NASA to remove two climate satellites Donald Trump wants to destroy

NASA has launched a plan to decommission two satellites responsible for collecting data on global warming pollution and other environmental information.

NASA is planning to decommission premier satellite missions that gather information on climate vital signs as soon as October, sources say.The destruction of the satellites marks the latest step by the Trump administration to scale back federal climate science.

— CNN (@cnn.com) 2025-08-13T14:00:36.734Z

According to CNN, the agency plans to begin planning in October for the retirement of OCO-2 and OCO-3, a move seen as the Trump administration’s latest offensive against climate science.

The move comes on the heels of the elimination of public funding for most programs scheduled to begin in 2026.

Fully funded and already operational, the mission of this type of satellite has been deemed essential for collecting quality data on greenhouse gas emissions, according to experts and CNN, leaving scientists perplexed by the US president’s decision.

The first mission, OCO-2, was launched in 2014, while OCO-3 was installed on the International Space Station in 2019.