In the US, the White House has told NASA employees to end two widely used, state-of-the art satellite missions that keep a watchful eye on greenhouse gases heating up the Earth. The satellites, known as Orbiting Carbon Observatories, are the federal government's only ones of their kind and are relied upon by farmers, scientists and the nation's oil and gas companies to keep track of atmospheric carbon dioxide.

In a post on NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory website dated the 15th of August, the agency said the 10-year-old mission is viewed as [quote] : the gold standard for carbon dioxide measurements from space and has quietly become a powerful driver of technological, ecological and even economic progress." [endquote]

Recent media reports about the directive have said no reason has been given for the terminations, which would destroy one of the satellites and its sensitive instruments because the spacecraft would burn up on re-entry to the Earth's atmosphere. The other satellite is attached to the International Space Station.