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Remaking a Mission

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NASA and the Politics of Climate Research

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Abstract

In the 1994–1998 years EOS was downsized greatly, and the sea-level rise mission gained independence. Goldin brought Charles Kennel aboard to remake the Earth Sciences mission (then called Mission to Planet Earth). Kennel served from 1994 to 1996. His deputy, Bill Townsend, had been Wilson’s deputy and was an advocate for a follow-on to TOPEX/Poseidon, Jason. As Jason, known as Jason-1, was carved from a deconstructed EOS so also was another satellite, ICESAT (Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite), freed to help get at the “whys” of sea-level rise. Kennel responded to increased climate change politics and visibility by a communication strategy that stressed the “facts” but refrained from alarms and advocacy of policy action. When Kennel left, Townsend took over leadership of Mission to Planet Earth from 1996 to 1998 on an acting basis. He added a pair of sea-level-related satellites called GRACE (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment) that complemented ICESAT by showing how polar melting transferred to ocean mass.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Richard Leshner and Thor Hogan, The View from Space: NASA’s Evolving Struggle to Understand the Home Planet (Lawrence, Kansas: University of Kansas Press, 2019), 150.

  2. 2.

    Shelby Tilford, interview by Rebecca Wright, Oral History, EOS Collection, NASA, June 23, 2009. Retrieved from tinyurl.com/m6z22kz2

  3. 3.

    Charles Kennel, interview by Sandra Johnson, Oral History, EOS Collection, NASA, Oct. 21, 2002.

  4. 4.

    Charles Kennel, interview by author, Oct. 16, 2021.

  5. 5.

    Jeff Goodell, The Water Will Come (NY: Little, Brown, and Co., 2017), 62.

  6. 6.

    Steve Nerem, interview by author, Nov. 5, 2021.

  7. 7.

    Malcom Browne, “Most Precise Gauge Yet Points to Global Warming,” The New York Times (Dec. 20, 1994), C4.

  8. 8.

    Ibid.

  9. 9.

    Charles Kennel, interview by author, Oct. 6, 2021.

  10. 10.

    Bill Townsend, interview by author, Dec. 8, 2020.

  11. 11.

    Correspondence, Bill Townsend, Aug. 19, 2020; See also Jay Zwally, interview by author, Sept. 28, 2021.

  12. 12.

    Jon Gertner, The Ice at the Edge of the World (NY: Random House, 2019), 243.

  13. 13.

    Charles Kennel, Oral History, EOS Collection, NASA, Oct. 21, 2002.

  14. 14.

    Richard Leshner and Thor Hogan, The View from Space (Lawrence, Kansas: University of Kansas Press, 2019), 178.

  15. 15.

    Carl Wunsch, “TOPEX/Poseidon as a Science Mission,” in History of Meteorology, Atmosphere, and Ocean Science from Space in France and Europe by its Actors Ed. by Fellous, Jean-Lewis., (Paris, France: Institut Francais d’Histoire de l’Espace, forthcoming).

  16. 16.

    William Patzert, interview by author, Nov. 12, 2020.

  17. 17.

    Carl Wunsch, “TOPEX/Poseidon as a Science Mission,” in Fellous; See also Carl Wunsch, interview by author, Sept. 13, 2020.

  18. 18.

    Byron Tapley, interview by author, Nov. 2, 2020.; See also Byron Tapley, interview by Rebecca Wright, Oral History, EOS Collection, NASA, January 12, 2010.

  19. 19.

    Eric Lindstrom, interview by author, Aug. 28, 2020.

  20. 20.

    R.S. Nerem, “Measuring Global Mean Sea-Level Variations Using TOPEX/Poseidon Altimeter Data.” Journal of Geophysical Research (Dec. 15, 1995).

  21. 21.

    “Error Inflated Estimate of Rising Sea Level, Researchers Report,” The New York Times (July 30, 1996).

  22. 22.

    “Reining in Estimates of Sea-Level Rise,” Science News (Aug. 17, 1996).

  23. 23.

    Steven Nerem, interview by author, Nov. 5, 2021.

  24. 24.

    “TOPEX/Poseidon Sea-Level Measurements to be Revised,” NASA News Release (July 25, 1996).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Maxwell School, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY, USA

    W. Henry Lambright

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Lambright, W.H. (2023). Remaking a Mission. In: NASA and the Politics of Climate Research. Palgrave Studies in the History of Science and Technology. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-40363-7_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-40363-7_5

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