NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

U.S. Department of State
Washington, D.C.

Thank you Admiral Lautenbacher for your very thoughtful and personal introduction. Connie's been a great friend for a lot of years. We had a chance to serve together when he was in uniform in the Naval service and I was in a civilian capacity in that regard. He's a fellow I've had a great chance to work with professionally and personally. So it's a great opportunity I think to present this afternoon, but all the more special by the opportunity to be introduced by a great friend in Connie Lautenbacher.

This week it is an important event I think across the board for all the efforts we are engaged in for Earth Observation.

It is a tremendous privilege to speak before this distinguished gathering in a building known for historic peace conferences and diplomatic endeavors that have advanced progress for all humanity from this vantage point for many years.

This week, we intend to make history again as we strive to achieve tangible progress in Earth Observation research and applications for societal benefit.

Now recognizing this is an after lunch discussion, I understand there is always the great hazard of losing half of the group as a consequence of insomnia that may occur, or the other half that want not to be insomniacs, and, therefore rest. And so, it is in the fond hopes that by using a video in a few moments here in this discussion that may at least keep the insomniacs focused, and those who are not will be equally be rested in the activity this afternoon. So in both ways all parties who are participants this afternoon will gain benefit.

A block from here, on the grounds of the National Academy of Sciences, there's a statute that honors one of the giants of the 20th century, Dr. Albert Einstein. Speaking at Cal Tech, he once observed: "Concern for man himself and his fate must always form the chief interest of all technical endeavors…in order that the creations of our minds shall be a blessing and not a curse to mankind. Never forget this in the midst of your diagrams and equations."

As representatives of the world's foremost scientific ministries, agencies and organizations our task is indeed to focus our technical capabilities on the acquisition of knowledge that will have a great bearing on the future of humanity. And that's why we are all here. This summit underscores our serious intention to establish a sustainable capability to observe the Earth from a variety of vantage points, including from space, in order to improve the quality of life for all of us.

When the space age dawned we knew that the ability to propel robotic spacecraft and humans beyond the gravity of our home planet would open up untold avenues of exploration and discovery throughout the Solar System and beyond.

What we didn't fathom at the time was how comprehensive observations of the Earth system from space would lead to a significant new field of scientific inquiry.

Now as often is the case in science, advances in our research methods and means of understanding were first propelled by inspiration, by a new way of thinking about our world.

Thirty-five years ago our lunar-orbiting Apollo Eight crew became the first explorers to venture beyond low Earth orbit. They sent back home stunning views of the Earth as a globe, surrounded by the vast void of the heavens.

This view, more than any other obtained from the space program, dramatically underscored that we are all in the journey of life together and motivated an intensive scientific effort to better understand how our home planet functions.

Today we are armed with a humble perspective about our place in the universe. Our space science expert Dr. Ed Weiler refers to our collective quest in the space science community as the effort to scrape the last crumb from the plate of human arrogance. We are indeed in this vast universe just a small piece. But a network of satellites and complementary air and ground observations mounted by a cooperative international effort is underway to understand this small place within the universe. We are now making significant strides in the study of global change, and to view local changes in their global context, so that we may be able to improve the lot in life of billions of people.

Just this week, for example, we announced that NASA satellite observations have provided the first evidence that the rate of ozone depletion in the Earth's upper atmosphere is decreasing, possibly indicating the first stage of ozone layer recovery. It is the quality of these observations that may lead us to some of the conclusions of exactly how that recovery may be advanced.

I might add that the remarkable research facility in low-earth orbit known as the International Space Station also plays a useful role in the study of Earth's climate, vegetation and crops. Onboard the International Space Station, the Commander of our Expedition Seven, Yuri Malenchenko, and our Science Officer, Ed Lu, observed on Tuesday of this week the Station's 1,000th day of continuous operations. The crew is maintaining the Earth Knowledge Acquired by Middle Schools or EarthKAM project. We had a chance to speak to them on Tuesday. My colleague Yuri Koptev, the Director General of Rosaviakosmos, the Russian Aviation and Space Agency, joined us as we spoke to them to celebrate that important milestone--a thousand days of continuous presence in low Earth orbit. The EarthKam project involves middle school students from around the world. And these two crewmembers are conducting that effort. Through the optical quality window in the Destiny Lab, students have taken more than 6,000 photos of Earth via the EarthKam to support classes in Earth science, geography, social studies, mathematics and art.

Our International Space Station crew also perform a number of experiments in other scientific disciplines. And from these experiments, scientists are: learning better methods of drug testing; developing models that predict or explain the progress of disease; investigating how to use microbes to make antibiotics; and determining how to improve manufacturing processes. It is all of these capabilities and scientific improvements that we anticipate as a consequence of the continued deployment of laboratory modules. And my friend Mr. Yamanouchi (Shuichiro Yamanouchi), the President of the now to be named Japanese Aerospace and Exploration Agency has been engaged in delivery of several of those modules which are now at the Kennedy Space Center and which are to be deployed to the International Space Station as soon as we return to flight.

Let me now return our focus to Earth Observation science. In the 43 years since NASA launched our first weather satellite, TIROS, we have progressed from Earth science to Earth system science, the recognition that land, oceans, atmosphere and all forms of life interact in complex and dynamic ways.

We are making good use of this insight. Nations around the world are collaborating in developing satellite observing systems for both polar and geostationary orbits that are helping to significantly improve our short-term weather forecasting capabilities. Here in the United States, our colleagues in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration--I said that right Connie, NOAA, of course--and Defense Department are taking the lead on developing next generation weather satellites, and we are assisting them in the effort to improve weather forecasting accuracy from three to five days, to seven to ten days. Of course we have a longer-term objective, to develop seasonal, decadal and century long Earth system models to accurately understand how our climate behaves. This knowledge is vital to global economic and societal well-being, to advancing our common interest in raising living standards around the globe, and to do so in ways that will leave intact for future generations our Earth's unique ability to sustain life.

Now working with our international partners, we are well on our way to achieving this goal, with deployment of the first phase of our Earth Observing System slated to be complete by next year. These satellites concurrently observe the major interactions of the land, oceans, atmosphere, ice, and life that comprise the Earth system.

Since 2002, we have successfully launched the Aqua satellite with Brazil and Japan, which is studying the global water cycle; the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment, or GRACE, the twin satellites with Germany--my friend Sigmar Wittig (Chairman of the Board, German Aerospace Center) is here as well; we are doing this in cooperation with the DLR (German Aerospace Center) effort to help us measure changes in Earth's gravity field and enable a better understanding of ocean dynamics; the NASA-French Jason oceanographic satellite--I see Claudia Haignere (French Minister of Research and Technology) here as well, as a consequence of our efforts and collaboration with France to develop that capability; the Sea Winds scatterometer microwave radar on the Japanese Adeos II satellite that is measuring near-surface wind velocity over Earth's oceans; and the SORCE satellite, which is helping scientists understand the influences of the Sun's variability on our climate. All of these satellites and instruments are marvels of modern science and technology. And they are all efforts that are underway now.

Currently, there are 18 NASA Earth Science research satellites on-orbit with a suite of over 80 instruments. The satellites we are developing today, and still others to follow in the coming decade, will extend Earth observations in temporal, spatial, and spectral resolution, and will help us to provide key data on the major uncertainties in climate that are the priority objectives of the recently revised U.S. Climate Change Science endeavor.

These observing networks will also allow us to study and understand the global carbon cycle, the Earth's water cycle, atmospheric composition, and land cover change--to enable the scientific community to address with more confidence the key scientific questions that motivate the U.S. Climate Change Research Initiative.

In addition to developing and managing these unique Earth observing systems and developing useful new imager, radar and laser technologies for Earth observation, NASA is working to effectively disseminate to the scientific community the data and information we produce. Every day we gather and distribute terabytes of Earth Science data and information to millions of researchers and other users around the globe. It is easier today to access that information than ever, ever before.

To be certain, much of the attention paid to our Earth Observing System is in the context of the information it is providing scientists and decision makers in assessing global climate change. The President and our Administration are serious about this research agenda because we recognize that human behavior is playing a part in the functioning of the Earth's climate system. The more we understand of exactly what we are doing to contribute to those circumstances the more we can erect public policy regimes that can help deal and respond to those matters of behavior. Collecting the data is essential for the purpose of developing that important public policy regime.

We should also underscore, however, the value of these observations beyond just long-term climate forecasting. Everything from aviation safety, disaster mitigation, wildfire prevention, disease prevention, crop monitoring and land-use planning benefit from the observing systems we have in place.

All of these benefits are helping NASA meet our first mission objective of "understanding and protecting the home planet." They along with other two objectives of "exploring the Universe and searching for life and inspiring the next generation of explorers" motivates everything we do, and it is the first among those three objectives: to understand and protect the home planet.

While pursuing our mission goals we place great value on the partnerships that we have made with the nations, agencies and organizations represented in this room. In our collective grasp, thanks to the cooperative international efforts underway we are developing a fully functioning global ocean observing system, a global climate observing system, and a global terrestrial observing system.

In fact, the primary purpose of this summit is for all the partner agencies and organizations to take the first historic steps toward drawing such pieces as land, ocean and atmosphere-based in situ observing systems, together with space-based systems into a comprehensive and coordinated Earth Observation System.

This Summit represents a turning point in international scientific collaboration that will allow us to proceed in Earth observations across a much broader front.

The keys to success are sustained commitments from all of the nations participating in this conference, open architectures that will welcome new entrants in this important scientific endeavor, and the continued advancement of knowledge technologies that will allow us to process and communicate Earth Science data, information and resulting knowledge to decision makers and the citizens we all work for.

If our current momentum continues in the years ahead, I believe we can achieve some amazing scientific progress.

Now as I promised is a short video that peers into our near-term future, to imagine the kinds of useful products possible from the Integrated Global Observing System we can deploy in the years to come. We hope the video will prompt further thinking about the kinds of collaborations we can undertake to enhance our understanding of the Earth system. Let's roll the video.

(6 Minute Video Presented)

Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of this capability displayed here is it requires very little in the way of new technology. What it does require is the will that we all participate and collaborate to make it possible.

Finally, I'd like to make a brief point about the ultimate goal of this impressive international research effort.

We make extensive observations of the Earth for the same reasons that the first human civilizations began making scientific observations of tides and rainfall patterns. The twin motivations of scientific curiosity and practical application have always been part of our makeup.

With the same motivations--the pull of our innate curiosity and our desire to achieve practical benefit--we continue the quest for knowledge about our world with even more sophisticated tools.

We are driven to understand. We will use the knowledge derived from our Earth Observation Systems to help feed our people, to assure the availability of fresh water, and to protect vulnerable populations from natural and man-made disaster.

We can and will employ our space and surface-based observations to improve our predictive models and better prepare for the changes to come.

I think we can be proud of our work on this noble and scientifically challenging endeavor. Our children and grandchildren will be ultimately the beneficiaries of this good work.

But let us move forward together, using the Declaration proposed and agreed to here as our launching pad for the comprehensive and coordinated Earth Observation System of the future. I thank you for your attention.