Satellites for sale: NASA JPL is looking to get rid of some satellites already in space

NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab is having a "going out of business sale" for its satellites, according to NASA Watch, a blog run by former NASA astrobiologist Keith Cowing. This comes amid the Trump administration's plans to cut funding to the space agency, thus hitting several projects related not only to other cosmic bodies, but also Earth. On sale are several Earth-monitoring satellites that studied the effects of climate change, the environment and predicted hurricanes. There are also some that are yet to be launched, such as the Geostationary Littoral Imaging and Monitoring Radiometer (GLIMR) instrument, The Byte reported. The sale, according to NASA Watch, is a way to raise funds for other projects. Cowing wrote that the Trump administration's 2026 budget request had asked for the satellites to be "shut down". Also Read: Apollo 11 anniversary: Conspiracy theories about moon landing being faked swirl once again

NASA budget cuts

NASA budget cuts angered several experts, who called it "an extinction-level event for space science and exploration". The Trump administration is planning to cut down NASA's science directorate budget by more than half. However, Cowing said that NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab isn't really hopeful of things changing and is going ahead with the shutdown of the satellites. He wrote that the lab is looking to offload the satellites to "government and private sector buyers", which would help it raise funds. The Byte asked Cowing for more details, to which he responded that he "posts what he knows", and things are still evolving. Meanwhile, his story drew unhappy reactions from the scientific community.

Meanwhile, there were some who found humour in the post, especially Cowing's words - "going out of business sale". JPL senior engineer Luis Amaro wrote in a LinkedIn post, "We got to keep a sense of humor these days at JPL." Yusef Johnson, mission integration lead of NASA's Artemis IV mission, one of the major projects to take a hit from budget cuts, called out the people who voted for Trump, adding, "Snake oil still sells." Notably, these satellites provide crucial data about the environment and weather patterns, alerting about major changes and the corresponding events like hurricanes. Trump has often denied that climate change is real, and experts say that this non-serious attitude is responsible for shutting down several operations at NASA.