Strengthened Monitoring Capability a Focus of Upcoming “Inside Aerospace” Forum
The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) today called upon the administration and Congress to begin the urgent task of working with the aerospace community to establish a viable roadmap to advance and sustain an operational global climate monitoring system and pledged its expertise to assist in that development.
AIAA President David Thompson stated: “Today, we join the celebration of Earth Day with a pledge to increase our understanding of our planet’s climate. Toward that goal, we call upon the administration and Congress to engage with the private sector and the aerospace community, and begin the hard work necessary for establishing a viable roadmap for an operational global climate monitoring system. Such a system will not only further our understanding of the changing planet, but also underpin a robust information infrastructure for climate, like we have already for weather. We have seen successful missions and projects used by researchers and scientists that provided critical, unbiased climate data. In the future, such data are necessary also for guiding compliance with international climate regimes, while also determining the effectiveness of those regimes.”
He continued: “Using aerospace technologies and systems, it is essential to establish a viable framework for integrating critical space, air, ocean, and land-based monitoring systems. The data gathered from these multiple systems will be critical to providing a precise understanding of global climate change rather than relying on our current outdated patchwork of monitoring networks.”
The AIAA will discuss this topic, and the need for green aerospace systems, at its upcoming conference, “Inside Aerospace: Aerospace Leadership for Energy and Environmental Challenges,” May 11-12, at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City, Arlington, Va. This two-day conference features notable speakers and prominent climate scientists, reinforcing previous work toward a more efficient, precise, and integrated set of Earth and climate monitoring systems.
For more information about “Inside Aerospace: Aerospace Leadership for Energy and Environmental Challenges,” or to register, visit www.aiaa.org/events/insideaerospace or contact Duane Hyland at 703.264.7558 or duaneh@aiaa.org. Media registration is complimentary for credentialed members of the press.
AIAA is the world’s largest technical society dedicated to the global aerospace profession. With more than 35,000 individual members worldwide, and 90 corporate members, AIAA brings together industry, academia, and government to advance engineering and science in aviation, space, and defense. For more information, visit www.aiaa.org.
