NASA directed by Trump to destroy a key satellite, halting studies on climate change through incineration
The Trump administration has announced plans to shut down NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO) program, a decision that has sparked concern among scientists and researchers. The OCO, which has been operating continuously in space for over a decade, could continue for another three decades.
The OCO project, initially conceived in the mid-1990s to study carbon dioxide absorption by natural sinks, gained approval in 2001 from the George W. Bush administration. The Obama administration appropriated $50 million in December 2009 to restart the OCO mission after the failure of the first satellite launch in 2009. A carbon copy of the OCO satellite was launched successfully on July 2, 2014, and has been operating for over six years.
The OCO-2 satellite, the current operational spacecraft, is renowned for its exceptional data quality. Despite the initial development and launch cost of about $750 million, the satellite only costs approximately $15 million a year to operate. The data produced by the OCO is of great value, providing insights into carbon dioxide levels and solar-induced fluorescence in plants, which can serve as an early warning indicator of flash drought.
The Trump administration's zeroing out of climate research budgets includes the cancellation of the Orbiting Carbon Observatory program. The reduced Earth science budget for NASA, as proposed by Trump's budget director Russell Vought, calls for a 50% reduction in the budget for NASA Earth science research.
In response to these developments, the Trump administration has given instructions to move the OCO-2 spacecraft into a disposal orbit that would incinerate it in the Earth's atmosphere within a few months. However, an alternative to incinerating the OCO-2 spacecraft is to place it in a sort of suspended sleep, requiring 24-hour monitoring to adjust its orbit to avoid space junk.
The destruction of the OCO-2 spacecraft has been met with criticism from Dr. Mike W. K. Cliff, the OCO project leader, who views the move as "beyond shameful and detrimental to climate research." There is no current initiative to destroy the Orbiting Carbon Observatory, nor is there any publicly known responsible person within NASA for such an action. No credible information indicates the Orbiting Carbon Observatory is being targeted for destruction or managed for that purpose.
The potential loss of the OCO-2 spacecraft is a significant blow to climate research. The high-quality data produced by the OCO is crucial for understanding carbon dioxide levels and their impact on the Earth's climate. Destroying the OCO-2 spacecraft will hamstring climate research for decades, making it more difficult to combat climate change and understand its effects.
As the world grapples with the challenges posed by climate change, the decision to shut down the Orbiting Carbon Observatory program raises serious questions about the Trump administration's commitment to climate research and the pursuit of knowledge. The OCO-2 spacecraft, with its unique capabilities and invaluable data, is a vital tool in the fight against climate change. Its destruction would be a setback not just for NASA, but for the entire scientific community and the world at large.
