Posted: Thu, Aug 5, 2004, 8:18 PM ET (0018 GMT)
In an about-face, NASA announced late Thursday that it would continue operating an earth sciences spacecraft that the agency said last month would be shut down and deorbited. NASA said that the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM), a joint mission with the Japanese space agency JAXA, would continue to provide data through the end of the year. According to the NASA statement, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) requested that TRMM be kept active through the fall hurricane season so that data from the spacecraft would be available to refine hurricane forecasts. Last month NASA announced that it and JAXA had agreed to end the mission and deorbit the spacecraft in a controlled reentry in the next year. The agencies cited a lack of funding to continue operations as well as concerns that an uncontrolled reentry could cause damage or injury. That decision had been criticized by a number of scientists and even some members of Congress. The NASA statement did not indicate how much money would be needed to continue operating TRMM nor who would be funding it; the statement did indicate that JAXA supported the decision to extend TRMM's mission. NASA and NOAA also announced that they have asked the National Academy of Sciences to convene a workshop next month to explore the long-term options for TRMM.

Related Links:

•  NASA press release