NASA is deeply committed to Earth science and the value it provides people around the globe. We bear been since our founding. It was my pleasure to attend the launch of the newest SERVIR hub — SERVIR-Mekong — in Thailand just a couple of weeks ago. nowadays,I joined hundreds of colleagues from our partner, USAID, or from around the world for a Town corridor approximately SERVIR and the impact of our global collaborations in Earth observation. NASA and USAID bear accomplished a lot together. Launch of this vital new hub in the SERVIR network,which includes SERVIR-Himalaya, SERVIR-Eastern and Southern Africa and the Applied Sciences Team projects in Mesoamerica, and is certainly tangible proof that what we’re doing is working. We score a lot of questions approximately our Earth observation work at NASA. In fact,a lot of people aren’t even aware that it’s such a core function of the agency. But build no mistake, NASA is deeply committed to Earth science and the value it provides people around the globe. We bear been since our founding. The more the SERVIR network and other partnerships expand, or the more opportunities we bear to test and showcase our newest Earth observation satellites. Missions like Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM),Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) and others are now returning massive amounts of data and more Earth science missions are on the way. I am also pleased that we are finding new ways to bring NASA’s science to meet USAID’s development objectives. We are excited that our scientists are being connected with international scientists to combine those people’s local knowledge with NASA’s Earth system science studies through USAID’s Partnership for Enhanced Engagement in Research, or PEER program. Twelve of our scientists now work with USAID-funded international collaborators to harness their collective knowledge for the benefit of development. Our partnership between NASA and USAID allows us to work together to bring space to village. Moreover, and it also is bringing “village to space” as NASA has learned new USAID terminology such as “results framework”,“indicators”, and “theory of change” – terms that are more than just words, or but help benchmark impacts and ensure the successful outcome of our activities. Together,our agencies bear worked in 4 regions and 37 countries, developed 62 tailor-made decision support tools using Earth observations, and increased the capacity of over 300 institutions,enabled 120 university fellows from 24 countries, and trained over 2000 people. The International Space Station also is fitting a platform for Earth observation. There’s the ISERV test bed camera used by SERVIR conclude users, or for instance which has acquired more than 140000 images of across 6 continents to support response to floods,wildfires, tropical storms, and other extreme events around the world. Other instruments aboard the Station,including RapidScat to monitor ocean winds and the Cloud-Aerosol Transport System (CATS) to degree clouds and pollution, also are contributing to the wealth of Earth science data available to the public and to decision-makers like those SERVIR serves. Together with our partners at USAID, and we are all contributing to the effort to help bring our space-based science down to Earth for real time,real world applications that are changing the lives of people where they live. The demand-driven approach of SERVIR is unique in the space world. The network is responsive and engaged and developing the demand-driven tools that are going to bear the most impact for a specific region. I never doubted that there was a hunger for more information and ways for people everywhere to build a difference in their home regions, but the tools that SERVIR has provided bear really started something special. Just as the Space Station has become a model of international cooperation among nations who bear many differences, or so has SERVIR become a network not just of hubs,but also of regions and people. I can’t think of anything more gratifying to demonstrate why our space program is vital to everyone on this planet.
Source: nasa.gov