NASA Fears Climate Change’s Effects to its Vehicles, Equipment, Infrastructure—Here’s Why

NASA fears climate change threats to some of its vehicles, equipment, infrastructure, and facilities.

As such, NASA or the National Aeronautics and Space Administration has already laid out its detailed plan to protect its space missions from the raging and worsening effects of climate change on Earth.

NASA and Climate Change's Threat

Although the space agency of the United States primarily focuses its efforts on space, the initial work still happens here on our home planet, as per The Wired.

Not to mention that about two-thirds of the assets of NASA are exposed to the threat of flooding as they are 16 feet away from the sea level in the coasts of the US.

On top of that, some of the technologies of the space agency are exposed to other climate-related factors, such as extreme weather occurrences, steep rising or dropping of temperature, and even precipitation, according to The Independent.

NASA Facilities and Hurricane Ida

For instance, last Aug. 30, an extreme weather disturbance that goes by the name Hurricane Ida ravaged the facilities of NASA in New Orleans, Space.com reported.

The strong winds and torrential rains brought upon by the hurricane shut down the power on the Michoud Assembly Facility of the US space agency, which forced the site to rely on power generators. Thus, limiting its operations.

The said facility is home to the assembly and part manufacturing of the Space Launch Systems rockets, but its parts remained untouched by Hurricane Ida.

On top of that, the Stennis Space Center near Hancock County in Mississippi was also forced to undergo a lockdown during the landfall of the same massive weather disturbance in August.

NASA's Plans Against Climate Change

All that said, NASA has already released its climate action plan as part of the climate approach of President Joe Biden.

It is worth noting that the government is now asking its agencies to produce resilience planning and climate adaptation amid the rising cost of maintenance due to weather disturbances.

As such, the administrator of NASA, Bill Nelson, reiterated that the space agency "has unique assets it must protect," which includes "scientific equipment and capabilities."

Nelson further noted that these technologies are at the forefront in understanding the current climate crisis that the planet is dealing with, aside from its space exploration.

The NASA administrator further vowed to not only help their own agency to fight against the ill effects of the climate crisis, but the space agency would also extend a helping hand to other agencies with its data.

Meanwhile, the senior climate adviser of NASA, Gavin Schmidt, said that the agency seeks to look into various climate-related threats in the numerous locations of their assets.

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Written by Teejay Boris