Representative Lampson Asks President Bush to Save Hurricane Tracking Satellite

Washington, DC – Rep. Nick Lampson (D-TX), Ranking Member of the House Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee, sent a letter today asking President Bush to reverse NASA’s decision to terminate the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) later this year.

In his letter, Rep. Lampson noted that “TRMM has proven to be an invaluable resource to weather forecasting agencies around the world in improving hurricane and typhoon tracking.  In the United States, both the National Hurricane Center and the U.S. Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center use TRMM to reduce risk to lives and property from hurricanes and typhoons.”  His comments were echoed by the director of the National Hurricane Center, who stated in a recent Washington Post press interview that TRMM “can go to the core [of a hurricane], see the eye start to develop: Is it intensifying?  Is it getting better defined?  Is it falling apart?  It’s been absolutely critical.  Ask any of our hurricane forecasters.”

Rep. Lampson indicated to the President that he wasn’t asking NASA to assume the entire burden of funding TRMM’s operations for another two years, but rather that the White House should bring NASA and other user agencies together to ensure that the needed funding is made available.  “…Your Administration should be able to find a few tens of millions of dollars over the next four years to preserve a key means of improving coastal and maritime safety.  A viable funding arrangement can certainly be developed between NASA and the other agencies that use TRMM’s data if you desire it to happen,” stated Rep. Lampson in his letter to the President.

A copy of Rep. Lampson’s letter to the President can be obtained from http://www.house.gov/science_democrats/releases/lampson_trmm_letter.pdf.