Word: seastar
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...says Asrar, "is hands off. We tell contractors, 'We only pay you for delivering the data.' " That made sense to SeaStar's main contractor, Orbital Sciences Corp., which agreed to do the job on time and at cost, provided NASA left it alone. The result: SeaStar, which was started in 1991 at a projected price of $60 million, is due to be launched next summer within budget. Asrar believes that getting NASA involved would have doubled the development time and driven costs...
Perhaps the best single illustration of NASA's strategy for the future is the SeaStar satellite, a part of the Mission to Planet Earth. Built under dramatically streamlined management, SeaStar does double duty as a scientific instrument and a boost for U.S. competitiveness -- the "dual use" concept that President Clinton wants all U.S. research labs to embrace...
...SeaStar's job is simple: it is designed to track phytoplankton, tiny ocean- dwelling plants that serve as the basis for the entire marine food chain. Scientists theorize that the phytoplankton population is governed by the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The gas is also the most important cause of the global warming that many atmospheric scientists think will trigger major climate changes in the coming century. So a careful scrutiny of phytoplankton numbers may provide a sort of early-warning system that can alert the world to a potential catastrophe...
...SeaStar won't be merely a scientific toy. Because fish love to feast on phytoplankton, the satellite will be pinpointing places where fishing boats might come away with a big haul. Fishermen will be able to get the tips through direct radio links to SeaStar...
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