Budget proposal would hit Goddard earth science missions – Baltimore Sun

Deep spending cuts called for in President Donald Trump‘s federal budget proposal would fall on two space programs with ties to NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, both of which have implications for climate science.

Trump’s $1.15 trillion budget proposal, unveiled Thursday, would eliminate an earth sciences satellite being built and tested at Goddard for launch in 2022 to study the earth’s oceans. Another proposal zeros out funding for data analysis from two deep space science instruments positioned on a satellite already in orbit.

Given Trump’s skepticism that human activity is responsible for climate change, it was little surprise his budget recommended slashing hundreds of millions of dollars from federal programs to tackle the issue. The blueprint also cut funding for efforts to reduce power plant emissions.

“I think the president was fairly straightforward — we’re not spending money on that anymore,” chief White House budget architect Mick Mulvaney said as he announced Trump’s budget. “We consider that to be a waste of your money.”

Budget proposal would hit Goddard earth science missions – Baltimore Sun