Due to climate change, the sea levels have been on the rise and the waves have been pounding away fiercely at a cost that is very near to the Kennedy Space Center located in Florida. This rise has been threatening the future operations as well as launch pads of the center according to scientists who revealed the information to us on Friday.
According to a previous US Geological Survey, the coastal communities of Florida might experience a sea-level rise of up to 2 feet by the year 2060.
US Geological Survey
The problem is very obvious and the scientists should very well be careful and nervous about it. The findings of the news were released on the day when celebrations of the Orion capsule’s first successful test launch were being carried out by the space center located on the east coast of Florida. The Orion capsule has been designed so that the astronauts can travel to Mars one day.
Scientists have been taking this news very urgently and seriously. The director of operations at the Kennedy Space Center told everyone that NASA had plans of dealing with this climatic change by managing a retreat in which it planned on moving its entire infrastructure. This move included the launch pads as well if required.
According to a previous US Geological Survey, the coastal communities of Florida might experience a sea-level rise of up to 2 feet by the year 2060. The main reasons for this rise are that the glaciers have been melting hence increasing the volume of water within these oceans and the sea temperatures have been rising immensely.
The US Space Agency has a line full of man made dunes that have been made ready for replacing the natural but eroded ones that protected the shore previously. These are placed between the launch pads marked 39A and 39B that are used by the Apollo and space shuttle missions.
There have been a lot of storms such as the Hurricane sandy (2012), Hurricane Irene (2011), and Tropical Storm Fay (2008), that has washed over onto the protective dunes, thus impacting the space center. The next victims to this rise in sea level could be the liquid gas fuel lines and the parallel road that has been built over the electrical power lines.
NASA also has plans for protecting the Wallops Island Flight Facility located in Virginia from the possible climate change effects.
This archive content was originally published December 7, 2014 (www.betawired.com)