'Space Must Be Protected For The Benefit Of All People'

WASHINGTON: Space remains a place of undiscovered and unrealised opportunity and it is our responsibility to work together to guide humanity forward into this new frontier and to realise the incredible potential of space for all people, US Vice President Kamala Harris said at a NASA event.

She was speaking at the National Space Council meeting held at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston on Friday.

"Space can and must be protected for the benefit of all people. There is so much we still don't know and so much we still haven't done," said Harris.

The Vice President also underscored the important research conducted on the International Space Station that will enable long duration stays on the Moon and future human missions to Mars, in addition to benefits to life here on Earth.

For more than 50 years, NASA satellites have provided open-source and publicly available data on Earth's land, water, temperature, weather and climate.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said that the new Earth Information Center will allow the public to see how the Earth is changing and guide decision makers to mitigate, adapt, and respond to climate change.

"Just like we use mission control to monitor operations during spaceflight, we're embarking on this effort to monitor conditions here on our home planet, and it will be available to everyone in an easy-to-access format," Nelson noted.

Planning for the Earth Information Center is underway with the initial phase providing an interactive visual display of imagery and data from NASA and other government agencies.

NASA Headquarters plans to house this initial interactive display with goals to expand in person and virtual access over the next five years.

"Research on the space station demonstrates that the benefits of microgravity are not just for discovery. We also develop new technologies that improve life on Earth, like treatments for cancer,a said Nelson.

On the Artemis I mission, NASA has announced that it is considering two dates, September 23 or September 27, to attempt the launching of the Moon mission.

On September 3, NASA attempted to launch Artemis I for the second time. However, it was called off after detecting a liquid hydrogen leak.

The team was trying to work through a leaky fuel problem with the rocket, called the Space Launch System or SLS. (IANS)

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