's report. The
responsibility for developing an overarching national strategy
of Earth observation, however, is "above NASA, and above [the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration]. It's at the
[White House] Office of Science and Technology Policy level.
The course we are on is obvious, and it's not sustainable,"
said Antonio Busalacchi, director of the Earth System Science
Interdisciplinary Center at the University of Maryland, College
Park, and a member of the NRC panel that issued the new
report.
