Vice President Kamala Harris and Republic of Korea (ROK) President Yoon Suk Yeol saw firsthand how NASA studies climate change during a visit to NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, this afternoon.
Vice President Kamala Harris and Republic of Korea (ROK) President Yoon Suk Yeol saw firsthand Tuesday how NASA studies climate change during a visit to NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
“The climate crisis poses an existential threat to our world,” Harris said. “And to meet this threat, we must partner together to use satellite technology to monitor the impacts of that crisis on Earth. As one example, together our nations have built and placed satellites in orbit that can track air pollution in North America and Asia.”
Those missions are NASA’s recently launched Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution (TEMPO) mission and the ROK’s Geostationary Environment Monitoring Spectrometer (GEMS) mission. Both are improving life on Earth by revolutionizing the way scientists observe air quality from space.
“The United States and the Republic of Korea have a long-standing partnership across our shared interests — including science and technology at the Moon, Earth science, aeronautics research, and more,” said NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy. “Our growing cooperation is proving that the future of space is collaborative and will strengthen our scientific discovery in space and on Earth for decades to come.”
Melroy and Goddard Center Director Makenzie Lystrup joined Harris and Yoon on the tour, which included a meeting with Korean-American scientists and a briefing on the importance of space to addressing climate change.
During their visit, Harris and Yoon also saw NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, currently under construction at Goddard. The telescope is designed to unravel the secrets of dark energy and dark matter, search for and image exoplanets, and explore many topics in infrared astrophysics.
“We were honored to demonstrate today how Goddard continues to make groundbreaking discoveries in Earth and space science, as well as how our other work supports NASA’s mission for the benefit of humanity,” Lystrup said.
Melroy and Korean Minister of Science and ICT Lee Jong-ho signed a joint statement of intent between the U.S. and ROK that promises to further cooperation in science and exploration.
Harris previously visited Goddard in 2021 to discuss with scientists and engineers the agency’s range of Earth science missions that help address climate challenges.
View photos of the visit on NASA Headquarters’ Flickr page: https://go.nasa.gov/3Aw1mKK
By Tayler Gilmore
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
Media contact: Rob Garner
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
