GeoXO<\/a>, would be lower than originally spelled out under the Biden administration, at a maximum of $500 million per year for a total of $12 billion, but some scientists say the cheaper up-front price would come at a cost to those who would have benefited from the air and oceans data.\n <\/p>\n\n \u201cOur information will be less rich, and our understanding of the whole phenomenon of a hurricane event, or of a fire event or of a drought event will be lesser because we don\u2019t have these context information instruments adding real time, integrated understanding of the events,\u201d the official stated.\n <\/p>\n
\n Both instruments were already contracted to BAE Systems, which could now charge cancelation fees.\n <\/p>\n
\n The changes are aimed at curtailing costs and are due in part to the perception that some of the instruments were going to be focused on gathering data to study climate change. According to a Trump administration budget document, weather forecasting should be the \u201cexclusive\u201d focus of the satellites.\n <\/p>\n
\n In addition to the reduced number of instruments, NOAA is now only building four satellites as part of the constellation, rather than six, with the first set to launch in 2032.\n <\/p>\n
![\"Concept](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/geoxo-constellation-300dpi-lm.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n Having fewer satellites in the sky means less redundancy and raises the risk of critical data outages, the NOAA official stated. \u201cIt\u2019s gambling with the continuity of an operational system that we\u2019ve relied on since the early 70s,\u201d they said.\n <\/p>\n
\n The satellite series is meant to be the successor to the GOES satellites, which provide a wealth of data for weather forecasting, with the first launch set for 2032 and service lasting through 2055.\n <\/p>\n
\n CNN has contacted NOAA for comment.\n <\/p>\n
\n The atmospheric composition instrument, for example, would have enabled scientists to more precisely measure air pollutants, which could help reduce health risks from wildfire smoke events.\n <\/p>\n
\n It would also enhance US capabilities to conduct air quality monitoring and forecasting, as well as keep tabs on emissions of greenhouse gases and the pollutants that form smog.\n <\/p>\n
\n The atmospheric composition instrument would have been beneficial for both NOAA\u2019s weather and climate missions, according to an assessment of the instrument\u2019s value that NOAA performed and was signed off on by the Commerce Department, which oversees NOAA.\n <\/p>\n
\n The instrument, the report said, \u201cis fundamental to understanding changes in air quality, the stratospheric ozone layer, and climate, as well as their corresponding impacts on human health and natural and engineered ecosystems.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n The report warned that without the instrument on GeoXO, the US would risk falling behind other countries\u2019 air quality monitoring capabilities, jeopardizing America\u2019s longtime leadership in Earth observations.\n <\/p>\n
\n Also cut from the planned GeoXO series of satellites is an instrument that would measure ocean color, which could provide insights into fisheries populations, algal blooms, ocean productivity and water quality.\n <\/p>\n
\n While it is not unheard of for NOAA or Congress to alter major satellite series, given a history of cost and schedule overruns in NOAA satellite programs, cancelling already contracted instruments \u2014 and doing so in part due to the administration\u2019s determination to focus NOAA more narrowly on weather forecasting, and away from climate change observations and research \u2014 stands out.\n <\/p>\n
\n The Trump administration\u2019s fiscal year 2026 budget request<\/a> would close NOAA\u2019s extensive research facilities, shutting down its greenhouse gas monitoring network, among others. Congress is currently considering that proposal.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Facebook Tweet Email Link The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is narrowing the capabilities and reducing the number…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":99417,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[192,79],"class_list":{"0":"post-99416","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-environment","9":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99416","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99416"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99416\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/99417"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}