NASA Lifelines launched today to accelerate and improve humanitarian decision-making using Earth science. Led by the services firm DevGlobal, in partnership with NASA, Lifelines is a $6 million, six-year effort to build community across humanitarians and scientists. Across the community, NASA Lifelines will enable unexpected collaborations to foster innovations with Earth science and provide mission-critical information to help answer questions like – where are the people most affected? How do we reach the most remote communities? What measures would reduce the impacts of the next disaster or crisis?

Together with humanitarians guiding our approach, NASA Lifelines prioritizes the biggest community needs and creatively links potential collaborators and partners. Programs like rapid-fire “speed dating” will match humanitarians and scientists across disciplines to spark new research collaborations and ideas using satellite data and tools. Humanitarian simulations will pressure test innovations in real-world scenarios, and community murals using augmented reality will help communities understand how satellites are making a difference locally. A dynamic stakeholder map and smart partnering tool will help experts from different sectors and parts of the world find each other and immediately share interests and collaboration topics.

“Humanitarians shouldn’t miss out on the value of Earth science for their missions. NASA Lifelines is a community building experiment designed to connect our greatest minds to solve our greatest challenges,” said Rhiannan Price, principal investigator for NASA Lifelines and Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer at DevGlobal.

Use of Earth science for humanitarian missions is steadily growing. During the Maui wildfires the World Central Kitchen used NASA resources to help guide their humanitarian relief efforts bringing food and water to the victims. In Ukraine, food security analysts prepared policymakers for potential shortages using satellite-derived crop health maps. In East Africa, government officials are preventing the next water emergency using satellite data to identify the most drought-prone communities and maintain much needed hand pumps.

“At the core of global disasters and crises is the nexus between humans and their environment,” said Shanna McClain, NASA Disasters program manager.  “The more we integrate Earth and environmental science into humanitarian action, the more likely we are to alleviate human suffering. NASA Lifelines will create new paths that equip humanitarian organizations and communities around the globe with valuable Earth science insights capable of achieving just that.”

Humanitarians, scientists, policymakers, technologists, and others can join our NASA Lifelines community at nasalifelines.org and explore opportunities to get involved.

About the Partners

Spanning Africa, India, and the United States, DevGlobal Partners supports the world’s leading nonprofits, companies, philanthropies, multilateral agencies and government agencies on their innovation and humanitarian initiatives. DevGlobal builds teams and brings organizations together to democratize technology, bridge divides, and disrupt with intention.

NASA’s Earth Science Division helps people across the world use NASA data to solve big problems right here on Earth. From disaster risk reduction to agricultural planning and ecological conservation, NASA works with individuals and institutions worldwide to inform decision-making, enhance quality of life, and strengthen our economy.

Media Contacts

Nicole Hunt
DevGlobal Communications Lead
314-753-3010
[email protected]

Aries Keck
NASA Earth Science Communications
202-604-2356
[email protected]