The G-V Takes Off on its Fourth Science Flight in Six Days - Earth.com

The G-V Takes Off on its Fourth Science Flight in Six Days

Oct. 12, 2011 –  The G-V Takes Off on its Fourth Science Flight in Six Days. Therefore it operated by the National Science Foundation and National Center for Atmospheric Research takes off for its fourth science flight this campaign carrying LVIS, the Laser Vegetation Imaging Sensor, a a scanning laser altimeter.

The G-V will fly at about 45,000 feet in order to optimize LVIS’ ability to create finely detailed ice sheet elevation data and topography maps of key Antarctic glaciers. Credit: NASA

The NSF’s director and deputy director are appointed by the President of the United States. Also and confirmed by the United States Senate. Therefore whereas the 24 presidentially appointed members of the National Science Board (NSB) do not require Senate confirmation.

The director and deputy director are responsible for administration, planning, budgeting and day-to-day operations of the foundation. Then while the NSB meets six times a year to establish its overall policies. The current NSF director, confirmed in March 2014, is astronomer France A. Córdova, former president of Purdue University. The National Science Foundation (NSF) is a United States government agency that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National Institutes of Health. With an annual budget of about US$7.0 billion (fiscal year 2012), the NSF funds approximately 24% of all federally supported basic research conducted by the United States’ colleges and universities. In some fields, such as mathematics, computer science, economics, and the social sciences, the NSF is the major source of federal backing

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