Donald Trump pushes to shut down climate data-collecting NASA satellites

News.com.au

3 days ago

Donald Trump's administration is moving to shut down two key NASA satellite missions which monitor planet-warming greenhouse gases, in its latest hit to climate science.
The missions – which include a freeflying satellite known as OCO-2 and an instrument attached to the International Space Station known as OCO-3 – measure carbon dioxide levels and crop growth around the world, providing critical information to scientists and farmers.
But funding for the missions, collectively known as the Orbiting Carbon Observatory, has been scrapped under the President's budget request for fiscal year 2026, starting in October.
NASA told AP the missions were being terminated 'to align with the President's agenda and budget priorities'.
If decommissioned, OCO-3, would be switched off and remain mounted to the International Space Station. However, freeflying OCO-2 – which already has enough fuel to last through 20240 according to CNN– would be relocated to a lower orbit, where it would remain for years before it eventually burnt up in the Earth's atmosphere.
The US Republican-controlled Congress is yet to make a decision on Mr Trump's budget request but David Crisp, a retired NASA scientist who managed the mission, has confirmed the decommissioning planning for both missions is already underway.
Dr Crisp told NPR that NASA employees are working on 'Phase F' plans – where teams work out how to end a mission.
'What I have heard is direct communications from people who were making those plans, who weren't allowed to tell me that that's what they were told to do. But they were allowed to ask me questions,' he told the outlet.
Other sources also confirmed the decommissioning planning to CNN.
Dr Crisp said the missions are 'national assets' and are more accurate than any other systems.
He said they have led scientists to discover the Amazon rainforest emits more carbon dioxide than it absorbs and can help monitor drought by detecting the 'glow' of photosynthesis in plants.
'This is really critical. We're learning so much about this rapidly changing planet,' he told AP.
Anna Michalak, a climate researcher at Carnegie Science and Stanford University, also pointed out the missions have helped other countries.
'It's not just that these are the only two NASA-funded missions,' she told CNN.
'It's that these have been the most impressive, inspirational missions in this space, globally, period.'
Dr Crisp is hoping Congress will vote to maintain funding. However, with Congress currently in recess, a budget may not be adopted before the new fiscal year.
In the meantime, the former NASA scientist is among those calling on outside partners, including from overseas, to fund OCO-3, attached to the International Space Station.
'We're going out to billionaires. We're going out to foundations,' he told AP.
'But … it's a really, really bad idea to try and push it off onto private industry or private individuals or private donors. It just doesn't make sense.'
A NASA spokesperson told CNN if Mr Trump's proposed budget passes, it 'will be implemented upon the start of the next fiscal year'.
US to rewrite its past national climate reports
The news comes as the Trump administration announced last week it is revising past editions of the nation's premier climate report.
The decision, announced by Energy Secretary Chris Wright on CNN, followed the government's revocation of the Endangerment Finding, a scientific determination that underpins a host of regulations aimed at curbing greenhouse gas emissions.
Asked why previous editions of the National Climate Assessment were no longer available online, former fracking company CEO Mr Wright told the network: 'Because we're reviewing them, and we will come out with updated reports on those and with comments on those.'
First published in 2000, the National Climate Assessment has long been viewed as a cornerstone of the US government's understanding of climate science, synthesising input from federal agencies and hundreds of external experts.
Previous editions warned in stark terms of mounting risks to America's economy, infrastructure, and public health if greenhouse gas emissions are not curtailed. But in April, the administration moved to dismiss the hundreds of scientists working on the sixth edition.
Under the Global Change Research Act of 1990, the government is legally obligated to deliver the climate assessment to Congress and the president.
Mr Trump's administration and Congress have pressed forward with their pro-fossil fuel agenda – dismantling clean energy tax credits through the so-called 'Big Beautiful Bill' and opening more ecologically sensitive lands to drilling.
Last month's proposed revocation of the Endangerment Finding by the Environmental Protection Agency was accompanied by the release of a new climate study from the Department of Energy, authored by climate change contrarians.
The study questioned whether heat records are truly increasing and whether extreme weather is worsening.
It also misrepresented the work of cited climate scientists, according to several who spoke to AFP, and suggested that rising atmospheric carbon dioxide could be a net benefit for agriculture.