"Landsat is a centerpiece of NASA's Earth Science program, and today's successful launch will extend the longest continuous data record of Earth's surface as seen from space, " NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said in a statement.

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The spacecraft will maintain the longest continuous image record of the Earth's surface as viewed from space.

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That should allow for the inclusion of outlandish readings without distorting the result. (Except where there seems to be straightforward confusion between Celsius and Fahrenheit, which is corrected.) By avoiding traditional procedures that require long, continuous data segments, the Berkeley Earth methodology can also accommodate unusually short sequences: for example, those provided by temporary weather stations.

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"Today's event is a strong reminder of why we need continuous efforts to survey and identify near-Earth objects, " said Thomas Reiter, European Space Agency's Director of Human Spaceflight and Operations.

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As Logan points out, all life on earth has long been steeped in a continuous gravity environment.

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What was a continuous, miraculous conduit from the depths of the Earth or the heart of the atom becomes a noxious, tangled and inaccessible mess about which, for months, nothing can be done.

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Smarr wants to strengthen those connections to create a dynamic global computer--a kind of Ubiquinet, if you will--by adding millions of sensors on Earth, in space and even inside us to provide a rich and continuous information flow.

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