Why Did NASA Stop Exploring The Ocean?
Contrary to popular belief, NASA was never created to explore Earth's oceans. Its sole purpose since its founding in 1958 has been to explore outer space, in response to the Soviet Union's launch of Sputnik I.
The idea that NASA stopped exploring the ocean stems from viral TikTok videos, which falsely claim NASA's original mission was ocean exploration, but it shifted focus after discovering something alarming.
Some TikTok videos allege that NASA found a massive unknown species or other horrors in the ocean, prompting them to focus on space exploration to get humans off Earth. These are baseless stories.
NASA's well-documented history shows no involvement in ocean exploration. The agency's primary responsibility has always been related to air and space science and technology.
The spread of the myth about NASA's ocean exploration is driven by the desire for attention and views on social media platforms like TikTok.
NASA is known for its space achievements, such as landing humans on the Moon, sending rovers to Mars, and contributions to the Hubble Space Telescope and International Space Station.
In 1978, NASA launched Seasat, the first civilian oceanographic satellite, which monitored ocean conditions from space but stopped functioning after 105 days due to a short circuit.
Also launched in 1978, the Tiros-N satellite provided the first useful maps of sea surface temperature and chlorophyll, aiding in oceanic and atmospheric studies.
Contrary to popular belief, NASA was never created to explore Earth's oceans. Its sole purpose since its founding in 1958 has been to explore outer space, in response to the Soviet Union's launch of Sputnik I.