All, > On Jul 25, 2006, at 08:12, Andrew Turner wrote: > > > > That would come under NOAA, not NASA anyways. I would also think that > > understanding the "home planet" would fall under this type of agency > > as well. Earth sensing has a lot of differences from space > > exploration. And NASA is already pulled in enough directions that it > > has had difficulty making progress in any of them. By focusing on > > fewer goals, hopefully it can achieve more in them. It can still serve > > to develop/launch platforms for agencies like NOAA. >
> Allan Doyle wrote: > > NASA tends to be the lead agency in developing new satellite > platforms and sensors, then when things become operational, data > management is transferred to USGS for land and NOAA for ocean/ > atmosphere. This might be a bit off topic for Geowanking but I had to chime in. NASA is very active and a leader in Earth science research, including the oceans - more so than NOAA in some areas. The operational work is indeed largely carried out by USGS and NOAA but much of the Earth science research that relies on remote sensing data is (was?) carried out by NASA. A few years ago Earth and space science were separate at NASA but after renewed interest about a mission to Mars they were combined and the amount of money available for Earth science started to drop. If you look at the Earth science related NASA Research Announcements for this year it is pretty bleak. In addition to that many of the NASA aircraft remote sensing instruments have been temporarily shelved due to a lack of funding. In many cases these are the research instruments that lead to satellite-based systems. The bottom line is that Earth science research budgets are being cut (not just at NASA) and that is a big deal. All the best, Ned _______________________________________________ Geowanking mailing list [email protected] http://lists.burri.to/mailman/listinfo/geowanking
