Yet another case of disappearing science…
This seems to be becoming a habit! Latest instance of mysteriously disappearing references to the climate, climate change, climate science etc comes courtesy of of BJ Chip: NASA no longer counts “understand[ing] and protect[ing] our home planet” as one of its goals. Dodgy!
[Update 25/7/06: here’s the gist]
From 2002 until this year, NASA’s mission statement, prominently featured in its budget and planning documents, read: “To understand and protect our home planet; to explore the universe and search for life; to inspire the next generation of explorers … as only NASA can.â€?
In early February, the statement was quietly altered, with the phrase “to understand and protect our home planet� deleted. In this year’s budget and planning documents, the agency’s mission is “to pioneer the future in space exploration, scientific discovery and aeronautics research.�
David E. Steitz, a spokesman for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, said the aim was to square the statement with President Bush’s goal of pursuing human spaceflight to the Moon and Mars.
But the change comes as an unwelcome surprise to many NASA scientists, who say the “understand and protect� phrase was not merely window dressing but actively influenced the shaping and execution of research priorities. Without it, these scientists say, there will be far less incentive to pursue projects to improve understanding of terrestrial problems like climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions.
July 24th, 2006 at 11:10 pm
in case you can’t be bothered registering with the NY Times:
http://www.niburu.nl/index.php?showarticle.php?articleID=13879&lang=EN G
July 25th, 2006 at 11:14 am
“[The spokesman] said the aim was to square the statement with President Bush’s goal of pursuing human spaceflight to the Moon and Mars”.
In other words, comparatively cheap and vital research has been shelved to pay for expensive and risky manned trips of dubious benefit — especially considering the great job of exploration the Mars Rovers have done for the last 900 days.
Nasa’s Climate Science ‘in Moth-Balls’:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/5134022.stm
A suspicious mind would suspect that landing a man on Mars was never the primary goal.
July 25th, 2006 at 11:54 am
There’s no big money for the boyz in climate science. JPL and NASA in general can put satellites up to do useful work on a comparative shoestring, and the launches get farmed out to the Ukrainian rockets at sealaunch.
The Moon and Mars however, lead to big bux contracts for Boeing and Lockheed Martin, who kick back enough money that representatives from their districts are often referred to as “the senator from Boeing” as opposed being from Washington state.
In other words, it is a corrupt process and this is an enabling move for the corruption. I suspect that the destruction of climate information is not even the primary motivation. The Bush administration is systematically looting and destroying the USA, promoting pseudo-science, wealth transfer to the already wealthy, and religious wars, and doing irreparable damage to human civilization, the planet and the Constitution.
Since Cheap Access To Space will not come of this nor any other sop thrown to Boeing, the best hope of the planet has to lie with the Chinese or the Europeans. Failing that we must batten down the hatches and hope that some of us will survive the storms.
respectfully
BJ
July 25th, 2006 at 3:52 pm
BJ:
Interesting insight. Thanks.
July 26th, 2006 at 1:11 pm
The timing issue is interesting as well:
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/8011.html
respectfully
BJ