FREE DSCOVR!
Seed Magazine is calling FREE DSCOVR!.
At a time when the Earth’s climate is at the top of practically every nation’s agenda, it might seem perplexing that there’s a $100 million, fully completed climate-sensing satellite stored in a warehouse in Maryland.
The Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) was supposed to be delivered five years ago to the L1 Lagrangian point—a gravity-neutral parking spot between the Earth and the sun that affords a continuous, sunlit view of the planet. From here, DSCOVR would measure the planet’s energy balance and reflectivity, known as albedo, which is critical data for calibrating climate change models and monitoring the ozone layer. Yet the mission was quietly killed this year, so the satellite is sitting in a box at Goddard Space Flight Center.
Could the decision to kill DSCOVR have anything to do with the politics of climate science?
The article goes on to answer that question in some detail; a very detailed yes.
Technorati Tags: climate change, DSCOVR, eco, environment, global warming, meltdown, modelling, NASA, politics, USA
