NASA Slashing Observations of Earth 358
mattnyc99 points us to a new report by the National Research Council warning that, by 2010, the number of NASA's Earth-observing missions will drop dramatically, and the number of operating sensors and instruments on NASA spacecraft will decrease by 40 percent. The report says, "The United States' extraordinary foundation of global observations is at great risk." Popular Mechanics asks an MIT professor what it all means. From these accounts it is clear that the Bush administration's priorities on a Mars mission and a moon base are partly to blame for the de-emphasizing of earth science. Neither article quite says that some responsibility must fall to the administration's footdragging on global warming.
I wonder... (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:I wonder... (Score:3, Interesting)
Perfect (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:I wonder... (Score:1, Interesting)
Goresat can save the day! (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:I wonder... (Score:1, Interesting)
There exist several space programs throughout the world. If you added them all up they would probably not even have half the budget of NASA on Earth observations (or any other program). Why is this? Does Europe with a $15 trillion economy not have enough money to spare to use $1 billion a year for Earth observations? Or are they just not capable?
I would say that space programs around the world have already voted on how important they think these Earth observations are (with their wallets). Why NASA should follow down this foolish path that nobody else thinks is important is beyond me. And if they still think it is important they can prove it by launching their own missions or helping NASA to launch some.
Re:I wonder... (Score:5, Interesting)
It looks like for the most part, countries only signed where it was convenient and easy to do (SHOCKING!!! GOVERNMENTS ACTING IN THEIR OWN SELF INTEREST????), and now even a lot of European countries are missing quota.
So in reality, it looks like no one was really serious about climate change, just looking out for themselves. It kind of puts the United States actions in perspective. Why should we shoulder the massive financial burden of "saving the world" while India and China destroy our manufacturing sector since they will be a haven for corporations who want to manufacture without stringent regulations for CO2 emissions.
Like I said in my previous post, the only way global warming will be addressed is if there is some sort of global government. And that is why global warming will never be addressed. It's sad to say, but there is no way to convince most countries to do anything (unless the UN decided to impose economic/military actions on polluters, and even then, military action would require the United States to dfront all the money/personnnel for the military force)
Popular Mechanics Credibility. (Score:2, Interesting)
Isn't their credibility completely shot by now? For me, Popular Mechanics has become the Fox news of science journalism: It's obnoxious, generally wrong, even during the bulk of their stories which are fluff pieces, and I try to ignore it as best I can.
I'd like peer review to be a scientific term, not a term to describe putting together a coalition of vested interests to formulate lies that are somehow more believable or accredited by the sheer volume of liars involved.
rhY
Re:I wonder... (Score:1, Interesting)