Earth from space: NASA

By Glynn Wilson –

As a leading agency observing and understanding environmental changes to planet Earth, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration announced Thursday that it officially joined the National Climate Task Force created by President Joe Biden in an executive order issued an Jan. 27, which outlined details of the task force directing all federal agencies to consider impacts on climate change in policy decisions.

Like many of the federal agencies, including and especially the Environmental Protection Agency, NASA had been hamstrung by the Trump administration in archiving science information on global warming and climate change online and even in the language used in public statements about it. This policy made it difficult for the press and broadcast media to adequately cover the latest stories with connections to climate change research, and denied the American body politic critical science information on which to base and form accurate public opinion across the board and opened the door for false and misleading information to spread on the internet and in social media.

Biden’s executive order reversed that policy, and this administration’s climate agenda outlines putting climate at the center of the country’s foreign policy and national security — and encourages a governmentwide approach to addressing the very real national and international problem of a changing climate due to a warming planet from the burning of fossil fuels for energy.

“Climate change is one of the most pressing issues facing us today,” said Gavin Schmidt, acting NASA senior climate advisor and director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York. “Given our unique ability to observe the planet from space and the long-term data records we’ve been able to assemble, NASA is in a prime position to inform policy decisions in the current administration and beyond.”

From the launch of the first weather satellite in 1960, the Television and Infrared Observation Satellite (TIROS-1), NASA has used the vantage of space to study the Earth. It remains the only space agency in the world providing end-to-end research on the Blue Planet to analyze and understand the processes involved.

Working together with other government partners, including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the United States Geological Survey, NASA is responsible for building the country’s Earth-observing assets in civil space. More than two dozen NASA satellites measure the height of oceans and inland waters, clouds and precipitation, soil moisture, carbon dioxide and more. The data collected helps to improve weather forecasts, inform farming practices, and helps decisionmakers at all levels of government and the private sector.

Beyond Earth-observing satellites, NASA is developing predictive modeling technologies to examine policy-specific scenarios and conducting research that contributes to governmentwide sustainability efforts and understanding of climate change. To reduce the environmental impacts of aviation, NASA is conducting research for energy efficient aircraft that employ technologies such as lightweight structures, transformative aerodynamics, and hybrid-electric propulsion.

Through its long-term observations of Earth, providing insight into how the planet is changing, efforts to contribute to sustainable aviation and nurturing partnerships with the private sector, NASA already is poised to help the task force address the most pressing climate change issues today.

For more information about NASA, its missions, and agency programs, visit the agency’s revamped website.