Moving operations from Cape Canaveral is not in Kennedy Space Center’s current plans, he said. “So part of the planning is also looking at things we can do to harden existing facilities that cannot be moved.” “Of course, there will be that impact as we move forward,” he said. “So we are very carefully managing the type of development that’s happening on the center and also where it’s being developed to be able to minimize the impacts of sea level rise. “We really only have about another 7,500 acres that can be developed,” Engler said. Currently, 7,500 acres of NASA’s 141,829-acre area are used for space mission operations, leaving around 95% of the total land undisturbed. Long term, the agency is keeping an eye on sea rise as it plans future building and launchpad construction around already disturbed land and high-elevation areas. Reinforcing the coastline is one of NASA’s initiatives. NASA NASA’s dune construction project hosts native coastal plants such as sea oats, grapes and railroad vines that provide deep roots and anchors to prevent future erosion. The city’s Adopt-A-Mangrove Program helps property owners plant and care for the natural lines of defense. As part of Cape Canaveral’s annual Sea Oats Planting Project, the city and volunteers have planted more than 100,000 sea oats to help fortify the beaches. The city and citizens are also working to bolster the dunes. Since then, NASA finished a four-and-a-half-mile dune construction project that brought in 38,000 loads of sand to strengthen the dunes, and planted vegetation on top to make them more resilient. As the shorelines retreated due to sea rise, the team recommended that property owners and NASA build and restore protective dunes. Jaeger and his team drove up and down NASA’s six-mile coastline in ATVs every month for four years from 2009-2013, collecting elevation data and beach erosion impact. Locals stressed, “we’ve got a real bad coastal erosion problem.” John Jaeger, an associate professor in geology at the University of Florida, was one of the first to quantify the effects of climate change on NASA’s beaches. “We want to continue to capitalize on the over 60 years of spaceflight, experience and history that we have and continue to inspire the nation and the world with what we’re doing.”Īs a first line of defense, NASA and the city are working on artificial dune projects. “Tom” Engler, director of Center Planning and Development at Kennedy Space Center. “We’re doing a lot to ensure that we are sustainable long into the future,” said Thomas O. They are also at the frontlines of finding answers as they work together to preserve land and get the community involved in resilience, two crucial solutions for adapting to climate change. NASA, the space center, the city and its 10,000 residents are all at the frontlines of rising seas and increasing risks from hurricanes and other storms. This rise is driven by melting ice sheets and glaciers and the thermal expansion of ocean water due to increasing global temperatures. The rate of sea-level rise along the barrier island has more than doubled from 0.06 inches a year for most of the 20th century to 0.14 inches a year between 2006–2015. The beaches that protect the launchpads from storm surges and natural disasters are quickly eroding. The Atlantic also provides a safety net for parts such as boosters designed to fall off and splash back to earth.īut now, climate change makes the Atlantic an increasing hazard to both Kennedy and the city of Cape Canaveral, which incorporated in 1963 and grew to be defined by the space program. Being on the coast and near the equator made it a perfect launch site, giving rockets a boost from the Earth’s eastward rotation as they launch into orbit. Kennedy shortly after his assassination in 1963.) A thin barrier island between the Banana River Lagoon and the Atlantic Ocean on the east coast of Florida was an ideal location for the space center. (The center was named for President John F. When NASA’s Florida space center opened in 1962, the problem wasn’t rising seas and greenhouse gases. In a city that prides itself in being the futuristic “Spaceport of America,” Cape Canaveral also faces a different future already obvious in the flooding that occurs during big storms: climate change. Part five of the 'Living on the Edge'series looks at solutions to the risks of living on barrier islands in Florida.
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