NASA has formed a board to help review goals, current plans and technical concepts for its next-generation Earth-observing satellites designed to provide critical information for use in guiding initiatives related to disaster mitigation, climate change and weather forecast improvement efforts.
Geoff Yoder, former NASA deputy associate administrator for the science mission directorate at NASA, and Waleed Abdalati, director of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder, will serve as co-chairs of NASA’s independent review board, the agency said Wednesday.
“The Earth System Observatory will take us into the next generation of remote sensing,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for the science mission directorate at NASA.
“We are designing the observatory to give us the most comprehensive view yet of how Earth is changing. By strengthening our scientific understanding, we can provide information for people and communities around the world to plan for the future,” Zurbuchen added.
The observatory will work to implement the 2017 Earth Science Decadal Survey’s recommendations and prioritize four areas of focus: atmosphere observing system led by Goddard Space Flight Center; mass change managed by Jet Propulsion Laboratory; surface biology and geology led by JPL; and surface deformation and change.
The board held its first meeting in late July.
