White House Orders NASA to Destroy Climate Satellites

The Trump administration has directed NASA to plan the termination of two critical climate-focused satellite missions, the Orbiting Carbon Observatories (OCO-2 and another attached to the International Space Station), despite their valuable contributions to climate science and agriculture. These satellites provide high-resolution, global measurements of atmospheric carbon dioxide, aiding in understanding greenhouse gas emissions and supporting efforts like the Paris Agreement. NASA scientists have praised the data quality as exceptionally high and the missions as cost-effective, with annual maintenance costs being a small fraction of NASA's overall budget. Critics speculate the termination plans align with President Donald Trump's climate change denial stance and efforts to diminish NASA's science directorate. Meanwhile, NASA continues to investigate other space weather phenomena, such as space hurricanes—plasma storms in the ionosphere that can disrupt satellite communications and GPS signals. Additionally, NASA aims to reconnect with its SV1 satellite to resume joint research on space weather and Earth's magnetic environment once it regains power from increased sunlight.