Trump moves to shut down NASA missions that measure carbon dioxide and plant health

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🗞️ Driving the news: The Trump administration has proposed ending funding for NASA’s Orbiting Carbon Observatories (OCO-2 and OCO-3), which track global carbon dioxide emissions and plant health, in the FY2026 budget
• The missions — a satellite launched in 2014 and an instrument on the International Space Station since 2019 — are regarded by scientists as unmatched in sensitivity and accuracy, yet NASA says they are “beyond their prime mission” and being cut to align with presidential budget priorities

🔭 The context: The OCO missions have generated pivotal insights, such as revealing that the Amazon now emits more carbon than it absorbs and mapping the role of boreal forests in carbon uptake
• Their ability to detect photosynthetic activity allows early warnings of drought and crop failure, supporting climate policy, agricultural planning, and food security
• The proposed termination mirrors other administration moves to reduce climate science funding and visibility, raising concerns among researchers and lawmakers.

🌍 Why it matters for the planet: Shutting down these missions would weaken the world’s capacity to monitor greenhouse gas dynamics, verify emissions pledges, and forecast agricultural impacts in a warming climate
• Without such high-precision data, policymakers and international agreements like the Paris Accord would lose a critical evidence base for tracking progress and designing interventions
• The loss could also undermine early-warning systems for famine and drought in vulnerable regions

⏭️ What's next: Congress must decide whether to preserve funding before the fiscal year ends on September 30
• The House budget proposal supports the termination, while the Senate version retains funding
• If no budget is passed, a continuing resolution could maintain operations temporarily, though administration delays remain possible
• NASA is accepting outside proposals until August 29 to continue operating the ISS-based instrument, but the free-flying satellite may be deorbited unless legal and operational hurdles to foreign or private control are resolved.

💬 One quote: “The principle seems to be that if we stop measuring climate change it will just disappear from the American consciousness.” — Michael Mann, climate scientist, University of Pennsylvania

📈 One stat: Eight to 10 percent of the planet’s carbon dioxide emissions are tracked with unprecedented precision by the OCO missions — data no other system currently matches

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