Logan Williams

Malcolm Campbell

UWRT 1104

4/1/17

The Importance of NASA Earth Sciences

Ever since the 1950s the United States have been spending billions on space exploration

missions. In 1958, NASA was established with The National Aeronautics and Space Act by

President Dwight D. Eisenhower. It was created to directly oppose the Soviet Union in space

exploration, shortly after they launched Sputnik. NASA took over the National Advisory

Committee for Aeronautics and was made to be responsible for the civilian space program as

well as aeronautics and aerospace research. It was made distinctively civilian to encourage

peaceful space science rather than for military applications. The founding of NASA kick started

the space race, and would be a major motivator for science funding and space exploration.

NASA is responsible for many achievements in spaceflight and aeronautics. The first main

objective for NASA was to launch a man into orbit. In 1959, NASA took over Project Mercury

and launched Allen Shepard, the first American, into space in 1961, and launched John Glen into

orbit the following year. Since then NASA has continued to break barriers and accomplish

amazing things like, putting 12 men on the moon, help create the International Space Station,

send probes to all the planets and many of their moons and much more (NASA History).

NASA has four major science divisions, earth sciences, planetary sciences, astronomy,

and heliophysics. Earth sciences is a part of NASA that focuses on learning more about our

earth. This part of NASA builds and deploys satellites and other airborne experiments to study

wide verity topics, like ecology, biology, climatology, astrobiology and more (NASA Earth
Science; NASA). A couple of examples of missions is ICESat-II which measures ice levels

around the globe to study the melting of the icecaps, and PACE which will allow the monitoring

of water resources, fisheries management, air quality forecasting, and disaster monitoring

(NASA ICESat-II) (NASA PACE). These missions and dozens of more are planned and

operated by NASA so researchers can study earth.

There is currently a controversy of NASA budgeting, particularly with NASA earth

sciences. Recently many conservative congressmen and newly elected president Trump has

expressed desire to defund NASAs earth sciences. They wish to do this because many of them

disagree with scientists on human effects of climate change, and believe NASA is seeking a

political agenda with earth sciences. They also continue this argument by claiming that NASA

should be for space exploration, and should not study earth.

Bob Walker, a senior Trump campaign adviser, said there was no need for Nasa to do

what he has previously described as politically correct environmental monitoring. We

see Nasa in an exploration role, in deep space research, Walker told the Guardian.

Earth-centric science is better placed at other agencies where it is their prime mission.

(qtd. in Milman)

The root of this problem is the disagreement over climate change and humans effect on it. More

than 97 percent of actively publishing climate scientists agree climate warming trends over the

past century are extremely likely due to human activities (NASA). Even though almost all

experts agree, and most of the leading scientific organizations worldwide also agree, a large

portion of lawmakers still deny it. 34 percent of congress or 182 members of congress, have

openly denied human effects on the climate. There are two major factors that cause this

disconnect between scientists and lawmakers, lobbyists and echo-chambers. Between the 182
members of congress that deny climate change they have received over $73 million from

lobbyists in oil, coal, and gas companies (Herzog). The other factor is a little less obvious; echo-

chambers are networks of information exchanged by social interactions. An example of an echo-

chamber might be your Facebook friends. Most people try to engage in conversation with other

people who have very similar values and beliefs. This causes people to repeat information that

one already believes, furthering their belief. These echo chambers cause ones willingness to

consider others opinions to decrease. Ultimately these echo-chambers get to the point where

facts get skewed or denied all together. Echo-chambers amongst some law makers and their

constituents might be the cause of some of the disconnect between them and scientists (Jasny,

Waggle and Fisher). Even if you dont believe in climate change, there are many more benefits

to earth sciences.

One of the major arguments against NASA earth sciences is that NASA should be for

exploration and doesnt need earth sciences. The problem with this argument is that you need

earth sciences to explore. The very first satellite the United States sent into orbit, Explorer 1,

preformed earth science experiments, and proved the existence of the Van Allen radiation belts

around the earth. Knowledge of these radiation belts is critical to modern spacecraft design for

exploration missions. That is just one example of how earth science is applicable to other

sciences.

One of the major goals of NASA and the space industry is the colonization of Mars. To

understand and figure out how to live in an uninhabitable environment we must first understand

the only known habitable place in the universe, earth. The goal of earth science is to understand

earth, and without this understanding of how earth works it would be impossible to try and

understand how other planets and celestial bodies work. Another point is that these studies
should be left for other agencies where earth science is their main focus. The problem with this

is only NASA has the capability and infrastructure to build, launch, and maintain spacecraft.

NASA also shares earth science data with other science agencies like the Environmental

Protection Agency (EPA) or the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

(NASA Earth Sciences ).

Since it was founded in 1958 NASA has spent over a trillion dollars. NASA budget for

fiscal year 2016 is $19.3 billion, which is low compared to the 1966 budget of $43.5 billion

dollars (adjusted for inflation). At its height in 1966 NASAs budget made up 4.41% of the

United States total spending. Since then the budget has decreased with every administration,

except with George H. W. Bush (Data Blog). There are several reasons to why funding has been

cut so much and why some today wish to cut out earth sciences. NASA was founded during the

Cold War shortly after the US army missile division launched Explorer 1. NASAs budget

increased significantly its first few years, due to the start of the space race, and the perceived

national security threat of Soviet space flight. The budget started to decrease after the success of

the Apollo program and with the failure of the Soviets manned lunar program. After the

dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, NASAs budget was only 1% of the USs total spending.

The budget continued to decrease after the end of the cold war (Data Blog). In 2016 NASA had

a budget of $19.3 billion, which made up 0.5% of the USs total spending, and about $1.9 billion

was for earth science (NASA FY 2016).

NASAs earth science has many benefits. Most believe that earth sciences pertains only

to climate change. While climate change is a large part of it, it also encompasses weather

prediction, agriculture, and more. NASA helps preform studies on climate change and the earth

in general that others could not do without them. With the use of satellites and high altitude
aircraft NASA is able to study the direct causes of climate change on a global scale. Because of

NASA earth sciences weather prediction has become more accurate and the ability to predict

natural disasters has also increased. Through the use of NASA satellites scientist can predict and

track natural disaster like hurricanes, earthquakes, and forest fires. Agriculture also benefits a lot

from NASA earth sciences. NASA uses satellites to track ground water, this is used to measure

ground water depletion. Ground water depletion can have catastrophic effects on agriculture

around the world. NASA earth sciences research is also critical to the world economy, over a

third of the US economy, $3 trillion a year, is influenced by climate, weather, and natural

hazards, giving economic value to the earth sciences. (NASA Earth Science).

A large benefit of NASA earth sciences and investment in any science is spinoffs. NASA

spinoffs are technology and products that use data, technology and research from NASA

missions and projects. As part of the Freedom of Information Act NASA has created the

Technology Transfer program or T2. This program allows people and businesses to request for

NASA patents, and software (NASA Spinoff). In 2016 alone NASA approved 2632 software

usage agreements and 97 patent license agreements (NASA Spinoff 2016). Spinoffs have led to

commercial products like memory foam, baby food, improved tires, water purification systems

and more. It is estimated that NASAs T2 program could generate up to $1 billion a year.

Spinoffs is not the only way NASA helps the economy, because it is a government agency

NASA uses contractors for all of their projects. All earth science missions are built and launched

by private companies like Orbital ATK, Fibertek Inc., ULA, and more. These companies employ

thousands of people, and generate billions in revenue.

There is also great educational value to NASA earth sciences. NASA spends around $90

million a year to provide opportunities for educators, learners and institutions, mainly in the
STEM fields. The goals of NASAs education program are to strengthening NASA and the

Nation's future workforce, attracting and retaining students in science, technology, engineering

and mathematics, or STEM, disciplines, and engaging Americans in NASA's mission. They

accomplish this with their 50 plus educational programs. These programs range from K-8 Space

camps to undergraduate/graduate level internships NASA earth sciences help this educational

effort by creating tools for educators and funding research grants for colleges and universities

(NASA Education).

NASA earth science is critical the space program, the economy, education, and more.

Defunding earth sciences could spell disaster and it should not only continue to be funded, but its

budget should increase. Investments in any science, no matter the discipline has large, long

lasting, benefits, and outweighs any downsides. Political opposition to NASA earth science is

unfounded, and results from ignorance and opportunity for political gain.
Works Cited
Data Blog. Nasa budgets: US spending on space travel since 1958. 2015.
2017. <https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2010/feb/01/nasa-
budgets-us-spending-space-travel#data>.
Herzog, Katie. Surprise! A third of Congress members are climate change
deniers. Grist, 8 March 2016. News Article.
Jasny, Lorien, Joseph Waggle and Dana R. Fisher. "An empirical examination
of echo chambers in USclimate policy networks." Nature Climate
Change Vol 5 (2015): 782-786.
Jr., Frank Morring. "Can Commercial Smallsats Help NASA's Earth Science
Program?" Aviation Week & Space Technology (2016): 1.
Milman, Oliver. Trump to scrap Nasa climate research in crackdown on
politicized science. New York: The Guardian, 23 11 2016. News Article.
NASA. A Breif History of NASA. n.d. 25 March 2017.
<https://history.nasa.gov/factsheet.htm>.
. Earth Science. n.d. 2017.
<https://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/index.html>.
. Education. n.d. 2017.
<https://www.nasa.gov/offices/education/about/index.html>.
. ICESat-II. n.d. 2017. <https://icesat-2.gsfc.nasa.gov/>.
. NASA. n.d. 2017. <NASA.gov>.
. "NASA FY 2016 BUDGET REQUEST ." 2016. NASA.gov. 2017.
<https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/files/Agency_Fact_Sheet_FY_2
016.pdf>.
. "NASA FY 2017 BUDGET REQUEST." 2017. NASA.gov. 2017.
<https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/fy_2017_nasa_age
ncy_fact_sheet.pdf>.
. NASA Spinof. n.d. 2017. <https://spinoff.nasa.gov/>.
. PACE. n.d. 2017. <https://pace.gsfc.nasa.gov/>.
. "Spinoff 2016." 2016. NASA.gov. 2017.
<https://spinoff.nasa.gov/Spinoff2016/pdf/Spinoff2016.pdf>.