Trump administration science, climate denial hurts everyone

The Trump administration has asked NASA employees to draw up plans to end at least two major satellite missions, according to current and former NASA staffers. If the plans are carried out, one of the missions would be permanently terminated because the satellite would burn up in the atmosphere.

The data the two missions collect is widely used, including by scientists, oil and gas companies and farmers who need detailed information about carbon dioxide and crop health. They are the only two federal satellite missions that were designed and built specifically to monitor planet-warming greenhouse gases.

It is unclear why the Trump administration seeks to end the missions. The equipment in space is state of the art and is expected to function for many more years, according to scientists who worked on the missions. An official review by NASA in 2023 found that "the data are of exceptionally high quality" and recommended continuing the mission for at least three years.

Both missions, known as the Orbiting Carbon Observatories, measure carbon dioxide and plant growth around the globe. They use identical measurement devices, but one device is attached to a stand-alone satellite while the other is attached to the International Space Station. The standalone satellite would burn up in the atmosphere if NASA pursued plans to terminate the mission."

This is probably one of if not the dumbest ideas Trump wants to pursue. He also wants to cancel these two missions that provide detailed scientific information as to heath of the earth.  This administration would like to rescind all if not most of the environmental regulations that protect the environment. Global warming is a fact. Global average temperatures have risen significantly since pre-industrial times, with 2024 marking a record high, exceeding 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. Weather patterns have also changed significantly. There are higher temperatures globally as well as excessive rainfall, a lot of which has caused flooding in large parts of the United States.

The earth belongs to everyone. We must protect it from people like Trump and members of his administration who do not believe in global warming. If we continue to destroy the environment to the point that it is unable to sustain human and animal life, we have no place to go. The closest “potentially” habitable exoplanet to Earth that scientist have discovered, using the HARPS instrument on the 3.6-meter telescope at the La Silla Observatory in Chile, is located approximately 4.24 light-years away. It is Proxima Centauri b and orbits a Red Dwarf star every 11.2 days in a constellation that is part of the Alpha Centauri star system. While it's within what is considered the habitable zone of its star, meaning it could have an atmosphere and liquid water could exist on its surface, however it experiences intense radiation from its star. Even if the planet has all the necessary conditions to support human life and “may be” habitable, it is beyond our reach with existing technology. 

Although there have been other exoplanets discovered within what scientist consider as in the habitable zone of a star that may be better suited for life as we know it,  Most are much farther away than Proxima Centauri b. The next closed potentially habitable exoplanet is Gliese 12b. It orbits a cool, red dwarf star and takes 12.8 days to complete an orbit. Both Proxima Centauri b and Gliese 12b orbit their respective stars approximately 30 times faster than the earth orbits the sun.

So let’s put it into some perspective as to the distance between earth and the closest exoplanet Proxima Centauri b. If we could travel 24 trillion miles at a speed of the Voyager 1 probe (38,000 mph) it would take approximately 26,315,789,474 days or roughly 72 million years to reach Proxima Centauri b. However if we could travel that same distance at the speed of the Parker Solar Probe (364,660 mph) it would only take approximately 2,744,027,502 days or roughly 7.5 Million years to reach Proxima Centauri b. No one that left earth to journey to Proxima Centauri b would be alive when the spacecraft reached the planet.

It is time for us to stand up to and be counted. If you care anything about the ability for the earth to support life now and for future generations, voice your concern to your congressman and senator. We need these instruments in space to provide science and engineering data on the health of the earth. We cannot let this administration to continue to disregard that fact that climate change is real.