The White House’s fiscal-2026 budget blueprint calls for ending NASA’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory missions, zeroing out funding for the free-flying OCO-2 satellite launched in 2014 and the OCO-3 instrument installed on the International Space Station in 2019. The twin sensors provide the world’s most precise measurements of atmospheric carbon dioxide and plant photosynthesis, data widely used by climate scientists, farmers and energy companies. NASA managers have been instructed to draw up termination plans that could see OCO-2 intentionally deorbited and OCO-3 switched off as early as 1 October, according to NPR and internal agency messages. The directive comes despite the missions’ modest operating cost—about US$15 million a year, less than one-tenth of one percent of NASA’s roughly US$25 billion budget—and a 2023 agency review that rated their data “exceptional” and recommended at least a three-year extension. Sixty-four lawmakers warned Acting Administrator Sean Duffy last month that shutting down active projects before Congress finalises appropriations could violate federal anti-impoundment laws. The Senate’s draft spending bill retains support for the satellites, setting up a confrontation when legislators return from recess. The proposed cuts are part of a broader plan that would slash NASA’s science spending by nearly half. All living former heads of the agency’s Science Mission Directorate have signed an open letter calling the move “catastrophic,” arguing it would erode U.S. leadership in Earth observation and hand ground to rivals such as China.