Bad news for Astronauts?

I wasn't going to post today, but then I just read that sea level rise is affecting NASA, and those 'Write a Blog bells' started going off in my head.
 

The Climate Adaptations Science Investigators (CASI) was set up with the aim of helping NASA to cope with climate change. Many of NASA's launch facilities are positioned near the coast, in areas undergoing significant sea level rise. The increasing effects of sea level and storm surges are putting important infrastructure at risk, and may make it more difficult to get into space!

Sea level rise observed near five space centres (Rosenzweig et al, 2014)



A new report looks at how 'climate resilience' can be improved at NASA, and they've got lots of ideas (Rosenzweig et al, 2014).

Before and after shot of  the new beach
at the Wallop Flight Facility (NASA)

• At the Kennedy Space Centre there are plans to build a second dune system inland which will be coupled with a beach and dune nourishment programme to protect the launch sites.
• The Goddard Space Flight Centre has already started replacing lawn with more natural vegetation with the aim of reducing the amount of run off into storm drains, and therefore flooding, and pollution in Chesapeake Bay. They are also building rain gardens to capture water from large concreted areas such as car parks.
• At the Wallop Flight Facility on the Atlantic Coast they are so concerned  that they have released their own document called 'Adapting Now to a Changing Climate'. They have already extended the beach in front of the launch pad, using sand dredged from offshore, in order to try and protect the launch area from the sea.

As it's NASA, I imagine they have more money at their disposal than Tuvalu which I wrote about last week, but I find it really interesting that they are both essentially planning the same thing - a man-made version of a natural barrier. In Tuvalu they are planning concrete reefs to change currents, and NASA are planning to build a dune. Seems like nature may have the answer - for now.