High Hopes

Abstract

This chapter covers the 1998–2001 period. Ghassem Asrar became associate administrator and changed the name of his division from “Mission to Planet Earth” to “Earth Science.” He wished to emphasize the science and fly under the intensifying political radar of climate change. He built on TOPEX/Poseidon and Jason-1 success by getting a decision for a Jason-2 follow-on. This would feature a new technology called wide-swath altimetry. Goldin was adamant that NASA do R&D, not operations, or routine monitoring. He wanted innovation, firsts. Asrar also wanted to emphasize “the new” and sought to transfer Jason-2 to NOAA and its European counterpart, the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) when it was mature. Meanwhile, he continued the NASA–CNES alliance. All seemed well.