{"id":47417,"date":"2025-08-06T07:55:06","date_gmt":"2025-08-06T07:55:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/47417\/"},"modified":"2025-08-06T07:55:06","modified_gmt":"2025-08-06T07:55:06","slug":"nasa-planning-for-unauthorized-shutdown-of-carbon-monitoring-satellites","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/47417\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA Planning for Unauthorized Shutdown of Carbon Monitoring Satellites"},"content":{"rendered":"

Research & Developments<\/a> is a blog for brief updates that provide context for the flurry of\u00a0news regarding law and policy changes that impact science and scientists today.<\/p>\n

For the past month, the Trump administration, via NASA\u2019s Acting Administrator Sean Duffy, has been directing NASA employees<\/a> to implement workforce adjustments<\/a> and plan for the shutdown<\/a> of dozens of missions and programs slated for cuts under in the President\u2019s Budget Request to NASA. Doing so ahead of a Congressionally-approved budget for fiscal year 2026 (FY26) is tantamount to illegal impoundment of federal funds appropriated for the current fiscal year (FY25), according to an 18 July letter<\/a> to Duffy signed by 64 members of Congress.<\/p>\n

Now, despite warnings that their actions are illegal, NPR reports<\/a> that Duffy and other senior NASA officials have continued to secretly direct NASA employees to draw up plans to end at least two major satellite missions specifically designed to monitor global carbon dioxide. Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO)-2<\/a>, a free-orbiting satellite, and OCO-3, which is attached to the International Space Station, are slated for defunding in the 2026 President\u2019s Budget Request (PBR)<\/a>.<\/p>\n

David Crisp<\/a>, a retired NASA atmospheric physicist who was the principal investigator of the original OCO mission and was OCO-2\u2019s science team leader, told NPR that he was contacted by several NASA employees who asked him pointed questions about the satellites that added up to mission termination plans.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I have heard is direct communications from people who were making those plans, who weren\u2019t allowed to tell me that that\u2019s what they were told to do. But they were allowed to ask me questions,\u201d Crisp said. \u201cThey were asking me very sharp questions. The only thing that would have motivated those questions was [that] somebody told them to come up with a termination plan.\u201d (Crisp is also a Fellow of AGU, which publishes Eos.)<\/p>\n

Two current NASA employees confirmed to NPR that NASA leaders were told to make plans to terminate projects that would lose funding should Trump\u2019s PBR be enacted. The employees, who requested anonymity, also told NPR that agency leadership is seeking private backers to keep the OCO satellites running should they lose federal funding.<\/p>\n

The Orbiting Carbon Observatories were designed specifically to monitor and map the global carbon budget, and they have provided valuable data about the drivers of climate change. The satellites also exhibited a surprising ability: monitoring plant growth<\/a>. The mission has provided maps<\/a> of photosynthesis around the world that have proved valuable tools for farmers and the agricultural industry, including the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Experts warn that farmers could lose access to those tools if the satellites are privatized or decommissioned.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust from an economic standpoint, it makes no economic sense to terminate NASA missions that are returning incredibly valuable data,\u201d Crisp said.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Growing plants emit a form of light detectable by OCO-2 and OCO-3. Here, red, pink, and white indicate areas of growth and gray indicates areas of little growth. Credit: NASA\u2019s Scientific Visualization Studio<\/a><\/p>\n

Budgets Pending<\/p>\n

Both the Senate and House appropriations committees recently released FY26 funding bills for NASA for consideration by Congress. The House does seek to cut NASA\u2019s overall budget, though far less than requested<\/a> by the Trump administration<\/a>. The House\u2019s draft bill<\/a> does not break down appropriations by NASA\u2019s subdivisions or programs, so there is little information about whether OCO would be defunded should the House\u2019s budget be adopted.<\/p>\n

The draft budget from the Senate<\/a> appropriations committee, which also doesn\u2019t mention OCO by name, nonetheless offers more details about what funding they would approve. Under that budget framework, NASA would receive $24.9 billion total (up from $24.8 billion in FY25). NASA\u2019s Science Mission Directorate would lose a modest amount of funding ($7.3 billion, down from $7.5 billion), and the Earth Science division, which operates OCO, would also lose some funds ($2.17 billion, down from $2.2 billion).<\/p>\n

The Senate committee\u2019s more detailed explanation may shed light on its plans for OCO and other Earth-observing missions:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Committee rejects the mission terminations proposed in the fiscal year 2026 budget request for Earth Science, Planetary Science, Astrophysics, and Heliophysics.\u201d That\u2019s about as explicit as they can be.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn advancing the U.S. national interest, NASA should seek, to the extent practicable, to retain public ownership of technologies, scientific data, and discoveries made using public funds.\u201d This directive runs counter to NASA\u2019s plans to privatize satellites that Trump seeks to defund.<\/p>\n

\u201cEarth Science missions could help to understand the efficacy of carbon dioxide removal proposals, including to track carbon stocks and carbon cycling in aboveground biomass and coastal marine ecosystems.\u201d The committee recognizes that Earth-observing satellites are important to the future of the planet<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Neither the House nor Senate appropriations bills have been taken up by either chamber of Congress. The bills still need to be passed by their respective chambers, reconciled into a single budget bill that passes both chambers of Congress, and signed into law by the president before FY25 ends on 30 September.<\/p>\n

\u2014Kimberly M. S. Cartier (@astrokimcartier.bsky.social<\/a>), Staff Writer<\/p>\n

Correction 5 August 2025: David Crisp\u2019s position with NASA and his association with AGU have been corrected. <\/p>\n

These updates are made possible through information from the scientific community. Do\u00a0you have a story about how changes in law or policy are affecting scientists or research? Send us a tip at [email\u00a0protected]<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

Text \u00a9 2025. AGU.\u00a0CC BY-NC-ND 3.0<\/a>
Except where otherwise noted, images are subject to copyright. Any reuse without express permission from the copyright owner is prohibited.<\/p>\n

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