Space News reports online [subscription required] late Tuesday that the White House has changed course and endorsed a dedicated Landsat mission. A December 23 memo from OSTP director John Marburger (not yet available on the OSTP web site) directed the NPOESS program to remove a Landsat-type instrument and instead gave NASA responsibility for building a new Landsat spacecraft. The decision comes after a confluence of events, including problems with the existing two Landsat spacecraft (one of which is over 20 years old and recently suffered a solar array problem), general problems with the NPOESS program, and concerns that NPOESS was not a suitable platform for a Landsat-class imager. The report doesn’t give any indication of the expected cost of the new Landsat spacecraft or its scheduled deployment.
Space Politics
Because sometimes the most important orbit is the Beltway…1 Comment
Sam Dinkin wrote @ December 28th, 2005 at 7:01 am
“To become a multiplanet species, we must master the skills of extracting local resources, build our capability to journey and explore in hostile regions, and create new reservoirs of human culture and experience.” -Spudis
To become a multiplanet species, we also have to want to become a multiplanet species which from the other two cites, is where we are stuck. Jobs and other “needs here on Earth” are taking up more than 99% of the Government’s time, attention and money.
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