Politics of Data

One of the most interesting aspects of NISAR’s mission is the data collection and how it will be handled. The creation of NISAR is already a joint effort by an Indian space agency and NASA. However, this is not the first international collaboration. A lot of earth-orbiting satellites have been created by international space organizations that then share data with the rest of the world. Normally, however, specific scientists or communities that have been approved can request that data, rather than it begin released to the general populous. For example, the United States and NASA have been using the European Satellites Sentinel 1A and 1B. Despite this access, these satellites have not be nearly as consistent as NISAR will be. NISAR will be able to get two shots of earth every 12 days from different angles, with a radar that is stronger than it’s ever been.

All of the data from NISAR will be collected and be accessible by the public, as is much of NASA’s information. It’s interesting how the United States might be associated with openness and honesty in the space world but is not known for honesty in other aspects. NASA has tried to do everything it can to increase public understanding and knowledge of what they are doing, especially with NISAR. They have created interactive applications that allow anyone to visualize where NISAR will be going, look at the changes in the earth’s atmosphere over time, look at climate change, changes in gravity, and more. They want to make this information public for not only general public knowledge- but because science can be political. With our current President questioning climate change and the validity of facts and science, it is more important than ever that the general populous is able to visualize climate change in a way they can understand. It is vital to our safety and the safety of our posterity to take care of the environment and ensure that we don’t run out of resources and drown the world.


NISAR will be able to collect 20 terabytes of data a day, which will completely increase the amount we understand about changes that are going on around us. This could be incredibly helpful in managing farming, deforestation, and anything else that will affect our environment. Not every country, however, is too thrilled about the United States giving out access to this information. For example, some countries, such as Africa, do not want access to this information and they don’t want large countries like ours looking into what they are doing. Often times they burn large areas of forest because it is more financially advantageous to remove the forests to plant agricultural fields. While this might benefit their economy, it can be detrimental to the environment, as trees help reduce the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Similarly, Mexico often denies our help and our information because they believe in being self-sufficient. Although it is great that we have this data and anyone can access it, it brings up issues of international and national politics and privacy. Only time will tell how it will change how we see the world.




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

NISAR - Post 6

NISAR When first learning about the NISAR mission I was more interested in learning about the applications of the satellite more than how the satellite works. Some specific things I am interested in are looking at forest resources, glacial melting and ground water levels. The condition of the earth has always been important to me and NISAR has provided me with specific information from which I can make art that addresses these issues. In my opinion, the information NISAR will provide will be crucial to scientists to study climate change and human impact on the environment. I have been inspired to try and make more people aware about the changes that are occurring and why we should care. Growing up spending a lot of time outdoors in forests, in the ocean, or on mountains has allowed me to develop a lot respect for our earth. It saddens me how quickly the Amazon is disappearing, as one example, and how unaware people are of the effects these changes will have. NISAR’s mission w...
Read more

Albrecht Dürer

Image
Albrecht D ü rer was a German painter and printmaker who greatly influenced the field of science during the Northern Renaissance. Although most people know D ü rer for his beautiful woodcut of Adam and Eve, he also produced many groundbreaking works in various mediums. He drafted the first perspective terrestrial maps, anatomical Rhinos, maps of the sky, the effects of syphilis, and more. Although D ü rer might not have been correct in all of his assumptions when creating art, his pieces help begin a shift in the way people visualized science and created a greater interest in the fields that he studied. At the time, D ü rer was known and respected as an equal in the field of science. With the mastery of perspective being so new, his visualizations of the earth gained him respect in his early twenties. He had to use geometry and complex thinking in order to achieve the dimensions that he was able to during that time. His artistic and storytelling flare made his work intriguing and ...
Read more

Blog #4 Second Trip to NASA

In the presentations by Paul Rosen and Tom Farr, I learned an incredible amount about water in California and its relationship to the drought. Mr. Rosen introduced the function of the upcoming satellite NISAR, which has a purpose of recording information about the earth’s land and ice surfaces. The satellite will send magnetic waves to the earth's surface to record its topographical features. The images will be taken on a regular cycle so that change in the earth’s surface can be closely recorded. It will measure things such as glacier melting or ground level changes, either from natural disasters, like earthquakes or sinking from water extraction. What I learned about water from the NISAR presentation was that the Central Valley of California is sinking. NISAR, among other things will measure these areas of land in California that have subsided. The satellite also has the capability to record internal changes in the earth's surface. Mr. Rosen showed us some visual represen...
Read more