In contrast to late 2009 when NASA's Earth Science Division faced constrained funding, the current five-year spending plan calls for an additional $2.4 billion over the previous budget, SPACE.com reported this week.

"What a difference a year makes," Michael Freilich, director of NASA's Earth Science Division, said at a recent meeting of the American Geophysical Union. "Last year things were a little bit dicey. This year we are moving forward rather dramatically."

NASA says it plans to launch three Earth science satellites in 2011 -- a climate monitoring satellite in February; a joint U.S.-Argentina sea-surface salinity mission in June; and a polar-orbiting environmental research satellite in October.

NASA is also expanding its Earth science emphasis on providing long-term climate data records.

"The administration for the first time gave NASA the mandate to examine how we might contribute to climate continuity," Freilich said.

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