Particle.news
Download on the App Store
6 ARTICLES
·
yesterday

Trump Budget Proposes Early End to NASA’s Carbon-Tracking Satellites

Congress has until September 30 to prevent OCO-2’s planned deorbit after NASA began soliciting private support for OCO-3

Dave Crisp speaks during an Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 briefing in June 2014.
View of the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-3 (OCO-3) on the Japanese Experiment Module Exposed Facility of the International Space Station in June 2019.
Artist's rendering of NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO)-2, one of five new NASA Earth science missions set to launch in 2014, and one of three managed by JPL.
A United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket launches with the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 satellite onboard in July 2014.

Overview

  • President Trump’s FY2026 NASA budget blueprint directs a shutdown of OCO-2 and OCO-3 starting next fiscal year
  • NASA has begun formal Phase F closeout planning and is seeking private or international partners to maintain the ISS-mounted OCO-3
  • Despite labeling the missions as “beyond their prime mission,” agency statements confirm both satellites remain in exceptionally high condition
  • Annual operations cost about $15–16 million compared with roughly $750 million sunk in development and launch
  • Experts warn that ending the missions would sever critical links in global CO₂ and photosynthesis monitoring, hampering climate research and agricultural forecasting