Climatewire | NOAA began to limit the work that former agency officials at risking the accuracy of both weather forecasts and excessive storm forecasts.
Only in a note obtained by Politico’s E & E News, the movement calls the agency to take the “minimum task operations approach için for two probes. Satellites are part of the common polar satellite system serving as the backbone of three and seven -day predictions and hurricanes and hurricanes and hurricanes.
The order means that Noaa will not do much to protect the satellites that rotate the world poles 14 times a day. March 28 note, “Modernization product maturation, flight software updates, release planning, location system continuing distribution (s), special calibrations and so on.”
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The reason for the movement is that according to the note, the expected “Reduction of Flight Engineering Support”. Trump Management Cuting Noaa’s contracts with external vendors and halter.
Former NOAA officials warn that the movement is a short -minded decision with long -term potential results. Rick Spinrad, who serves as Noaa manager in Biden, postponing software updates and other maintenance activities can currently accumulate some money, but the approach increases the risk of failure and increases costs in the long run.
“As soon as the system starts to get the system problems – and in the satellite world, the system problems are the name of the game – they will not be able to collect the data they need,” he said.
The risk is high for failure.
JPSS presents most of the data that informs numerical air estimates in the US and presents critical observations during severe weather events such as hurricanes and snow storms ”.
This image shows global water vapor by the Noaa-21 satellite.
Noaa/Satellite Applications and Research Center. Contributors: Mark Liu, Ninghai Sun, Noaa/Nesdis/Star; Vince Leslie, MIT-LL, JPSS ATMS SDR SET
In the worst situation scenario, a failure can blind the country into a serious storm, if the system has a significant problem for days for days.
It is not clear how much the movement will save. The number of Noaa note on cost savings was left blank and the Noaa officials did not respond to the request for comments.
According to NOAA, the total cost of the JPSS program is estimated to be more than $ 13 billion.
As it stops, the JPSS program is only partially completed. The oldest polar orbit in the JPSS, Satellite, is a national polar partnership that follows long -term climate tendencies and biodiversity. This satellite was released in 2011 and is approaching the end of his life.
The two additional JPSS satellites will now participate in three in space, and the next one is planned to be released earlier than 2027. During the Biden administration, the Federal government signed a roughly $ 100 million contract with the rocket company directed by President Donald Trump’s ally Billionaire Elon Musk.
Since Trump took office, Musk has carried out an aggressive campaign to reduce both government expenditures and the size of the federal labor force, including Noaa.
The fifth satellite is also developed and launched in 2032. No one under the Trump administration has not yet increased the likelihood of canceling future launch or both.
The new plan means that Noaa and NASA will be less ready to address the important problems that arise in the functioning of satellites. Regular care ensures that problems are handled before they become serious. According to Spinrad, if something more serious occurs and other satellites are having problems, the basic flow of air monitoring data can be endangered for days.
The artist creates Noaa’s JPSS-2.
Spinrad relied on a second backup car parked in a garage with a dead battery or oil leakage that no one has controlled over the years. Authorized, a number of step -step fault has increased especially without regular maintenance, he said.
Spinrad said that the data, which is as large as a van and strengthened by sun sequences and strengthened with the Sun series, were shared with other governments that put their data into the USA. It is part of a collaborative global weather monitoring system.
For example, if a US satellite collects data at one hour of the day, a European satellite can collect later on the day. Collectively, they offer a comprehensive overview of global conditions that provide information about the weather.
Losing a data flow – through a satellite loss – it may erode the overall accuracy of cooperation.
This is a real risk, Spin SPinrad said, because satellites need continuous care. The orbits must be monitored and re -positioned occasionally, the sensors must be checked to ensure that they work properly, and data transmission must be evaluated.
This long checklist is part of the reason why former NOAA officials opposing the upcome anti-Food order.
Detrays related to the maintenance of satellites are similar to that of last week Recommended termination of the cloud usage agreement For dozens of Noaa website focusing on climate change, excessive air research and drought monitoring information. If this termination would have destroyed a significant amount of research that could not be saved if web pages were overturned offline. After the news of the contract deductions were opened to the public, Noaa political appointments were supported by the plan.
Andrew Rosenberg, who served as a senior official at Noaa during the Clinton administration, shows that the latest note was directed by the authorities who do not understand the cost and result of the noaa cuts.
“Do you say that high -tech, extremely expensive equipment, which provides vital information, is waste, fraud or abuse?” he asked.
Movement to postpone the maintenance of Noaa satellites, Three NASA Satellite Providing Basic Climate and Atmospheric Data Close to the end of their lives.
These probes may be offline during the year, and long -term changes in the world’s ozone layer, planetary heating solar radiation and other basic climate information plan to replace some specialized instruments.
A tool without a change plan is a moderate resolution specttroradyometer following forests, clouds, glaciers and oceans.
Scientists hope that Noaa satellites will compensate for this loss.
Recapproved E & E News Politico, with the permission of LLC. Copyright 2025. E & E News offers basic news for energy and environmental professionals.
