Here is an interesting history of how NASA got involved in climate research predates the work on Global Warming , specifically . I was right about NASA building the technology for earth observation as one of their primary roles , and a role that NOAA can ' t fill by itself . However , it seems there were other forces at work This Applications model of crossagency research failed during the 1970 s , though , due to the bad economy and an extended period of high inflation . Congress responded by cutting the budgets of all three agencies , leaving NOAA and the USGS unable to fund their part of the arrangement and putting pressure on NASA , too . At the same time , congressional leaders wanted to see NASA doing more research toward national needs . These needs included things like energy efficiency , pollution , ozone depletion and climate change . In 1976 , Congress revised the Space Act to give NASA authority to carry out stratospheric ozone research , formalizing the agency ' s movement into the Earth sciences . 1976 was several years before the first JASON report . Declining planetary funding and growing scientific interest in the Earth ' s climate caused planetary scientists to start studying the Earth . It was closer , and much less expensive , to do research on . And NASA followed suit , starting to plan for an Earth observing system aimed at questions of global change . This phrase included climate change as well as changes in land use , ocean productivity and pollution . But the Earth science program that it established was modeled on NASA ' s space and planetary science programs , not the old Applications program . NASA developed the technology and funded the science . In 1984 , Congress again revised the Space Act , broadening NASA ' s Earth science authority from the stratosphere to the expansion of human knowledge of the Earth . Again , doesn ' t sound politicallymotivated . Sounds like scientists doing what scientists do best , given the resources available to them . But , turn them loose to research a topic , and you never know what they will discover might even be something politicians don ' t like .