[FPSPACE] Bush cancels NASA's climate change research

[LARRY KLAES]

Environmental science may suffer

By Beth Daley, Globe Staff | June 9, 2006

NASA is canceling or delaying a number of satellites designed to give 
scientists critical information on the Earth's changing climate and 
environment.

The space agency has shelved a $200 million satellite mission headed by a 
Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor that was designed to measure 
soil moisture -- a key factor in helping scientists understand the impact of 
global warming and predict droughts and floods. The Deep Space Climate 
Observatory, intended to observe climate factors such as solar radiation, 
ozone, clouds, and water vapor more comprehensively than existing 
satellites, also has been canceled.

And in its 2007 budget, NASA proposes significant delays in a global 
precipitation measuring mission to help with weather predictions, as well as 
the launch of a satellite designed to increase the timeliness and accuracy 
of severe weather forecasts and improve climate models.

Full article here:

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2006/06/09/nasa_shelves_climate_satellites/?page=1