The U.S. must take action to ensure the...

The U.S. must take action to ensure the long-term success of its weather satellite system, said the Space Foundation in a report released Tuesday (http://bit.ly/17BfkWl). The research was conducted by Mariel Borowitz, a research analyst for the organization, it said. The foundation made recommendations, including increasing international cooperation on weather satellite programs and working with commercial weather satellite data providers, “to augment current weather satellite capabilities and improve weather forecasting,” it said. Weather satellites provide an excellent opportunity for international cooperation, “because all countries require the same types of global data for numerical weather forecasting models,” it said. The report suggested joint constellation planning, “in which each partner is responsible for developing satellites for one portion of the constellation.” Russia and China could be included in the nation’s current polar orbiting agreement with Europe, which could promote cost-sharing and other benefits, it said. Despite strong interests from industry, there are numerous challenges to using commercial data sources to supplement the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s core satellite systems, the report said: The agency’s open data policy “may conflict with the proprietary data management incentives of the commercial space sector.” Despite the challenges, benefits from partnerships with industry are still possible, it said: Commercial entities are thought to be more efficient, “with incentives to reduce operating costs to increase profits.” The U.S. also should provide accurate and stable budget estimates, “choose forward-looking budget savings rather than shortsighted options and provide full and stable funding for existing programs,” it said. With billions of dollars of property and productivity, the U.S. “must determine whether it is providing the correct level of funding, management and strategic direction for its weather systems,” it said.