The Trump administration and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) under the leadership of Elon Musk continue to make sweeping changes at NASA. This time, the Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York City, which studies climate, is under attack. On April 25, it became known that the lease for the lab in the building at Columbia University would be terminated as early as May 31 – three years earlier than planned. NASA’s annual cost for the location was $3 million. But now employees will have to switch to remote work until they find a new location.
SpaceNews reports that the decision to terminate the agreement is due to the new administration’s “renegotiation of government leases.” While DOGE’s role in the process has not been officially confirmed, this is not the first time Musk’s department has initiated controversial changes at NASA. For example, DOGE employees were given access to the agency’s closed systems without clear rules, raising concerns about conflicts of interest because Musk’s SpaceX is a major NASA contractor. DOGE is also behind cuts to diversity programs and the sudden layoffs of thousands of government workers.
Disruption of NASA missions
GISS is one of the key climate change research centers that the Trump administration has repeatedly tried to marginalize. Institute director Gavin Schmidt assured that the work would continue because “science is made by people, not by walls.” However, the lab closures are only part of larger trends. According to internal “back documents,” the White House plans to cut NASA’s science budget by 50 percent. It threatens to close the Goddard Center in Maryland, stopping the Nancy Grace Space Telescope mission and other projects.
Impact on climate
In parallel with the cuts at NASA, the Trump administration has laid off more than 800 employees at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which also conducts climate research. The Heritage Foundation, a conservative foundation advising the White House, calls NOAA “exaggeratedly alarmist” and calls for their elimination. These moves are consistent with plans to fully commercialize weather forecasting and phase out government science programs.
The closure of GISS could become a precedent for further attacks on climate science. NASA is losing not only the facility, but also the infrastructure to analyze data based on decades of observations. At the same time, the growing influence of DOGE and Elon Musk, whose company SpaceX is getting billion-dollar NASA contracts, raises questions about the transparency of decisions.
Scientists warn: funding cuts threaten not only specific missions, but also humanity’s ability to respond to climate crises.
Earlier we reported on how Elon Musk wanted to give the Moon to China and “take over” Mars.
