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In recent years [...] satellite and aircraft instruments have begun monitoring carbon dioxide and methane remotely, and NASA's Carbon Monitoring System (CMS), a $10-million-a-year research line, has helped stitch together observations of sources and sinks into high-resolution models of the planet's flows of carbon. Now, President Donald Trump's administration has quietly killed the CMS, Science has learned.
Source: sciencemag.org)
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Trump White House Quietly Cancels NASA Research Verifying Greenhouse Gas Cuts
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In Tulsa, Oklahoma, it is against the law to open a soda bottle without
the supervision of a licensed engineer.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 14 2018, @04:43PM (6 children)
Better for NOAA to run such projects and contract any spacecraft from nasa. Not every agency needs to be studying every single thing and most people want nasa to be sending stuff to the moon etc. The original mission statement does include atmospheric phenomena but only as one small part: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Aeronautics_and_Space_Act [wikipedia.org]
So have there been similar cuts to NOAA projects? Looks like no, NOAA funding has increased:
https://research.noaa.gov/External-Affairs/budget [noaa.gov]
(Score: 3, Insightful) by frojack on Monday May 14 2018, @06:21PM (4 children)
Agreed, it belongs in NOAA.
But 10 million doesn't even attract Trump's attention.
So I suspect there is some horse trading between NASA and NOAA going on.
Maybe someone wants to move this pork barrel project, or kill it off as it is likely redundant with other projects already in operation.
10 million barely covers two guys and office support staff in expensive office digs, buying expensive computer time for data processing, while nagging every actual source of data for better access. I suspect these guys were not accomplishing much, but managed to have a couple congressmen as friends to get their initial funding.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 14 2018, @06:29PM (3 children)
Eh I think you're way off. $10 mil is more than enough to cover a team that is simply compiling and analyzing data from multiple sources. I suspect the science was uncomfortable for Trump's buddies as indicated by the massive campaign to defund and hide all climate science data.
Obviously he has you fooled with the "drain the swamp!" montage, but the rest of us cringe.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 15 2018, @12:53AM (2 children)
Do you have an example of the "uncomfortable science" produced by this project?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 15 2018, @06:14AM (1 child)
Yes, co2 concentrations constantly increasing. we had a story recently...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 15 2018, @12:33PM
That was about the CO2 measurements taken on top of the largest active volcano in the world (which somehow doesn't matter since they filter out any sudden CO2 spikes...). If that is being shut down, good because it only makes them look really, really bad.
Seriously though, I don't think those measurements had anything to do with the project under discussion here.
(Score: 2, Informative) by speederaser on Tuesday May 15 2018, @11:06PM
From the National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958:
(c) The aeronautical and space activities of the United States shall be conducted so as to contribute materially to one or more of the following objectives:
(1) The expansion of human knowledge of phenomena in the atmosphere and space;
(2) The improvement of the usefulness, performance, speed, safety, and efficiency of aeronautical and space vehicles;
(3) The development and operation of vehicles capable of carrying instruments, equipment, supplies and living organisms through space;
(4) The establishment of long-range studies of the potential benefits to be gained from, the opportunities for, and the problems involved in the utilization of aeronautical and space activities for peaceful and scientific purposes.
(5) The preservation of the role of the United States as a leader in aeronautical and space science and technology and in the application thereof to the conduct of peaceful activities within and outside the atmosphere.
(6) The making available to agencies directly concerned with national defenses of discoveries that have military value or significance, and the furnishing by such agencies, to the civilian agency established to direct and control nonmilitary aeronautical and space activities, of information as to discoveries which have value or significance to that agency;
(7) Cooperation by the United States with other nations and groups of nations in work done pursuant to this Act and in the peaceful application of the results, thereof; and
(8) The most effective utilization of the scientific and engineering resources of the United States, with close cooperation among all interested agencies of the United States in order to avoid unnecessary duplication of effort, facilities, and equipment.
(emphasis mine)
Expanding knowledge of the atmosphere is the very first objective in NASA's charter. Congress has directed NASA to do this. Their expertise in space activities make NASA best suited to conducting investigations like this, not NOAA. Trump is undermining the intent of Congress here, with the obvious goal of eliminating all research into climate change.