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Andrew Ridd

Professor Jim Beatty

English 2010

April 23, 2021

NASA Funding and Feeding America

When NASA’s Perseverance rover landed on Mars in early February it brought with it a

small helicopter named Ingenuity. Weighing in at less than two kilograms and with a body no

larger than a softball, little Ingenuity is about to become the first man-made vehicle to make a

flight on another world. This may be a technological marvel and astounding engineering

achievement, but it may be difficult to draw a connection to this mission and benefits to

everyday American families. NASA spending $85 million to fly a softball on a planet 225

million kilometers away seems like a lot of money to the over 45 million Americans who

struggle to put food on their tables, and the over 34 million Americans that live in poverty, based

on the latest estimates from the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the

2019 census (census.gov). Ingenuity may be the latest big-name project in a series of ambitious

missions NASA undertakes, but its mission is far from the only work that benefits the inhabitants

of Earth. With so many pressing issues affecting American communities, the missions and

overall budget of NASA must reflect the work being done to provide a better life for all on Earth.

During the Trump Administration, NASA’s Earth observation budgets were slashed; resulting in

lost knowledge and data that would keep our planet a viable home for years to come (Scientific

American). The U.S. Government should reinstate NASA’s budget to include Earth observation
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technology, which increases scientists’ ability to monitor weather patterns, climate change, soil

moisture levels, and adequate food production.

NASA satellites are a key asset in helping scientists on Earth understand the movement

and evolution of weather patterns across the world. The study of these weather patterns helps us

understand the implications of changing patterns and how they affect agriculture and farming

practices. Using doppler radar, satellites can monitor temperature fluctuations, wind speeds and

directions, humidity, and storm movements (NOAA). Tracking these patterns over time help

identify and establish key geographies for planting specific crops and can even help farmers and

the agriculture community predict the viability of the season’s crops. This has a direct correlation

to aiding Americans, and even those across the globe, suffering from food insecurity. The more

advanced our weather pattern tracking science becomes, using satellites funded by the U.S.

Government, NOAA, and NASA, scientists and farmers can ease the strain of food insecurity by

providing a better understanding of agricultural management and distribution.

A secondary aspect of the food and poverty epidemics in the United States that can be

solved by NASA’s funding of satellite technology is monitoring soil moisture levels. NASA

recently collaborated with George Mason University and the USDA’s National Agricultural

Statistics Service (NASS) to develop the Crop Condition and Soil Moisture Analytics (Crop-

CASMA), which allows scientists access to high-resolution data from NASA’s Soil Moisture

Active Passive (SMAP) mission and the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer

(MODIS) (NASA 1). This tool categorizes moisture levels throughout the United States as “very

short,” “short,” “adequate,” or “surplus.” This information is free and accessible to anyone, but

most importantly those in the farming and agricultural professions. This tool gives farmers

access to information about potential droughts or floods and can help them understand the best
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planting practices to produce the highest and strongest yield of crop. This kind of technology, co-

created and co-funded by NASA, will continue to be instrumental in providing important

agricultural information to farmers that would have no other access to such technology by their

own means. Any tool that provides a farmer a helpful solution to producing crop has a trickle-

down benefit to those suffering from food insecurity. NASA allows farmers to essentially be two

steps ahead of the weather, ensuring the means to provide for Americans in the coming years.

Yet another, but arguably more important aspect of using NASA funding and Earth

observing satellites, is the monitoring of global climate change. This factor alone justifies the

NASA budget, as climate change is a growing issue that will continue to change the face of

planet Earth and how we live, breath, and go about our day-to-day lives. Without adequate

funding and research on climate change, there will be no Earth to salvage for future generations.

NASA satellites currently monitor weather patterns changing over time, which is the essential

means of researching Earth’s climate, as well as the rising ocean levels due to the melting of

glaciers and Arctic snow caps. Climate change research is the leading way for scientists to effect

change in politics, ranging from the dissolvement of fossil fuel resources, re-entering the Paris

Climate Accord, and moving technology towards an eco-friendlier future. It is imperative that

NASA be given the budget to adequately monitor climate change to ensure the future of Earth’s

inhabitants, so there will always continue to be viable land to produce the crops necessary to feed

the world.

Another aspect of NASA funding that aids the food insecurity issues in America is the

research and development of agriculture off-planet. NASA currently runs experiments and

testing of food production on the International Space Station (ISS) that advances knowledge in

how to grow food in less-than-ideal situations (NASA 2). If Earth’s climate change epidemic is
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not sufficiently acknowledged and brought under control, there will come a time when humanity

must find ways to grow the food to feed the masses without viable land on Earth. By funding

NASA’s research on off-planet food production now, they are a few steps ahead to a future

problem that may very likely happen. Even though we may see this as a future problem that

doesn’t affect our generation, these scientific studies and research on agricultural practices taking

place off-planet do have effect on current farming production on Earth. In 2019, Aleph Farms, an

Israeli food company, was able to grow 3D bioprinted “space beef” aboard the ISS using bovine

call spheroids (space.com). This technological advancement is proof that research done in space,

with the help of NASA’s dollars, can increase food production means on Earth. Without the need

for massive factory farmed meat and poultry, using the bioprinted meat, Earth would lessen its

CO2 emissions, resulting in better outcomes for the environment, and a seemingly endless

supply of food for those suffering insecurities. Of course, there are a multitude of other factors

that go into perfecting mass food production without ultimately damaging Earth’s environment,

but these types of scientific advancements are proof of NASA’s need for its big-ticket budget.

Even though to the average person NASA’s budget may seem shockingly high and

wasteful for “space exploration” when there are so many issues plaguing humans on Earth, the

need to continue to provide NASA with adequate budget is obvious. At the current rate of human

advancement, Earth does not seem to have a bright future; climate change is a constant leading

indicator of threats to humanity in the future. Climate change will annihilate humans’ ability to

produce enough food to feed the masses, and without appropriate attention paid to it, as well as

continual research in space, humans will continue to fall into food insecurity, and ultimately

poverty. We must allow NASA the money to continue research, experimentation, and

technological advancement to ensure the future of humanity.

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Works Cited

“Income and Poverty in the United States: 2019”, United States Census, 15 Sept. 2020

https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2020/demo/p60-270.html

Thompson, Andrea. “Trump Budget Cuts ‘Critical’ NASA Climate Missions”

Scientific American, 1 April 2017, https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/trump-budget-

cuts-ldquo-critical-rdquo-nasa-climate-missions/

“Weather Observations”, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Feb. 2011

https://www.noaa.gov/education/resource-collections/weather-atmosphere/weather-

observations

“NASA Data Powers New USDA Soil Moisture Portal”. NASA, 8 Mar. 2021

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2021/nasa-data-powers-new-usda-soil-moisture-portal

“Seven Ways the International Space Station Helps Us Study Plant Growth in Space”, NASA,

7 April 2021, https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/news/Seven-Ways-the-

ISS-Helps-Study-Plant-Growth

Gohd, Chelsea, “Meat Grown in Space for the First Time Ever.” Space.com, 8 Oct. 2019

https://www.space.com/meat-grown-in-space-station-bioprinter-first.html