Administrativna naredba
Bela kuća je naložila zaposlenima u NASA-i da pripreme planove za prekid rada dviju važnih satelitskih misija usmjerenih na klimatske promjene, poznatih kao Orbiting Carbon Observatories. Ove misije prikupljaju podatke o distribuciji ugljičnog dioksida (CO2), ključne za naučnike, kompanije za naftu i gas te poljoprivrednike koji prate utjecaj CO2 na zdravlje usjeva.
Kako misije rade
Jedan od satelita je pričvršćen za Međunarodnu svemirsku stanicu, dok drugi leti kao samostalan satelit. U slučaju gašenja samostalni satelit bi na kraju izgorio u atmosferi. Naučnici su očekivali da će misije raditi još godinama jer je NASA-ina procjena iz 2023. navela da su podaci "of exceptionally high quality".
Reakcije i troškovi
Former NASA employee David Crisp, who worked on the Orbiting Carbon Observatories' instruments, told NPR: "They were asking me very sharp questions," he said. "The only thing that would have motivated those questions was [that] somebody told them to come up with a termination plan." Crisp said it "makes no economic sense to terminate NASA missions that are returning incredibly valuable data," pointing out it costs only $15 million per year to maintain both observatories, a tiny fraction of the agency's $25.4 billion budget.
Prijedlog budžeta administracije za fiskalnu 2026. godinu prijeti brojnim svemirskim i Earth-observing misijama. Kao odgovor, zakonodavci su predložili alternativni budžet koji štiti nauku i misije. "We rejected cuts that would have devastated NASA science by 47 percent and would have terminated 55 operating and planned missions," said senator and top appropriator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) in a July statement, as quoted by Bloomberg.
"Eliminating funds or scaling down the operations of Earth-observing satellites would be catastrophic and would severely impair our ability to forecast, manage, and respond to severe weather and climate disasters," House representative and Committee on Science, Space and Technology ranking member Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) told NPR. "The Trump administration is forcing the proposed cuts in its FY26 budget request on already appropriated FY25 funds," she added. "This is illegal."
