A2: NASA/NOAA Won’t Cooperate
Relations good now – DSCOVR will improve them
Clark 2009
[Stephen, “Mothballed Satellite Sits In Warehouse, Waits For New Life”, Space.com, http://www.space.com/2286-mothballed-satellite-sits-warehouse-waits-life.html, BJM]
Lubchenco declined an interview request until the confirmation process is completed, but she pledged renewed cooperation with NASA during a Senate hearing last month. "I believe that both NOAA and NASA intend to have the best possible relationship," Lubchenco said. NASA already handles acquisition and some management duties for NOAA weather satellites. A new DSCOVR mission would also require a strong partnership between the agencies.
***Answers to Off Case
A2: Smart Grid CP
A smart grid would actually be more vulnerable to a EMP disruption from a solar storm
Eccleston, Chief Consultant for the Environmental Planning and NEPA Services Corporation and Stuyvenberg, Environmental Project Manager, US Nuclear Regulatory Comission, 2011
(Charles and Andrew, Environmental Quality Management, “The Perfect Electrical Storm? “ Volume 20, Issue 3, Article first published online: 14 MAR 2011, DOI 10.1002/tqem / Spring 2011 / 43 Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com) http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/tqem.20288/pdf , accessed 7-2-11, ASR)
The Smarter Grid? Some assume that an upgraded electrical grid—especially the so-called “smart grid”— would be more resilient in the face of disruptions such as those caused by solar flares and EMPs. A smart grid would in fact offer some advantages when power systems are operating normally. For example, it could allow the electrical system to determine where the regional demand for power is highest, facilitating the allocation of extra (albeit more expensive) electricity to areas where it is needed most. Using sensor-driven mechanisms, a smart grid would allow power transmission and distribution systems to converse back and forth with devices that are plugged into them. The smart grid could also perform important functions, such as using computer programs to charge electric cars only at night or other offpeak times, when demand is low. Unfortunately, however, the smart grid would also have an Achilles’ heel. Because it relies so heavily on computer-controlled circuits and sensors, smart-grid technology would be even more vulnerable than existing systems in the event of a solar storm or EMP disruption. Sensitive electronics (such as the computers used to run the smart grid) would be among the first devices to succumb.
A2: Agent CP’s [International/Privates]
Only the federal government can solve – China and private actors would have to build from scratch
Baker et al, University of Colorado Boulder Professor of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences, 2008
(Daniel, Space Studies Board Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences, National Research Council of the National Academies “Severe Space Weather Events--Understanding Societal and Economic Impacts Workshop Report: Committee on the Societal and Economic Impacts of Severe Space Weather Events:A Workshop, National Research Council” http://www.nap.edu/catalog/12507.html, 2008, accessed 7-21-11, ASR)
Pursuing this theme, several participants commented on a perceived fragility, or lack of robustness, in the nation’s capacity for space weather monitoring. John Kappenman (Metatech Corporation) observed that many key parts of the system have no backups: single points of failure, he argued, could substantially degrade or even halt operations. A critical weakness in the present system, noted by a number of participants, is the reliance on the aging Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) spacecraft as virtually the nation’s sole upstream solar wind monitor. ACE, positioned at L1,1 is now 11 years old, well beyond its planned operational life, and the detector heads are losing gain. “There could be an electronic failure,” Charles Holmes (NASA Headquarters) pointed out. “So it is a vulnerable system.” As Baker noted, the loss of L1 solar wind measurements such as are provided by ACE “would be a devastating loss to the national space weather capability.” In a presentation given the previous day, Thomas Bodgan of NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center listed as one of NOAA’s “critical new directions” to “secure [an] operational L1 monitor.” It was clear from the comments of the participants, however, that no clear replacement for ACE is coming on line soon. Devrie Intriligator (Carmel Research Center, Inc.) noted that the possibility of an L1 monitor supplied by private industry had been discussed at other workshops. Although the Chinese are planning an L1 monitor as part of the KuaFu space weather project, it will not be launched for several years. Moreover, as William Murtagh (NOAA) cautioned, national security concerns must be taken into account when decisions about the follow-on to ACE are being made. On an encouraging note, Murtagh reported that the NASA Authorization Act (House Rule 6063, Section 1101) charges the Office of Science and Technology Policy to work with NOAA, NASA, other federal agencies, and industry to develop a plan for sustaining solar wind measurements from an L1-based spacecraft.
Federal law blocks international actors from launching NASA payloads
Clark 2009
[Stephen, “Mothballed Satellite Sits In Warehouse, Waits For New Life”, Space.com, http://www.space.com/2286-mothballed-satellite-sits-warehouse-waits-life.html, BJM]
Triana was renamed DSCOVR before NASA quietly cancelled the mission in 2005, citing the dwindling number of remaining shuttle flights and a lack of funding to refurbish and launch the satellite. The cancellation came after NASA had spent $97 million on the project, Cole said. France and Ukraine later proposed launching DSCOVR on Ariane and Tsyklon rockets, but NASA did not accept the offer, according to Valero. The Ukrainian plan even included a free launch, Valero said. But federal law restricts NASA payloads launching on foreign rockets.
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