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Earth Science

GoreSat Lives – Again and Again and Again.

By Keith Cowing
NASA Watch
April 11, 2013
Filed under , ,

Satellite shelved after 2000 election to now fly
“Obama proposed Wednesday spending nearly $35 million in his 2014 budget to refurbish a satellite, nicknamed GoreSat by critics, that’s been sitting in storage after it was shelved in 2001, months after Bush took office. It cost about $100 million by then with NASA’s internal auditors faulting its cost increases.”
Vice President Gore challenges NASA to build a new satellite to provide live images of Earth from outer space, 13 March 1998
“Vice President Gore proposed today that NASA scientists and engineers design, build and operate a satellite that will make available a live image of earth 24 hours a day on the Internet.”
Triana Mission Selected, 27 October 1998
“Triana is a $75 million mission to be launched by December 2000 from the Space Shuttle cargo bay.”

Assessment of the Triana Mission, G-99-013, Final Report, 10 September 1999
“When the Triana mission was announced in March 1998, NASA hoped to keep the project’s cost close to $20 million and definitely below $50 million.”
GoreSat Is Back, 23 July 2009
“If the team determines that the satellite can be refurbished and launched, they will make a recommendation to the President. Notionally, NOAA and NASA would pay for refurbishing the satellite, the Air Force would pay for the launch, and all agencies would receive the data.”
Earlier posts
According to the FY2014 budget: “The Deep Space Observatory mission is a multi-agency (NOAA, US Air Force, and NASA) mission planned for launch in 2014 with the primary goal of making unique space weather measurements from the Lagrange point L1. Lagrange point L1 is on the direct line between Earth and the Sun. NASA will complete the integration of the two Earth-observing instruments, the Earth Poly-Chromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Advanced Radiometer (NISTAR) to the DSCOVR satellite. NASA will also develop and implement the necessary algorithms to enable the “Earth at noon” images from the satellite once on orbit.”

NASA Watch founder, Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA, Away Teams, Journalist, Space & Astrobiology, Lapsed climber.

14 responses to “GoreSat Lives – Again and Again and Again.”

  1. Eli Rabett says:
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    Any idea which two science instruments?

    • hikingmike says:
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      From the blurb- “NASA will complete the integration of the two Earth-observing instruments, the Earth Poly-Chromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Advanced Radiometer (NISTAR)”

  2. Denniswingo says:
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    Try $265 million dollars.  Interesting that history is being rewritten once again.

  3. Andrew_M_Swallow says:
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    Some of the components must be near their shelf life.  I have heard stories that it has been cannibalised for other projects.   How much would it cost to make a copy with new parts?

    • dogstar29 says:
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      Most components don’t deteriorate in controlled storage, it sounds like the required reburbishment has already bee done.

      • Colin Seftor says:
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        It has.

        • dogstar29 says:
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          In that case it only makes sense to launch it as soon as they can and start getting useful data from it. The sunk cost and publicity which surrounded the satellite in the past do not seem relevant. If SpaceX is doing the launch the cost should be reasonable, and DOD is paying.  Possibly even the earth imager can provide some useful scientific data, such as a measure of the earth’s total thermal emmisions. I’m actually surprised there is any controversy. 

  4. Colin Seftor says:
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    This is old news.  NOAA and the Air Force resurrected DSCOVR years ago, with the main mission being shifted to space weather (early warning of solar storms, etc). The majority of new money that has gone into DSCOVR has been for that purpose; the sun-looking instruments are badly needed to replace ones at the L1 point that are very near the end of their life.  The only question mark was how the Air Force was going to launch it.  Now it looks like they are close to signing a contract with SpaceX to do so in 2014:

    http://www.aviationweek.com

    The Earth Science instruments on board were also refurbished a few years ago, at a cost of $9 million.  The fact that NASA is asking for money to develop and implement the algorithms necessary to process data from them is not particularly surprising.  If the instruments are up there (courtesy of NOAA and the Air Force), might as well use the data from them.

  5. Stuart says:
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    Expensive zombie sats…?

  6. Steve Whitfield says:
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    Shelved for political reasons and resurrected for a useful, timely purpose; that’s the kind of thing that I like to see.

    Both Earth data and Sun data from satellites have become more important every year and continue to do so.  Considering its state of completion and the minimal costs involved relative to other programs, launching this sat and processing its data are truly an obvious choice.

    Plus, it is unfortunately necessary to keep supplying new and more data to try to convince the climate change deniers to see the light, since they continue to provide industry and stingy governments with excuses for doing little or nothing.

  7. EliRabett says:
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    NASA and NOAA are being very cautious with information.  As late as Feb they would not comment on what would happen with the Earth observation instruments

  8. sunman42 says:
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    (Incorrect location; sorry.)