Earth science priorities, NASA is presenting its responses to all the Academy's recommendations at a meeting of the BSD this week.

EOS Data and Information System. In this age of information, a state-of-the-art, evolving system to provide data is essential. Mission to Planet Earth has designed the Earth Observing System Data and Information System (known as "EOSDIS") to relay large amounts of information to scientists, educators, governments, businesses, and the general public. Through EOSDIS, any data set can be accessed (via the Internet and other means) by thousands of users at the same time throughout the world. As the amount of data and the number of people using the system increases, the system is designed to take advantage of advances in technology to provide timely and comprehensive information.

To derive optimal benefit from climate change research, EOSDIS is designed to provide information at the lowest possible cost (the marginal cost of reproduction) to anyone, anywhere on Earth. The more diverse the group of people working on a project, the greater the opportunity for discovery. And the data system may also influence behavior around the world. For example, a Swedish scientist writing a paper on deforestation in Germany may influence a Chinese forestry official to take steps to prevent repeating a harmful situation in his own country.

In their report, the Academy recommended that Mission to Planet Earth reconsider the means by which it planned to generate and distribute data products. As noted above, NASA is actively considering innovative approaches to accomplish this and we will consult with the Congress before any final decisions are made.

Mission to Planet Earth is Moving Forward

From a scientific and practical basis, we urgently need to better understand how our global environment works. We have, in concert with our numerous domestic and international partners, designed a system of observation and analysis to meet this challenge. We know that, because it is rooted in solid science, this system will provide us with both a wealth of near-term benefits and answers to fundamental, long-term questions. But, to preserve this continuity in science, we have radically altered our philosophy of the program, opening ourselves to new opportunities and approaches. Mission to Planet Earth will always be an evolving cutting-edge science program: we are committed to proactive measures to continually infuse new technologies as they emerge and create an environment for enhanced commercial opportunities.

Once before, NASA missions and people helped change the way we think about the Earth. Over time, we are confident that the data and information from

Mission to Planet Earth will help us and our children think clearly about the world we all live on.

Thank you.

CHARLES F. KENNEL

Associate Administrator for
Mission to Planet Earth

NASA Headquarters
Washington, DC

Effective January 6, 1994, Charles F. Kennel, a professor in the UCLA Department of Physics, has been appointed to a two-year post to direct NASA's Mission to Planet Earth--the space agency's long-range research program to study the Earth's environment.

As Associate Administrator for Mission to Planet Earth, Dr. Kennel will manage NASA's program that studies the interaction of the various elements air, water, land, and life -- that make up the Earth system. Mission to Planet Earth strives to improve understanding of the Earth and how it is changing, with research on some of the most critical topics facing us today: global warming, ozone depletion, and deforestation. In close cooperation with other Federal agencies and international partners, Mission to Planet Earth conducts a comprehensive program of observations (from satellites. aircraft, the Space Shuttle, and the ground), data analysis, basic research, and modeling exploring a broad range of global change issues. The program is designed to provide policymakers with the information needed to make long-term decisions on the future of the Earth's environment.

Dr. Kennel has a long and distinguished career in space science. He received an A.B. from Harvard College in 1959 and a Ph.D. in Astrophysical Sciences from Princeton University in 1964. He has been a tenured member of the UCLA Department of Physics since 1967, and was its chairman from 1983 to 1986. He became a member of UCLA's Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics in 1971, and is an Associate Director of UCLA's Institute for Plasma Physics and Fusion Research. He is author or co-author of over 225 experimental and theoretical publications in plasma physics, space plasma physics, planetary science, astrophysics, and nonlinear science.

Dr. Kennel has been a Fulbright scholar, a Guggenheim scholar, and a Fairchild Professor at the California Institute of Technology. He is a fellow of the American Geophysical Union, the American Physical Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a member of the International Academy of Astronautics and the U.S.

UNDERSTANDING OUR
CHANGING PLANET:

NASA's Mission to Planet Earth

In the last three decades, we have changed the way we think about our planet. Apollo astronauts observed the Earth as a blue marble against a vast background of darkness -beautiful, but finite and ever changing. Our missions to other planets have revealed them to be fascinating and diverse, but also sterile. We know of no place like Earth.

NASA has developed a program, called Mission to Planet Earth, that captures our spirit of space exploration and focuses it back on our own planet. Only from space can we obtain the global perspective needed to better understand how all of the parts of the Earth's environment - air, water, land and life - interact and make life possible. Data and analyses from Mission to Planet Earth, which includes extensive cooperation and contributions from other Federal agencies and other nations, are revealing some of the Earth's secrets. But the most revealing - and useful -- discoveries are yet to come.

By using satellites and other tools to study the Earth, we hope to expand our understanding of how natural processes affect us, and how we might be affecting them. Such studies will yield improved weather forecasts, tools for managing agriculture and forests, information for fishermen and coastal planners, and, eventually, an ability to predict how the climate will change in the future.

Just as the first weather and communications satellites fundamentally changed our way of thinking about those fields, so the elements of Mission to Planet Earth will expand our perspective of the global environment and climate. Working together with the nations of the world, we are well on our way to improving our knowledge of the Earth and using that knowledge to the benefit of all humanity.