According to reports, the Trump administration has instructed NASA to develop plans to terminate two key Orbiting Carbon Observatory missions (OCO-2 and OCO-3), which monitor the level of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere. These actions, started in July 2025 year, drew criticism from lawmakers and scientists, who call them illegal and harmful to climate research.
Details of OCO missions
OCO missions are designed to measure carbon dioxide with high precision (CO₂) in the atmosphere:
- OCO-2, Running in 2014 year on a Delta II rocket from the Vandenberg base, is an autonomous satellite in polar high altitude orbit 705 km. It provides global CO₂ maps at 1–2 km resolution, helping to track emissions from cities, natural sources and their impact on the climate. The satellite also showed the ability to measure the solar fluorescence of plants, providing photosynthesis data for agriculture.
- OCO-3, installed on the International Space Station (ISS) in 2019 year, complements OCO-2, focusing on local measurements, particularly over cities and industrial zones. Both tools cost approx 750 million dollars for development and launch, but their annual maintenance is only 15 million dollars - a small share of NASA's budget 25,4 A billion dollars.
OCO data is used by scientists, farmers, energy companies and government organizations, such as the USDA, for yield prediction, monitoring droughts and assessing the stability of carbon sinks. They also support international climate agreements, in particular the Paris Agreement, and are the only federal missions, specially designed for greenhouse gas monitoring.
Reasons and context for termination
According to information from two anonymous NASA employees and David Crisp, which to 2022 headed the scientific team of OCO, the Trump administration, through NASA Acting Director Sean Duffy, ordered the development of plans for "Phase F" - procedures for terminating missions. If the plans are implemented:
- OCO-2 will burn up in the Earth's atmosphere, which will make its loss irreversible.
- OCO-3, attached to the ISS, can be saved by private financing, which NASA is looking for to continue operating until the end of the ISS's service life (2030 year).
The reason for the termination was not officially announced, but is linked to the policies of the Trump administration, as outlined in the Heritage Foundation's Project document 2025, which is partially authored by Russ Vaught, director of the Budget Office (OMB). The document calls for a "reversal of the climate bigotry" of the Biden administration and an easier launch of commercial satellites.
Consequences
Discontinuing OCO-2 will result in the irreversible loss of a unique tool, which in 2023 recognized by NASA as the "gold standard" for measuring CO₂, threatens:
- Weakening the ability of the US to track emissions and meet international climate commitments.
- Loss of data for agriculture, which can affect crop yield forecasting and food security.
- Declining US leadership in climate research, especially against the background of the growth of commercial alternatives, such as the GHGSat satellites.
Source: https://www.iflscience.com