NASA’s Triana Mission Scientific Evaluation Completed – Mission is Declared Strong and Vital

CONTACT: Cindy Clark or Mario Aguilera

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A scientific task force of the National Research Council (NRC) of the National Academy of Sciences released a report today validating the strong scientific merit of the Triana mission.
Triana, the first deep space Earth-observing mission, will provide a continuous view of the entire sunlit face of the rotating Earth. This perspective provides a unique view of the earth from sunrise to sunset, including daily climatological phenomena. Led by Francisco P.J. Valero at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, this comprehensive view of the Earth will help test and develop new understanding of the climate system and measure global change.
The rigorous and analytical examination of Triana’s scientific merits, conducted by a group of the nation’s most distinguished scientists, was requested by members of the U.S. Congress to evaluate the mission’s objectives and to review Triana’s contributions to the nation’s science priorities for climate and environ-mental studies. The report concluded that Triana is a strong and scientifically vital and feasible mission that will contribute unique data on Earth’s climate systems
and energy balance.

“I have welcomed and anticipated the opportunity for my scientific colleagues to carefully evaluate the science objectives of Triana,” said Valero, principal investigator of the Triana program. “Their analysis validates Triana’s scientific merits, and I am thrilled that we can now continue with this very important scientific mission.”
The NRC panel reported that the financial costs of the Triana mission are reasonable and that the program should move forward quickly.

NOTE: The full NRC Triana report will be available soon on the National Academy of Sciences websites: www.nap.edu or http://www.nationalacademies.org/ssb/bib1.html

Triana on the web:,NASA:riana.gsfc.nasa.gov/homeScripps Institution of Oceanography:cloud.ucsd.edu/missions/triana