The White House has instructed NASA to terminate two climate change-focused satellite missions, the Orbiting Carbon Observatories, impacting data collection critical for understanding carbon dioxide distribution. These missions had been vital for providing data used by both agricultural sectors and fossil fuel companies. Despite their importance, and the expectation of many more years of function, the Trump administration's motives appear connected to its climate change denial stance. The observatories, maintained at a minimal cost, have been providing exceptionally high-quality data crucial for studying greenhouse gas emissions.
The Orbiting Carbon Observatories provide detailed carbon dioxide measurements across various locations, allowing scientists to get a detailed glimpse of how human activity is affecting greenhouse gas emissions.
Former NASA employee David Crisp, who worked on the Orbiting Carbon Observatories' instruments, stated it makes no economic sense to terminate missions returning incredibly valuable data despite costs being only $15 million per year.
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