Comments on: Scientists say Earth-observing satellites are in jeopardy

By: deborahbyrd

deborahbyrd — Mon, 07 May 2007 11:38:15 +0000

Leland, good point. Experience and continuity are key in all successful endeavors.

Thanks for your comment!

Deborah

By: Leland A.Perry

Leland A.Perry — Mon, 07 May 2007 10:42:11 +0000

Such short sightedness from Congress does not surprise me at all. Maybe the problems will go away if we can not keep track of the events leadig to global warming and other problems.

There is a very large push to replace career government employees with contractors. Contractors are capable of performing the tasks required, but the contractors DO NOT have the organisational knowledge, history nor loyalty of the career government employee. When a career government employee retires, he/she takes all of their experience out the door with them. EXPERIENCE CANNOT TAUGHT to contractors.

By: deborahbyrd

deborahbyrd — Fri, 04 May 2007 20:03:36 +0000

Lindsay, I agree. It makes absolutely no sense to me at all!

On the other hand, it seems to me that this is the second time in recent years - in the past decade perhaps - that the satellite fleet has been in danger from budget cuts. The U.S. Congress came to its senses the last time, and hopefully it will again.

By: lindsay

lindsay — Fri, 04 May 2007 19:38:26 +0000

Taking Earth-observing satellites out of the budget is as terrifying as stopping research on global warming. Having spoken to many scientists who rely on satellite data for very diverse and important research, it’s somewhat unbelievable to me that this is being considered - to take these satellites down would be like stepping back into the 60’s.

I’m afraid that this issue won’t be weighed heavily enough because not a lot of people know what satellites do, beyond predicting the weather.