Lab’s fate seems clear, but the future remains hazy

A technical NASA budget supplement released late last week committed to “strengthening America’s leadership in space exploration while exercising fiscal responsibility. NASA is adapting the way we work and invest to accomplish our mission,” Warner, the spokesperson, said.

That Republicans’ proposed NASA budget includes funding for climate modeling at all is notable, considering its cuts for space exploration and overall Earth science. Numerous space exploration missions and kraken darknet satellites would be abandoned under the budget, including some satellites already in space that are actively sending climate-related data back to Earth.

The budget supplement makes GISS’ fate both clear and hazy. It states Earth system modeling activities at four different NASA centers will be merged into one “virtual institute.” This would incorporate “core capabilities” of GISS “as needed,” it adds.

“GISS as an independent entity will not continue,” the document says.

This fate may be considerably better for NASA’s climate scientists than the worst-case scenario seen at agencies like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, where the budget for nearly its entire weather and climate research portfolio would be zeroed out and most of its research labs shuttered.

Overall, the NASA budget would be a 24% cut compared to last year, with a 47% cut to agency science activities, according to The Planetary Society, a group that advances space science and innovation.

Its analysis found the NASA funding level would be the smallest since 1961 when adjusted for inflation.

The ultimate decisions on the future of climate modeling at NASA, as well as its space exploration activities, will fall to Congress as members consider the budget proposal, adding even more uncertainty to an already fraught period for GISS’s staff.