In Nature, Media Lab Professor Danielle Wood, director of the Space Enabled research group, makes the case for continuing to support NASA’s Earth-observation satellite programs as public contributions to environmental monitoring and management. The article builds on Professor Wood's ongoing experience of using NASA satellite Earth-Observation products in collaboration with leaders in Africa, Latin America, Native American Tribes, and beyond to address social challenges including managing mining, mapping invasive plants, monitoring forests and understanding air quality.

“Although commercial companies have much to offer,” she writes, “the public sector must still lead the design, operation and management of satellites, and remain committed to tracking changes on Earth comprehensively, openly and transparently. Governments have a responsibility to collect long-term observations and archive them; to curate data products that use models to fill in gaps between observations; to use satellite data to answer questions related to public safety; to ensure that measurements by distinct satellites are calibrated and validated; and to incubate the next generation of improved satellite technology.”