Weather Satellite Gap Looming Ahead

1. This gap in weather satellite and Earth resources sat continuity has been years in the making. Anybody who could not see it was not looking. Congress ? Yup.

   1. It has been well-known for a long time, to Congress as well. It has been reported many times in many places, including NASA Watch. You would think that with the well-documented increase in number and severity of major storms, and the fact that the trend still seems to be on the rise, that those responsible for overseeing the welfare of the people would have been on the ball and initiating actions to correct this. Instead, they’ve wasted time arguing about whether or not human action is responsible for the increased dangers.

      I’ve sometimes wondered whether, over time, more people have been injured or killed by trying to flee a natural disaster at the last minute (because early warning was lacking) than by the disaster itself.

      We can argue the causes and blame later; first the people need to be protected to the extent possible, which means early warning, which means satellites.

2. Yes, I’ve seen this issue brought up for many years, about how the collaboration between NASA and NOAA was not working, budget growth, etc. Doesn’t anyone think this is a higher priority than “Apollo on Steroids”?

   1. It’s well known that the Republicans in Congress want to severely limit Earth Science (particularly climate) research at NASA, etc. Since the JPSS program has a joint weather/climate component, that hasn’t helped the program garner support.

      As for the NOAA/NASA collaboration not working, not true. NOAA has been using NASA as it’s satellite (and instrument) procurement agent for over 40 years (since NOAA came into being, actually). That collaboration has resulted in both the extremely successful POES and GOES series, and it’s probably why the JPSS program has risen as well as it has from the NPOESS ashes.

      That program, where one agency (DOD) was given procurement responsibility, one agency (NOAA) was given management responsibility, and one agency (NASA) was sort of looking in from the sidelines with no real responsibility, was a complete fiasco. The “tri-agency” setup, and the disastrous DOD procurement debacle called “Shared System Performance Responsibility,” doomed the program from the start.

      And, if Congress wants somebody to slam for the gap problem, they have to look no further than themselves (the Republicans again). The budget mess they’ve created over the last few years (particularly the first year of JPSS operation, which was running on one third of the budget they needed) forced the program to stretch out their acquisition and has added at least a year (or more) to the schedule. What a bunch of idiots.

      1. Thanks, now I understand better what went wrong with NPOESS. And with Bill Posey claiming climate change is a liberal plot and slashing NASA funding for earth science, while simultaneously wasting billions on SLS/Orion, it’s to NASA’s credit the program is doing as well as it is.

3. I was listening to an NWS official on NPR a month or two ago who was discussing, among other things, how hard it is to get Congress to pay for critical systems such as weather satellites. One committee member who she didn’t name, during a hearing, actually told her “I don’t understand why we need to spend so much on weather satellites… We’ve already got the weather channel.”

   1. If that story is true, then it’s terrifying. As if the word Committe didn’t already have a bad enough reputation…

      Then again, maybe that kind of thinking should be more widely adopted. We don’t need BEO spacecraft — we already have other planets. We don’t need to encourage STEM — we already have scientists, technologists, etc. We don’t need more plutonium or uranium — we already have nuclear power planets. Wow! Everybody could save a bundle.

      1. The story came from none other than the former NOAA administrator, Jane Lubchenco:

         http://earthfix.opb.org/com…

         1. Thanks Colin. We seem to be living in a time when real events sound more like urban legends. Maybe it’s always been that way, but I still find it amazing, and disappointing, when I find out that something like this actually occurred. Democracy truly is a remarkable system since it can take abuses like the Congressman in this story and still remain a viable system of governance.

         2. from the article, those were not Jane’s words but her saying what one of the committee members said:

            Lubchenco recalled a gobsmacking moment when a member of a House committee told her why he didn’t support NOAA’s pursuit of additional federal dollars to pay for the National Weather System’s next generation of weather satellites.

            “This one member of Congress said to me, Doctor, I don’t need your weather satellites. I have the Weather Channel,” said Lubchenco, who is back in Oregon after stepping down in February from her Obama Administration post.

            The House member wasn’t joking around.

            “He was absolutely serious,” she continued. “I thought, ‘Uh, oh. Did I misunderstand what he knows about where his weather forecast information comes from?’”

            Lubchenco told Miller that she used the exchange as a teachable moment. She took a few steps back and explained that the Weather Channel’s forecasts are based on data from NOAA’s National Weather System – thanks in large part to its satellite system.

            1. Read what I wrote carefully (apparently you didn’t). I wrote that the story (of what the congressman said) came from Lubchenco, not that Lubchenco said it.

            2. Yes, I sped read it too fast, sorry.

4. “…addressed questions about the administration’s priorities in funding weather satellites and research as compared to climate change-monitoring satellites and research.”

   The operational satellite gap has been known for quite some time. Driving a wedge between the weather and climate communities is obnoxious.

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