Trump administration cancels top NASA climate lab's lease at Columbia University
The Trump administration canceled the lease for its top climate monitoring lab, located in New York City, as of May 31, according to an email seen by CNN.
In the email, the director of the NASA Goddard Spaceflight Center in Maryland informed employees of the impending closure of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies and transitioning to remote work.
The affected lab, also known as NASA GISS, is leased from Columbia University and located above the diner on the Upper West Side of Manhattan that was featured in the TV Show 'Seinfeld.' Scientists there conduct climate and space studies while collaborating with researchers at Columbia.
'The work continues, the data, the products, the science will continue because science is done by people not by buildings,' NASA GISS director Gavin Schmidt told CNN.
A NASA spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
The Trump administration is currently battling with Columbia, among other universities, over its policies on antisemitism and other matters, and is withholding billions in federal research funding. A federal judge on Thursday significantly curtailed the administration's ability to block funds from schools for engaging in diversity, equity and inclusion – or DEI – programs. Two other courts are considering similar challenges.
The NASA lab tracks global climate conditions, serving as one of the main centers worldwide for this information, in addition to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. It also runs computer models that project Earth's future climate conditions and seek to better understand global climate change. The supercomputers for those models are located in Maryland.
'We will provide the support necessary for employees to transition to remote work agreements in the short-term as the agency seeks a new, permanent space for the team,' Goddard director Mackenzie Lystrup said in the email, a copy of which was shared with CNN.
A NASA source, who requested anonymity due to fear of retribution, told CNN that it will be more difficult for the lab to carry out its missions remotely, and the move is 'demoralizing' for the workforce. In addition, the same scientists are 'waiting for the axe to fall on the mission of Earth science' at the agency, they told CNN.
An administration budget proposal, if enacted by Congress, would cut the agency's science programs by nearly 50%.
'GISS has a significant place in the history of space science, for decades leading groundbreaking work in understanding planetary atmospheres and systems – especially that of our own Earth,' Lystrup wrote in the email. 'And while the lease is ending, the Institute's mission continues.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
41 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Japanese Lunar Lander Crashes In Second Failed Mission
A private Japanese lunar lander crashed during an attempted touchdown on the moon Friday. This marks the second failed mission for the Tokyo-based global lunar exploration company, ispace. The lander, named Resilience, lost communication less than two minutes before its scheduled landing in Mare Frigoris, a flat, crater-filled region on the moon's northern near side. A preliminary analysis indicated the laser system for measuring altitude malfunctioned, causing the lander to descend too fast. 'Based on these circumstances, it is currently assumed that the lander likely performed a hard landing on the lunar surface,' ispace said in a statement. 'This is the second time that we were not able to land. So we really have to take it very seriously,' CEO and founder Takeshi Hakamada told reporters, per Associated Press. He apologized to contributors and added that the mission was 'merely a stepping stone' to a larger lander planned for 2027 with NASA involvement. 'Engineers did everything they possibly could' to ensure success, he said minutes before the attempted landing. The 7.5-foot Resilience, launched in January from Florida on a SpaceX rocket, carried an 11-pound, four-wheeled rover named Tenacious, built by ispace's Luxembourg subsidiary. The rover, equipped with a high-definition camera and a shovel for NASA to collect lunar soil, was designed to operate for two weeks during the moon's daylight period. It also carried a toy-size Swedish-style red cottage, dubbed Moonhouse by artist Mikael Genberg, for placement on the lunar surface. The mission's $16 million payload included scientific instruments from Japanese firms and a Taiwanese university. The failure follows ispace's first lunar crash in 2023, caused by inaccurate altitude readings. 'Truly diverse scenarios were possible, including issues with the propulsion system, software or hardware, especially with sensors,' Chief Technology Officer Ryo Ujiie said at a press conference. Jeremy Fix, chief engineer for ispace's U.S. subsidiary, noted last month that the company, with a mission cost less than the first's $100 million, lacks 'infinite funds' and cannot afford repeated failures. 'We're not facing any immediate financial deterioration or distress because of the event,' CFO Jumpei Nozaki said, citing investor support. However, space shares faced heavy sell orders and were poised for a 29% drop. As of Thursday, their market capitalization was over 110 billion yen ($766 million). The crash marks another setback in the commercial lunar race, which began in 2019. U.S. firms Firefly Aerospace and Intuitive Machines achieved successful landings in March, though Intuitive's lander toppled in a crater. Japan's space agency, JAXA, landed its SLIM probe last year, joining Russia, the U.S., China, and India as the only nations with successful robotic lunar landings. 'Expectations for ispace have not faded,' Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba posted on X, reported Reuters. Ispace remains committed to NASA's Artemis program, with plans for a third mission in 2027. 'NASA increasingly needs private companies to improve cost efficiency for key missions with limited budgets,' Hakamada said, referencing proposed U.S. budget cuts. Two U.S. companies, Blue Origin and Astrobotic Technology, aim for moon landings by year's end following Astrobotic's 2024 failure.
Yahoo
41 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Protect LIGO's science and local impact from Trump's budget cuts
The Trump administration wants to slash funding for America's two Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatories (LIGOs) as part of broader cuts to the National Science Foundation. That would be a devastating blow to the nation's global leadership in scientific research. When Congress writes its fiscal 2026 budget, it should ignore the president's anti-science request. One of the LIGO sites is on the Hanford nuclear site. The other is in Louisiana. The White House proposes cutting 40% of their funding – $48 million to $29 million. And it also dictates how that cut should be made. It wants one of the two sites shut down. Given that Washington is a blue state that is participating in multiple lawsuits against the Trump administration and Louisiana is a red state that voted for the president, the odds of LIGO Hanford surviving seem low. Either way, scientists' ability to explore the universe by detecting gravitational waves would suffer significantly. Shutting one site down would compromise scientists' ability to verify detections of cosmic events and weed out false readings originating from local disturbances. It also would prevent the two sites from triangulating where an event occurred in the sky, allowing telescopes that rely on light for observations to also find and research them. The two LIGOs work in tandem. In 2015, the Hanford observatory and its sibling in Louisiana detected gravitational waves for the first time when they measured the ripple in space-time caused by two black holes merging 1.4 billion light-years away. The findings provided fresh confirmation of Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity and earned researchers a Nobel Prize in physics. Since then, LIGO has detected hundreds of events, including black holes merging and neutron stars colliding. The Hanford site continues to refine its tools and push science forward. An upgrade a couple of years ago installed quantum squeezing technology that allows scientists to detect 60% more events and probe a larger volume of space. If funded, the observatories will continue to help humanity answer profound questions about the universe. Projects like LIGO are expensive. The National Science Foundation has spent more than $1 billion on detecting gravitational waves over four decades. At the start, skeptics deemed it risky, but it has provided tremendous return on investment. It epitomizes the sort of Big Science research that few institutions other than governments can afford. Think Europe's Large Hadron Collider, the Manhattan Project and the international Human Genome Project. Undercutting LIGO as it reaches its full potential and produces its most impressive results just to save a few million dollars would be a colossal mistake. As one commenter on the Tri-City Herald's website put it, 'It would be like inventing the microscope, seeing a cell for the first time, and then discarding it.' The best is yet to come. Even if a future administration were to restore funding, rehiring skilled researchers would be a monumental hurdle. A temporary shutdown will delay scientific progress and result in America losing ground to international researchers. LIGO has a local impact, too, and not just that it is visible from outer space. Its presence helps the Tri-Cities and the Hanford nuclear site evolve their scientific narrative from Cold War-era nuclear development to 21st-century astrophysics. It is a symbol of progress, diversification and positive global contribution that is invaluable for regional identity and attracting future talent and investment. LIGO staff go the extra mile by working with local STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) students. They speak in classrooms about science careers and explain the complex workings of the observatory in a way that young people can understand. An $8 million LIGO Exploration Center, which opened in 2022 and was funded by Washington state, further enhances that public-facing mission. Such direct engagement cultivates future STEM talent and inspires the next generation of scientists and engineers. The proposed cuts to LIGO would lead to an irreversible loss of U.S. leadership in gravitational wave astronomy and an immense loss to the Tri-Cities. The Trump administration must reconsider. If it does not, Washington's congressional delegation must convince their colleagues to preserve this cornerstone of American scientific preeminence.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Space photo of the week: James Webb telescope peeks under the brim of a 'peculiar' Sombrero
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Quick facts What it is: The Sombrero Galaxy (M104), a peculiar galaxy Where it is: 30 million light-years distant between the Virgo and Corvus constellations When it was shared: June 3, 2025 Sequels are never as good as the originals, right? That certainly doesn't apply to the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), whose latest image adds a new dimension of data to its spectacular 2024 image of the enigmatic Sombrero Galaxy. Galaxies are a mix of stars, gas and dust. How these three ingredients interact explains how galaxies evolve. However, to image all three ingredients requires shooting in different wavelengths of light. Cue JWST, which is able to collect longer, redder wavelengths of infrared light than optical telescopes like the Hubble Space Telescope. In December 2024, JWST shot the Sombrero in the mid-infrared for the first time, using its Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) camera to reveal an elegant structure with a smooth inner disk. Related: 42 jaw-dropping James Webb Space Telescope images Now comes part two, this time using Webb's NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) instrument. The new data reveals light from stars that were previously blocked by dust. In this new image, the dust glows, revealing clouds of interstellar matter as well as red giant stars. While Webb's instruments pick up red giants in both the near-infrared and mid-infrared wavelengths — making them stand out clearly in the images — hotter blue stars emit light mostly in the visible and near-infrared spectrum, causing them to fade from view in Webb's images at longer wavelengths. MORE SPACE PHOTOS —Pink 'raindrops' on the sun captured in greatest detail ever —Violent galaxies seen 'jousting' near the dawn of time —Cotton candy clouds shine in one of Hubble's most beautiful images ever The galaxy also appears to have a warped inner disk and contain about 2,000 globular clusters — balls of ancient stars — in its halo. Since these clusters are chemically different from their galactic companions, it's probable that the Sombrero has a chaotic past, having merged with several smaller galaxies in its history. The new NIRCam data adds another layer of detail to a galaxy first documented 244 years ago. Originally observed in 1781 by the French astronomer Pierre Méchain, the Sombrero galaxy (also known as Messier 104 or M104) has long intrigued scientists due to its distinct, edge-on shape and luminous central bulge. Most galaxies' structures can be categorized as spiral, elliptical or irregular, but the Sombrero is classed as peculiar. For more sublime space images, check out our Space Photo of the Week archives.
