In July 2025, Sean Duffy, acting administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), directed employees to plan for significant workforce adjustments and the potential shutdown of various missions, despite warnings that it would be illegal to do so prior to a Congressionally approved budget for fiscal year 2026.
The plans include ending at least two major satellite missions that monitor global carbon dioxide: the Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO)-2 and OCO-3 missions. The satellites provide crucial data on climate change and support agricultural needs by mapping global carbon levels and photosynthesis activities. Experts have warned that eliminating these missions would be economically unwise and detrimental to climate research and agriculture.
Appropriations committees in both the House and the Senate are reviewing the FY26 budget, with the House proposing less severe cuts than those suggested by the Trump administration and the Senate rejecting the proposed mission terminations. Neither the House nor the Senate budget proposals have been finalized or reconciled, leading 64 members of Congress to send Duffy a letter on July 18 raising concerns of illegal impoundment of federal funds appropriated for the current fiscal year (FY25).
Update: On August 14, 2025, Duffy announced that NASA will “move aside” climate science and focus solely on space exploration, saying “[t]hat’s why we have NASA — is to explore, not to do all of these earth sciences.”