Stop Trump’s Plan to Burn Up NASA’s Climate Watchdogs

Multiple news outlets are reporting that the Trump Administration plans to destroy NASA’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory missions, OCO-2 and OCO-3. These satellites are not outdated relics—they are fully functional, taxpayer-funded tools that continue to provide the most accurate global measurements of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere. To deliberately burn them up or dismantle them would waste years of investment and eliminate a capability unmatched by any other nation.

Sign the petition to urge NASA officials to resist this interference in climate research.

The Administration’s FY 2026 budget requests zero funding for the missions, and reports indicate that NASA staff have been directed to prepare “end-of-life” plans that would send OCO-2 into Earth’s atmosphere to burn and permanently disable OCO-3. This is not a routine retirement. It is a conscious decision to destroy satellites that are still collecting critical data, presumably because Donald Trump thinks climate change is a hoax.

These instruments have already revealed transformative findings: that the Amazon rainforest now emits more carbon than it absorbs, that drought and wildfires can flip ecosystems into dangerous sources of emissions, and that boreal forests act as vital carbon sinks. Their data informs disaster preparedness, agriculture, food security, and energy planning—knowledge that affects every American household.

Congress has not approved this politically motivated shutdown. To proceed before appropriations are finalized would risk overstepping legal authority, raising even more concerns of an unlawful impoundment of funds by Trump. Ending the missions prematurely is not only scientifically reckless but also fiscally irresponsible and legally questionable.

Destroying these satellites would silence some of the most important voices we have in understanding our planet. Please sign the petition to urge NASA officials to bravely stand against this reckless plan. 
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Source

LA Times https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2025-08-19/trump-wants-nasa-to-burn-a-crucial-satellite-to-cinders-killing-research-into-climate-change