NASA Getting $2.4 Billion for Climate Change Research

BY Ariel SchwartzMon Apr 5, 2010

The race to save our planet from climate change has often been compared to the space race in the 1960s, and for good reason--both races offer a time crunch, the threat of impending doom, and the
promise that throwing money and resources at the problem might make a
difference. So the Obama administration recently proposed a NASA budget
that would give $2.4 billion to the organization's Earth Sciences
division, which, as you might guess, studies the Earth from above.

VentureBeat reports that the money--a 62% increase in the Earth Sciences budget--will be used to keep track of ice cap size, CO2 growth in the
atmosphere, where CO2 is coming from, and ocean and atmospheric
temperatures. NASA buffs will be quick to point out that the
organization already has 13 climate change satellites in orbit, but all
of them are old and in need of repair or replacement. The cash infusion
from the government will allow NASA to fix the satellites, launch five
new models, and tack on an ozone-monitoring extension to the
International Space Station.

NASA's spiffed-up satellites might not be able to stop climate change by themselves, but they will at least offer concrete data that can be used to make informed decisions
about whether we should implement geoengineering solutions or increase
greenhouse gas restrictions in certain industries. The satellites can
also hopefully be integrated into NASA and Cisco's Planetary Skin, a proposed global monitoring system of environmental conditions that
uses a worldwide network of sensors to analyze nearly everything
happening on the planet. At the very least, more climate change data can't hurt.

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Permalink Reply by Jeff on April 6, 2010 at 12:30pm

I agree 100%. More climate data can't hurt and this will be money well spent. We landed on the moon several times and although we're probably covering up antiquities, structures of some sort found there, or at least I suspect so, we should be capable of making some definitive judgments about climate change at some point in the not too distant future with more data. For those convinced that climate change isn't happening, or that it isn't related to human activity, I am not. We see the evidence of the Pacific and Atlantic gyres, the destruction of the rain forests leading to plant an animal species extinctions and other large scale man made events. My opinion is the jury is still out.

Permalink Reply by fireguy on April 6, 2010 at 1:09pm

Read the Club of Rome documents and the other UN crap about man made climate change. It is all made up to control you.

NASA wastes billions of dollars every year propping up all of this Global Warming BS. Launching spy satellites and space weapons is not money well spent. How much CO2 comes off a freaking 5 stage rocket?

The sun is the engine of climate change not CO2. The sun has been in a minimum cycle the last several years hence the global cooling that is evident.

Stop pollution, yes, because it causes cancer and all kinds of diseases. The whole climate change scam is just that.

Permalink Reply by Jeff on April 6, 2010 at 1:24pm

I won't dispute that the climate question is being used. 9/11 was used but the buildings were hit by planes and they did fall down. The facts are very clear. We do not know one way or the other whether mans activities are effecting the climate. I didn't say whether they were the ONLY activity, just whether they contribute. We know the sun has an effect. We know other phenomenon has effects. We do not know whether man has an effect or not.

I will say this, anyone who thinks that cutting down vast swaths of forest and anyone who thinks that the change in overall ocean temperature related to pollution has no effect is probably wrong. It's very likely that man's activities are a contributing factor although as I said, the jury is still out on this one.

I'd hate to make a claim either way and then find out I was wrong 20 years down the road. It looks to me like man's activities have an effect but I just don't know. And again, that doesn't mean man's activities are exclusive or the only factor, just perhaps one of many, maybe.

fireguy said:

Read the Club of Rome documents and the other UN crap about man made climate change. It is all made up to control you.

NASA wastes billions of dollars every year propping up all of this Global Warming BS. Launching spy satellites and space weapons is not money well spent. How much CO2 comes off a freaking 5 stage rocket?

The sun is the engine of climate change not CO2. The sun has been in a minimum cycle the last several years hence the global cooling that is evident.

Stop pollution, yes, because it causes cancer and all kinds of diseases. The whole climate change scam is just that.

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