Overview

• President Trump’s fiscal 2026 budget request zeroes out funding for both OCO-2 and the ISS-mounted OCO-3, prompting NASA to initiate shutdown planning for the missions.
• NASA opened a call for outside proposals through August 29 to maintain the instrument on the International Space Station that tracks carbon dioxide and photosynthetic glow.
• Formal de-orbit procedures for the free-flying OCO-2 satellite put it at risk of burning up in Earth’s atmosphere as end-of-mission preparations advance.
• Congress remains in recess and split over a House bill that would eliminate the missions and a Senate version that would preserve them, with Democrats warning that canceling or impounding appropriated funds could be illegal.
• Scientists and coalitions from private, international and nonprofit sectors are mobilizing to secure alternative funding for these high-precision climate and agricultural monitoring assets.