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\n\t\t\t\t\t\tThis color image of Earth was obtained by NASA\u2019s Galileo spacecraft on Dec. 11, 1990, when the spacecraft was about 1.5 million miles away. Credit NASA\/JPL-Caltech\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
During an Aug. 14 appearance on Fox Business<\/a>, Acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy declared that the agency\u2019s mission is \u201cto explore, not to do all of these earth sciences,\u201d signaling a potential shift away from NASA\u2019s decades-long role in Earth observation and climate research.<\/p>\n Duffy later softened his stance during an Aug. 18 visit to Johnson Space Center, saying that NASA would still adhere to its congressional directives. But he still suggested that other agencies could take the lead on climate science.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cListen, you can go other places for your climate change science. This is the only civil agency in government that does human space exploration. No one else does it, just us, and so that is, that\u2019s the focus, and that\u2019s what I meant by that,\u201d Duffy said, according to a transcript of the comments provided to Astronomy by the NASA press office.\u00a0<\/p>\n This vision for NASA largely aligns with the White House\u2019s 2026 budget proposal<\/a>, which cuts NASA\u2019s overall budget by 24 percent; while human exploration receives an increase, the agency\u2019s science funding is slashed by nearly half, including earth science by 53 percent.<\/p>\n The comments from Duffy are some of the most explicit yet from NASA leadership about the Trump administration\u2019s downsized view of NASA\u2019s role \u2014 and many scientists have pushed back vigorously against it. They argue that earth science is essential to NASA\u2019s mission, not a distraction from it, pointing to the agency\u2019s legal charter and historical relationships, and contending that its unique capabilities cannot be simply offloaded to other government agencies or the private sector.<\/p>\n And, they point out, an agency that seeks to lead the world in planetary science but ignores Earth would be missing out on studying the most unique planet yet known in the universe \u2014 our own.<\/p>\n \u201cEarth is a planet,\u201d Camille Bergin, an aerospace engineer and science communicator known as the Galactic Gal<\/a>, tells Astronomy. \u201cAnd I think that\u2019s what people forget.\u201d<\/p>\n Defining the mission<\/p>\n At the heart of the matter is the interpretation of NASA\u2019s core function. Duffy\u2019s comment that NASA is \u201cmeant to explore\u201d frames the agency\u2019s purpose as looking outward. The subsequent suggestion that \u201cother agencies\u201d could handle earth science points to a vision of a more streamlined NASA, free to focus on the unique challenge of sending humans to the Moon, Mars, and beyond.<\/p>\n However, critics argue that it overlooks the agency\u2019s foundational charter. \u201cIt\u2019s the National Aeronautics and Space Administration,\u201d Bergin says. \u201cSo much of what NASA does is within our atmosphere.\u201d This perspective is rooted in the 1958 National Aeronautics and Space Act<\/a>, which explicitly lists as a primary objective \u201cThe expansion of human knowledge of phenomena in the atmosphere and space.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Duffy may be unaware of this history, suggests Robert Kopp, a climate scientist at Rutgers University. \u201cTo my knowledge, Sean Duffy is the first person to serve as administrator or acting administrator of NASA without any relevant experience,\u201d Kopp says. \u201cHe might be unaware that [this] has been part of NASA\u2019s statutory mission since its establishment.\u201d<\/p>\n According to a historical overview<\/a> from the agency\u2019s science division, this dual mandate has historically created a division of labor between NASA and other agencies, particularly the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The early model established in the 1960s saw NASA\u2019s role as pioneering new technology \u2014 developing and launching novel satellites and instruments. In this partnership, NOAA and the U.S. Geological Survey would then analyze the data for their operational missions, such as daily weather forecasting.<\/p>\n Proponents of this model argue that it is why a simple handover of the mission is not a straightforward solution. Bergin is direct in her assessment: \u201cI don\u2019t think that any other agency can do what NASA does.\u201d She explains that NASA\u2019s \u201cholistic view\u201d of the solar system, which includes Earth, allows the agency \u201cto do this research in ways that I don\u2019t think other agencies can.\u201d<\/p>\n The commercial question\u00a0<\/p>\n If NASA\u2019s role in earth science is reduced, some private sector companies are eager to fill the void. In an article<\/a> for EMSNow, which covers the global electronics manufacturing services industry, European commercial space executives framed a potential NASA pullback as a significant opportunity. \u201cThe potential rollback of NASA\u2019s Earth-observation programmes should not be seen as a loss, but as a turning point,\u201d said Anthony Baker, CEO of SatVu.<\/p>\n Thomas Gr\u00fcbler, co-founder of OroraTech, echoed this, saying, \u201cPrivate Earth-observation firms already offer a broad range of data and intelligence to governments and taxpayers, often at a much lower cost and with greater flexibility.\u201d<\/p>\n However, the enthusiasm from the private sector is tempered by a more balanced perspective among scientists. In a recent article<\/a> for Nature, Danielle Wood, director of the Space Enabled Research Group at MIT, argues that while commercial data is innovative and useful, a balance is essential. \u201cPrivate companies alone cannot provide all the Earth-observation data that the world needs. Nor should they,\u201d she writes. Wood points out that public missions are set up to answer scientific questions and maintain public services, providing a trusted benchmark for data quality. Commercial missions, in contrast, are more likely to collect data based on customer requests or market opportunities.<\/p>\n