WASHINGTON, Sept. 9, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Vice President Kamala Harris highlighted the significance of local weather, human spaceflight, and STEM training in the course of the Biden-Harris Administration’s second National Space Council assembly Friday, held at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.
“For generations, with our allies and partners around the globe, America has led our world in the exploration and use of space,” stated Harris. “Our leadership has been guided by a set of fundamental principles – cooperation, security, ambition, and public trust – which is the recognition, of course, that space can and must be protected for the benefit of all people. There is so much we still don’t know and so much we still haven’t done – space remains a place of undiscovered and unrealized opportunity. Our test and our responsibility is to work together to guide humanity forward into this new frontier and to make real the incredible potential of space for all people.”
For greater than 50 years, NASA satellites have offered open-source and publicly obtainable information on Earth’s land, water, temperature, climate, and local weather. Improving entry to key local weather info is a precedence for the company. Building on his previous announcement, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson launched the primary idea, and shared a brand new video for the Earth Information Center. The middle will permit the general public to see how the Earth is altering and information determination makers to mitigate, adapt, and reply to local weather change.
“Just like we use mission control to monitor operations during spaceflight, we’re embarking on this effort to monitor conditions here on our home planet, and it will be available to everyone in an easy-to-access format,” Nelson stated.
Planning for the Earth Information Center is underway with the preliminary section offering an interactive visible show of images and information from NASA and different authorities companies. NASA Headquarters plans to deal with this preliminary interactive show with targets to broaden in individual and digital entry over the subsequent 5 years.
The Vice President additionally underscored the necessary analysis performed on the International Space Station that may allow lengthy length stays on the Moon and future human missions to Mars, along with advantages to life right here on Earth.
“NASA uses the International Space Station to conduct critical research on the risks associated with future Mars missions – space radiation, isolation, and distance from Earth, just to name a few. It’s also a testbed to develop the technologies we’ll need for long duration stays on the Moon, where we will build an Artemis Base Camp on the surface and Gateway outpost in lunar orbit,” Nelson stated. “Research on the space station demonstrates that the benefits of microgravity are not just for discovery. We also develop new technologies that improve life on Earth, like treatments for cancer.”
In conjunction with the assembly, NASA introduced a brand new Space Grant Okay-12 Inclusiveness and Diversity in STEM (SG KIDS) alternative that may award greater than $4 million to establishments throughout the U.S. to assist convey the thrill of NASA and STEM to historically underserved and underrepresented teams of center and highschool college students. The announcement is part of a broader set of commitments made by public, non-public, and philanthropic companions introduced by the Vice President to assist in the recruitment and growth of the subsequent technology of the house workforce.
SG KIDS additionally addresses the White House Executive Order on Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government, in addition to NASA Administrator Bill Nelson’s concentrate on offering genuine STEM alternatives to Okay-12 college students.
While at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, Vice President Harris toured the company’s mission management with Nelson and Johnson Center Director Vanessa Wyche. The Vice President additionally spoke with NASA astronauts Bob Hines, Kjell Lindgren, and Jessica Watkins, residing and dealing aboard the International Space Station about how their analysis advantages life on Earth, helps lengthy length house flight, and protects our planet.
The Vice President additionally obtained a tour of the Space Vehicle Mockup Facility (SVMF), the place house flight crews and their assist personnel obtain world class coaching on high-fidelity {hardware} for real-time mission assist. The SVMF consists of house station, Orion, Commercial car mockups, part-task trainers and rack interfaces, a Precision Air Bearing Floor, and a Partial Gravity Simulator.
A recording of the complete National Space Council assembly is accessible on-line at:
SOURCE NASA
