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NASA's carbon tracking satellites are on Trump's chopping block (only 5.51 Years left)
Mashable ^ | 8/04/25 | Chase DiBenedetto

Posted on 08/05/2025 8:52:05 AM PDT by Libloather

Two of NASA's historic data-collecting missions — used by scientists and earthbound agriculturalists to track carbon dioxide and crop health — may be permanently grounded as the Trump administration looks to shrink the agency's spending.

When they launched over a decade ago, the satellites known as the Orbiting Carbon Observatories (OCOs) revolutionized the collection of carbon data and greenhouse gas science. To put it simply, the OCOs changed how we understand our impact on the planet. Experts rely on the data for studies on greenhouse gases and severe weather and climate disasters, as well as other practical uses, including modeling the effectiveness of eco-friendly transportation on carbon dioxide emissions and even mapping plant photosynthesis and crop failures around the world.

OCO-2 has been orbiting Earth since 2014, designed initially to measure regional carbon dioxide sources and natural "carbon sinks" that absorb greenhouse gases. OCO-3 was launched in 2020 to supplement previous OCO missions, and is attached directly onto the International Space Station. The satellites run the government around $15 million in annual maintenance costs, reports NPR.

The equipment was expected to last in space for several more years, NPR reports, but NASA employees have recently been tasked with drawing up plans to terminate their use.

The agency has been looking to private scientific partnerships to keep its missions running, as the Trump administration and other Republican leaders double down on attacks against climate change science. President Trump shut down the federal climate.gov website in June, following a May executive order that outlines a new "gold standard" for federal scientific research and enables agency heads to deem research that fails to align with the stipulation of the order as "scientific misconduct." The site now redirects visitors to the climate page of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

(Excerpt) Read more at mashable.com ...


TOPICS: Outdoors; Science; Travel; Weather
KEYWORDS: c02; carbon; chopping; nasa; satellites
Just horrible. Maybe AOC can finance them.
1 posted on 08/05/2025 8:52:05 AM PDT by Libloather
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To: Libloather

Those environmentalists are the Karen’s he’s ticking off the most. As he peels off the latino and black voters they’d prefer a job to hanging out with these loose women.


2 posted on 08/05/2025 8:57:37 AM PDT by DIRTYSECRET
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To: Libloather
When they launched over a decade ago, the satellites known as the Orbiting Carbon Observatories (OCOs) revolutionized the collection of carbon data and greenhouse gas science.

Water vapor is at least twice as strong as a greenhouse gas than CO2.

Given that our climate system is nonlinear and dynamic, and given the sheer volume of water vapor in the atmosphere, orders of magnitude more than carbon dioxide, plus the wide variability of water vapor in the atmosphere from 0.4% to 5%, you would think that water vapor would be the key factor in climate change.

It is time to shift focus from carbon dioxide to water vapor and other factors in climate change. We have accomplished next to nothing except spending a lot of research dollars on the obsession with carbon dioxide.

The whole world seems bent on self-destruction chasing a false premise that we are all going to die if we do not control a trace gas that is needed for plant life.

3 posted on 08/05/2025 9:05:30 AM PDT by olezip
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To: Libloather

Looks like the World ends during President Vance’s term.


4 posted on 08/05/2025 9:39:48 AM PDT by silent majority rising (When it is dark enough, men see the stars. Ralph Waldo Emerson)
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To: Libloather

Obama forced NASA to abandon science and research.
NASA became just a tool for the CO2 haters.
Time to change this.
NASA needs to return back to space exploration!


5 posted on 08/05/2025 10:27:04 AM PDT by AZJeep (sane )
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To: AZJeep

“....perhaps foremost, he wanted me to find a way to reach out to the Muslim world and engage much more with dominantly Muslim nations to help them feel good about their historic contribution to science, math and engineering,” - Charlie Bolden, Obama’s NASA Chief


6 posted on 08/05/2025 11:56:09 AM PDT by Organic Panic ('Was I molested. I think so' - Ashley Biden in response to her father joining her in the shower. )
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