Assessment of the NASA Applied Sciences Program (2007) / Chapter Skim
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1 NASA and Applied Sciences
1 NASA and Applied Sciences
Pages 11-26
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From page 11... ...
. These data and associated research provide key inputs to many public and private applications including weather forecasting, aviation, climate observations and modeling, famine early warning, monitoring of ocean current and surface conditions, agricultural planning, emergency planning and response, and natural hazard monitoring.
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c=CHLOROPHYLL While many portions of the NASA organization conduct applied research using Earth observation data, a specified unit within NASA has, since the 1970s, been tasked with ensuring the transfer of NASA Earth observation data and associated research into practical applications for society through external private and federal partnerships. The NASA Applied Sciences Program (ASP)
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From page 13... ...
Applied remote sensing research uses remote sensing data, such as the results from the basic research project on foliation, to provide information that is valuable for a specific task like predicting agricultural crop production or drought early warning. Because NASA's mandate does not usually allow it to put its research results or data directly into practice, applied remote sensing usually requires NASA to partner with another federal agency or nongovernment entity to use the NASA observations for these practical applications.
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Bush has strongly emphasized decision support in its science and technology (S&T) programs, in general, and environmental programs, in particular.
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A recent NRC report (NRC, 2007a) , henceforth called the "Decadal Study", was prepared by the Committee on Earth Science and Applications from Space: A Community Assessment and Strategy for the Future.
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The declarations call for a renewal of the national commitment to a program of Earth observations from space in which practical benefits to humankind play an equal role with the quest to acquire new knowledge about Earth. The Decadal Study supports its discussion by connecting some of its recommended Earth science missions to societal benefits in areas like human health, extreme event warnings, earthquake early warnings, improved weather prediction, sea level rise, climate prediction, freshwater availability, ecosystem services, and air quality.
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From page 17... ...
The panel recognizes that "an overall Earth science strategy that merges scientific research and societal application must acknowledge that different research and operational applications will require different approaches to measurement, and provide a means of optimizing potential benefits against available resources for the total observing system." Statements of this nature have direct relevance for the ASP and its activities. HISTORICAL CONTEXT A chronology of applied sciences at NASA covers nearly 50 years and is important to understanding applied sciences at NASA, generally, and the ASP, today (Table 1.1)
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From page 18... ...
Scientists ence Enterprise could obtain funding through NASA headquarters with ad hoc applications or a few open national solicitations. Stennis Space Center developed an applied Commercial Remote Sensing Program to help university scientists work with the commercial sector to use remote sensing data (hopefully of NASA origin)
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From page 19... ...
, and this period generated significant grassroots interest in and excitement about remote sensing technology. In 1977, for example, the NASA Ames Western Regional Applications Program developed a mobile laboratory that traveled throughout the United States demonstrating remote sensing (especially Landsat)
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Using Landsat data, this program engaged university centers in research projects with state and local governments. NASA's Office of University Affairs (OUA)
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NASA did not pursue partnerships with federal, state, or local government agencies again until 1992. In general, NASA support for applied remote sensing research fluctuated from 1982 to 1994, and NASA management migrated to a philosophy of trying to understand or measure biophysical phenomena rather than focus on data collection and research for specific societal applications.
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From page 22... ...
Starting in the mid-1990s scientists could also obtain applied remote sensing science funding through the Mission to Planet Earth Program from NASA headquarters -- primarily through ad hoc application or through a few national solicitations. The balance of applied versus basic funding from Congress gradually increased from pre-1994 levels.
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From page 23... ...
The new approach with the ASP adopted by NASA in 2001 could arguably be described as being closer to a supply-driven, or top-down, model. With this new approach to applied sciences, NASA sought to clarify the practical benefits of NASA Earth science and reduce perceived and real duplication of effort with other federal agencies.
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This chapter has summarized the background to the study by placing the NASA ASP in context of the broader federal and NASA framework within which ASP operates, the important national programs that are current drivers of applications beneficial to society, and the historical development of applied sciences at NASA. Chapter 2 examines the approach used by ASP to extend data into operations and decision support (item 1 of this committee's task)
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From page 25... ...
This report is intended primarily for the sponsor of the study, NASA and the ASP, to provide constructive evaluation of ASP's approach to extending NASA Earth data and research to decision-support systems with societal applications. However, open communication between providers of Earth data, operators of decision-support tools that employ the data, and eventual recipients of the results from these tools is an implicit part of achieving societal benefits.
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