U.S. Earth Observing System beginning a rapid decline, report states

Abstract

The U.S. Earth Observing System “is beginning a rapid decline in capability as long‐running missions end and key new missions are delayed, lost, or canceled,” according to a 2 May report by the U.S. National Research Council (NRC) titledEarth Science and Applications From Space: A Midterm Assessment of NASA's Implementation of the Decadal Survey. By 2020 the number of NASA and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Earth observing instruments in space is likely to decline to as little as 25% of the current number, a concern that reinforces earlier studies that have warned that the U.S. system of environmental satellites is at risk of collapse, according to the report. “The projected loss of observing capability will have profound consequences on science and society, from weather forecasting to responding to natural hazards,” said NRC committee chair Dennis Hartmann, professor of atmospheric sciences at the University of Washington, Seattle. The report does not include planned or proposed missions that are not yet funded. The report notes, though, that “even the most optimistic projected launch cadence remains significantly below what would be required to prevent a major decline in NASA and NOAA's orbiting space assets.”