Congress scrutinizes NASA's Earth science program
Congressional Quarterly: A squeeze on funding for satellites to look down on the Earth’s environment at a time of growing need for research into the effects of climate change is creating alarm among scientists and on Capitol Hill. NASA's Earth science budget has been cut by 30 percent to help pay for the President's Moon-Mars vision and for repairs to the space shuttle. A significant number of Earth observation satellites are failing or at the limit of their design lifetime, and few are expected to be replaced. Now the Senate's commerce committee which monitors NASA, is applying more pressure to Mike Griffen, NASA administrator to maintain US expertise in monitoring the planet says CQ's William Scally.
