Rep. Mark Udall Holds a Hearing On Nasa's Earth Science Programs
Political Transcript Wire › August 19, 2009
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Rep. Mark Udall Holds a Hearing On Nasa's Earth Science Programs
HOUSE COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, SUBCOMMITTEE ON SPACE AND AERONAUTICS HOLDS A HEARING ON NASA'S EARTH SCIENCE PROGRAMS
JUNE 28, 2007SPEAKERS: REP. MARK UDALL, D-COLO. CHAIRMAN REP. DAVID WU, D-ORE. REP. CHARLIE MELANCON, D-LA. REP. NICK LAMPSON, D-TEXAS REP. MIKE ROSS, D-ARK. REP. BEN CHANDLER, D-KY. REP. STEVEN R. ROTHMAN, D-N.J. REP. BART GORDON, D-TENN. EX OFFICIOREP. KEN CALVERT, R-CALIF. RANKING MEMBER REP. DANA ROHRABACHER, R-CALIF. REP. FRANK D. LUCAS, R-OKLA. REP. JO BONNER, R-ALA. REP. TOM FEENEY, R-FLA. REP. RALPH M. HALL, R-TEXAS EX OFFICIOWITNESSES: MICHAEL FREILICH, DIRECTOR, EARTH SCIENCE DIVISION, SCIENCE MISSION DIRECTORATE, NASARICHARD ANTHES, PRESIDENT, UNIVERSITY CORPORATION FOR ATMOSPHERIC RESEARCHERIC BARRON, DEAN, JACKSON SCHOOL OF GEOSCIENCES, UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTINTIMOTHY FORESMAN, PRESIDENT, INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR REMOTE SENSING EDUCATION[*] UDALL: The committee will come to order. Good morning to all of who have joined us here for this very important hearing. I'd like to make a short statement and then turn to my good friend from Florida, Mr. Feeney, for his statement. And we'll begin the hearing. Today's hearing builds on the Science and Technology Committee's February 13th hearing at which we examined the findings and recommendations of the National Academies' Earth Science and Applications Decadal Survey. The Decadal Survey represented a consensus of the Earth sciences and applications community on what the Earth science research priorities should be for the coming decade and identified a prioritized set of missions. It is an impressive report, and it provides a very useful set of benchmarks for Congress as we attempt to evaluate NASA's current and planned activities in Earth science and applications. Today we want to examine how well NASA's plans and programs compare to the priorities of the Decadal Survey and the extent to which NASA intends to support those priorities in the fiscal year '08 budget and beyond. As numerous witnesses before this committee have testified, the situation facing NASA's Earth science program is not good. To quote the Decadal Survey, it first noted that the Decadal Survey's interim report had cautioned that the nation's system of environmental satellites was at risk of collapse. It then went on to state that in the short period since the publication of the interim report, budgetary constraints and programmatic difficulties at NASA have greatly exacerbated this concern. At a time of unprecedented need, the nation's earth observation satellite programs -- once the envy of the world -- are in disarray.Those are troubling words, because NASA has a major role to play in the nation's -- and indeed, the world's -- climate research efforts. If NASA doesn't step up to that role, the negative consequences of that failure of leadership will be long lasting.I look forward to hearing from our NASA witness, Dr. Freilich, about what NASA is going to do to turn this worrisome situation around, and I hope that you will be able to provide some specifics on how NASA intends to implement the Decadal Survey's recommendations.In that regard I am also concerned about the fate of the climate instruments from NPOESS and the need to ensure that we don't needlessly disrupt the instrument development activities while the administration is determining what will be done about them. I hope that the good doctor will be able to shed some light today on w...See the full content of this document
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