NASA FY 2003 Budget Background: Office of Earth Science Enterprise (Code Y)
Office of Earth Science Enterprise (Code Y)
Associate Administrator: Dr. Ghassem R. Asrar
Public Affairs Contact: David E. Steitz, dsteitz@hq.nasa.gov, 202/358-1730
The total Fiscal Year 2003 Appropriations budget request for the Office of
Earth Science is $1,628 million: this is comprised of $1,310 million in
direct program funding and $318 million for institutional support. There
are an estimated 1,848 direct Full Time Equivalent employees included
within the Earth Science Enterprise in Fiscal Year 2003.
PROGRAM GOALS
The NASA Earth Science Enterprise (ESE) carries out its mission through three broad
goals:
1) Science: Observe, understand, and model the Earth system to learn how it is
changing, and the consequences for life on Earth;
2) Applications: Expand and accelerate the realization of economic and societal
benefits from Earth science, information, and technology;
3) Technology: Develop and adopt advanced technologies to enable mission
success and serve national priorities.
These goals are articulated in the ESE Strategic Plan, available at:
The ESE is working to improve scientific understanding of the Earth system and its
response to natural and human-induced changes. This knowledge will enhance the
ability to predict climate change, better understand variant weather patterns and help
mitigate future natural hazards. The ESE will develop and demonstrate new
technologies on airborne and space-based platforms. In addition, the ESE will
develop computer models to analyze and assimilate data, carry out focused scientific
research studies. The ESE will utilize this information to better inform policy- and
decision-makers in both the public and private sectors. The ESE activities constitute a
unique national resource.
The Administration is conducting a review of the interagency U.S. Global Change
Research Program (USGCRP) to determine the best government-wide approach to
climate change research. It would not be prudent for NASA to pursue development of
another major new Earth Science mission until the Administration has completed this
review. The fiscal 2003 budget funds the continued development of the National Polar-orbiting
Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) Preparatory Project
(NPP) as well as the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM). The LDCM is being
implemented as a commercial data purchase.
Also funded is formulation of an ocean topography mission to follow the Jason mission
launched in 2001. This mission is being implemented in a partnership among NASA,
NOAA and their European counterparts. The ocean topography mission is a transition
mission (along with NPP) between research and operational mission agencies. NASA
will also undertake the study of a potential global precipitation mission. If approved,
the global precipitation mission will measure rainfall worldwide for both climate
research and assessment of impacts on fresh water availability around the world.
Last year was a record year for the NASA Earth Science Enterprise. With the
successful launch of the Jason oceanography mission and other research and
application milestones, the Enterprise is well on its way to delivering vital data that
leaders around the world need to make informed decisions about the health and well
being of our planet. As NASA moves into this next budget cycle, the Agency intends to
take time to both evaluate future missions and begin to reap the benefits of its recent
success stories.
The ESE has deployed the first in a series of Earth Observing System (EOS) satellites
that will concurrently observe the major interactions of the land, oceans, atmosphere,
ice, and life that comprise the Earth system. The ESE activities have a direct and
indirect impact upon long-term climate forecasting, disaster mitigation, wildfire
prevention, environmental monitoring, disease prevention, increased agricultural
productivity, as well as improved urban and suburban planning.
The ESE provides scientific answers to the fundamental question:
How is the Earth changing, and what are the consequences for life on
Earth?
Highlights of the Fiscal Year 2003 budget request include:
MAJOR DEVELOPMENT AND MISSION OPERATIONS — $804 million
The spacecraft development (including algorithms development) portion of the ESE
request is comprised of EOS ($411 million) and Earth Explorers ($71 million) satellite
missions and information systems. The EOS and Earth Explorers programs consist of
multiple spacecraft designed to improve understanding of global climate change.
In 2001, 2 spacecraft were launched:
studying ocean topography and continuing the data set gathered by
TOPEX/Poseidon
cooperative mission with Russia
EOS and Earth Explorer missions in development or preparation for launch through
calendar year 2004, with launch year in parentheses, include:
temperature, and the biosphere; partnering with Japan and Brazil
partnering with the German space program; riding to space aboard a Russian rocket
and UARS, both now in orbit
surface winds as the successor to ongoing QuikSCAT
aerosol profiles
Starting in fiscal 2003 the EOS Data information System (EOSDIS) operations
requirements have been transferred to Mission Operations. This change reflects the
near-completion of EOSDIS development and the shift in emphasis to operations and
technology evolution. The EOSDIS development requirements are $74 million. The
total Mission Operations requirements (including the transfer from EOSDIS) are $248
million.
The EOSDIS has been serving thousands of government and private-sector users by
providing data and information from NASA satellite programs since September 1995.
In addition to operating spacecraft the EOSDIS acquires, processes, and distributes
data gathered by the EOS missions. This data will lay the groundwork for the
government as well as commercial and academic partners to generate the higher-level
data products. These higher-level data products will make it easier for
researchers, educators, policy-makers and the public to understand and use ESE
satellite data and information.
The Mission Operations Program acquires, processes and archives long-term data
sets and validated data products. The requested funding provides for the operation of
ongoing spacecraft missions and the processing of acquired data. In addition, the
2003 request includes funding for the support of the spacecraft communications and
data acquisition network of ground stations. Funding for this in previous years was
carried under the Space Communications budget in the SAT appropriation and most
recently in the Human Space Flight appropriation. This funding responsibility transfer
allows for a better depiction of the full costs supporting the Earth Science mission
operations.
Research and Technology — $506 million
The ESE science research effort ($354 million) is designed to address the following
(five) fundamental questions. Each of the fundamental questions is tied to the
overarching global environmental question:
How is the Earth system changing, and what are the consequences for
life on Earth?
(Response)
(Consequences)
The ESE examines questions in a wide variety of disciplines including the areas of
atmospheric chemistry and physics, oceanography, ecology and cryospheric science.
The ESE also explores the use of orbital platforms, suborbital platforms and high-end
computers, while calibrating and validating observational data. Through long-term
examination of the global environment and sound science, the ESE provides decision-makers
with insight into the answers to the above questions.
A robust future science program requires advances in a number of critical instrument,
spacecraft and information system technologies. This budget request includes $87
million to carry out a vigorous Advanced Technology program to develop technologies
for future science missions. In addition to the baseline technology program, the
Advanced Technology Initiative program will identify and invest in various critical
technologies.
The ESE technology strategy seeks to leverage the entire range of technology
development programs offering benefits in cost, performance, and timeliness of future
Earth science missions. The ESE strategy is to use open competitions for ESE-sponsored
technology programs to attract the best ideas and capabilities from the
broad technology community, including industry and academia.
Technology investments will be made in the following areas:
scientific investigations into the global environment;
that reduce development time, operations costs and mission risk. In addition, these
technologies will support rapid implementation of productive, economical, and
timely missions;
from origination at the instrument/detector through data archiving. These
technologies will collect and disseminate information about the Earth system that
will enable productive use of ESE science and technology in the public and private
sectors.
ESE celebrated a major milestone in 2001 with the completion of all mission
objectives aboard the Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) satellite. The EO-1 spacecraft tested
new technologies that will be used in future Landsat-continuity missions. The EO-1
instruments are a fraction of the size of previous remote-sensing instruments and were
built at a fraction of the cost. The EO-1 mission has out-performed all expectations and
has provided technologists new insights into next-generation remote sensing
instruments.
Applications, Education and Outreach — $62 million
Expanded scientific knowledge of the Earth will result in practical applications
beneficial to all Americans. Examples of these applications include: weather and
hydrologic forecasts; prediction of seasonal or longer-range climate changes;
prediction of the impacts of environmental changes upon fisheries, agriculture and
water resources; global air-quality forecasts; and natural hazards risk-assessm
ents.
The ESE performs a key role in demonstrating these potential applications.
The ESE goal is to expand and accelerate the realization of economic and societal
benefits from Earth science, information and technology. The ESE emphasizes the
development of solutions to problems of national and international importance that
confront federal agencies, as well as state, local and tribal governments, and private
industry. Solutions are drawn from ESE science results, data and technology that are
developed in partnership with agencies that will implement them.
ESE is also training the next generation of Earth scientists and enabling K-12 teachers
to incorporate remote sensing information into their science curricula. This interagency
research and education program is enabling a better understanding of global
environmental change while helping all students reach higher levels of achievement
in science and mathematics.
February 2002
