David E. Steitz<br />Headquarters, Washington July 9, 2002<br />(Phone: 202/358-1730)<br /><br />RELEASE: 02-121<br /><br />PATHFINDER MISSIONS TO ENHANCE OUR UNDERSTANDING OF EARTH<br /><br /> As part of the Earth System Science Pathfinder small-<br />satellite program, NASA has selected two new space mission <br />proposals that will yield fresh insight into our home <br />planet's carbon cycle and how oceans affect and respond to <br />climate change -- knowledge that will help better life here <br />on Earth.<br /><br />Partnering with NASA centers, universities, industry and <br />international participants, the Orbiting Carbon Observatory <br />(OCO) and the Aquarius missions will enhance NASA's mission: <br />to better understand and protect our home planet.<br /><br />"The Orbiting Carbon Observatory will provide global <br />measurements of atmospheric carbon dioxide needed to describe <br />the geographic distribution and variability of carbon dioxide <br />sources and sinks," said Dr. Ghassem Asrar, Associate <br />Administrator for Earth Science, NASA Headquarters, <br />Washington.<br /><br />"Aquarius will provide the first-ever global maps of salt <br />concentration on the ocean surface, a key area of scientific <br />uncertainty in the oceans' capacity to store and transport <br />heat, which in turn affects Earth's climate and the water <br />cycle," Asrar said.<br /><br />The Orbiting Carbon Observatory, a mission that partners with <br />industry and academia, will generate knowledge needed to <br />improve projections of future carbon dioxide levels within <br />Earth's atmosphere. Increasing carbon dioxide (CO2) <br />concentrations have raised concerns about global warming. <br />Even though the biosphere and oceans are currently absorbing <br />about half of the CO2 generated by human activities, the <br />nature and geographic distribution of these CO2 sinks are too <br />poorly understood to predict their response to future climate <br />and land-use changes. <br /><br />Dr. David Crisp of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, <br />Pasadena, Calif., will be the principal investigator for the <br />mission. The OCO mission will include more than 19 <br />universities and corporate and international partners.<br /><br />Aquarius will provide global maps of ocean-salt concentration <br />on a monthly basis over its planned three-year mission life. <br />By gaining these global, monthly maps researchers can better <br />understand the nature of Earth's oceans and their role in <br />storage and distribution of heat and thus their role in <br />global climate change. <br /><br />Aquarius will measure variations in salinity to determine how <br />the ocean responds to the combined effects of evaporation and <br />precipitation, ice melt and river runoff on seasonal and <br />interannual time scales. This is critical information to <br />understand how salinity variations modify ocean circulation <br />and the global redistribution of heat.<br /><br />Dr. Chet Koblinsky of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, <br />Greenbelt, Md., will serve as principal investigator for the <br />Aquarius mission. Aquarius also will partner with the <br />Argentine Space Program, building on a successful long-<br />standing relationship between NASA and Argentina. In all, <br />over 17 universities and corporate and international partners <br />will be involved in the Aquarius mission.<br /><br />In addition to the two selected new missions, a third <br />proposal, called HYDROS, has been selected to serve as an <br />alternate to the selected missions, should the primary <br />missions encounter difficulties during the initial <br />development phases. The HYDROS mission concept calls for a <br />spacecraft that would monitor soil moisture from space -- a <br />measurement that would improve current models for weather and <br />climate predictions.<br /><br />NASA will fund up to $175 million for each of the two <br />selected missions. The selected missions will have <br />approximately nine months to refine their proposals to <br />mitigate risk before mission development is fully underway. <br /><br />NASA issued an Announcement of Opportunity and initially <br />received 18 proposals, six of which were selected for <br />detailed assessment, with two now moving on toward final <br />implementation.<br /><br />NASA conducts Earth science research to better understand and <br />protect our home planet. Through the examination of Earth, we <br />are developing the technologies and scientific knowledge <br />needed to explore the universe while bettering life on our <br />home planet.<br /><br /> -end-