NASA Earth science under pressure: GISS eviction, withheld funds and proposed mission cancellations (2025-2026)

NASA Earth science under pressure: GISS eviction, withheld funds and proposed mission cancellations (2025-2026)

Case

NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, a leading climate-modeling center, lost its New York lease on May 31, 2025. The White House proposed cutting NASA science by about 47% for fiscal 2026 and by about 46% for fiscal 2027, including Earth-observing missions, and in February 2026 OMB reportedly withheld funds for science missions it had wanted to cancel. Congress rejected the deep cuts in the fiscal 2026 law, keeping NASA science at about $7.25 billion.

GISS loses its New York lease (May 2025)
On April 24, 2025 CNN reported that the administration canceled the lease for NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), a leading climate-monitoring and modeling lab housed in Columbia University's Armstrong Hall in New York, effective May 31. Employees were told they would move to temporary remote work.
A NASA spokesperson said NASA was canceling the lease as part of a government-wide review of leases to increase efficiency, and that it would look for a new space for the GISS team while employees worked remotely.
About 100 scientists and researchers moved out of the building shortly after the May 31 end date, according to PIX11. The union that represents NASA scientists and engineers blamed DOGE; NASA's statement attributed the move to the lease review.
The General Services Administration holds the lease at about $3 million a year through August 2031, per PIX11, and the union representing over 6,000 federal scientists wrote that the government is obligated to pay it through 2031, per Axios.
GISS director Gavin Schmidt told CNN the work, data and products would continue. Scientists told Axios that maintenance of global temperature records dating to the 1880s, used by economists, insurers and developers, was at risk.

Budget requests and what Congress did
A leaked draft of the fiscal 2026 request would have cut NASA's science budget nearly in half, to $3.9 billion, and the Earth-science budget in half to just over $1 billion. Scientific American said that would almost certainly derail new satellites to monitor aerosols, clouds and sea-level rise.
AGU's table shows the fiscal 2026 request would have cut NASA's Science Mission Directorate by about 47%, from $7.33 billion to $3.9 billion. The final law provides $7.25 billion, a 1.15% cut.
The final fiscal 2026 bills maintain funding for 55 missions that would have been cut, along with Earth science research the request would have eliminated, and earmark funds to preserve weather and climate satellites.
The fiscal 2027 request again proposes cutting NASA science by about 46%. The Planetary Society counts 53 missions likely facing termination, because the request omits funding lines for missions it would end.
Among the Earth-science missions the Planetary Society says the fiscal 2027 request would cancel are OCO-2 and OCO-3 (atmospheric carbon dioxide), Aura (the ozone layer) and the Atmosphere Observing System (aerosols).

Funds withheld by OMB (February 2026)
On Feb. 11, 2026 E&E News, citing POLITICO, reported that the Office of Management and Budget was withholding money for NASA science missions, bucking Congress and a funding bill signed into law, according to a letter from NASA headquarters to its centers.
The letter directed centers to pause funds for science missions the White House had originally pushed to cancel in its 2026 request, including programs that study Earth and climate and programs that study other planets. It did not explain why, and OMB and NASA did not respond to requests for comment.

What the sources do not establish
The sources reviewed do not show whether the withheld funds were later released or whether any mission was formally terminated.
No source reviewed shows that DOGE ordered the GISS lease cancellation. NASA attributes it to a government-wide lease review, and the union attributes it to DOGE.

Perspectives

Official position — NASA (spokespeople and Goddard leadership)
NASA says it canceled the Armstrong Hall lease as part of a government-wide review of leases to increase efficiency, that employees would work remotely while it sought a new space for the GISS team, and that the institute's mission continues.

Official position — White House (as reported by The Planetary Society)
The White House says its proposed 46% cut to NASA science for fiscal 2027 would terminate over 40 low-priority science missions.

Critic — NASA scientists and their union
Scientists told Axios that long-running temperature records are at risk with the loss of GISS's building. The union that represents NASA scientists and engineers blames DOGE for the eviction and says the government remains obligated to pay for the lease through 2031.

Critic — The Planetary Society
The Planetary Society argues the fiscal 2027 request would systematically dismantle missions that monitor climate, carbon and atmospheric composition, and would disproportionately cut missions run with international partners, which it says offer some of the highest science returns per dollar.

Editorial read — The Author (site author)
The Author's view is that the United States should keep observing the Earth from space and keep the institutions that interpret the data, rather than shrinking both. This is interpretation. The sourced record shows a lease cancellation, budget requests that would roughly halve NASA science, and a reported withholding of funds. It also shows Congress rejected the deep cuts in fiscal 2026, and it does not show that any mission was terminated.

Research notes
Open leads: (1) Whether OMB released the NASA science funds reported withheld in February 2026; (2) where GISS staff work now and whether the GSA lease through 2031 was resolved; (3) a reported statement by Acting Administrator Sean Duffy that climate and Earth science would "move aside" came from a blog quoting The Hill, which blocks automated access, so it is not used until confirmed; (4) fiscal 2027 appropriations outcome; (5) the E&E News report on withheld funds is partly paywalled and is cited from its visible text.

Note
NASA says the GISS lease ended as part of a government-wide lease review and that the institute's work continues. The White House says its budget refocuses NASA, and Congress funded the missions it proposed to cancel in fiscal 2026. The sources reviewed do not show whether the withheld funds were later released.

Sources
[1] Scientific American: Five Key Climate and Space Projects Are on Trump's Chopping Block (https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/nasa-and-noaa-trump-funding-cuts-jeopardize-these-key-climate-and-space/) · 2025-05
[2] CNN (via KTVZ): Trump administration cancels top NASA climate lab's lease at Columbia University (https://ktvz.com/cnn-other/2025/04/24/trump-administration-cancels-top-nasa-climate-labs-lease-at-columbia-university/) · 2025-04-24
[3] Axios: Trump administration set to shutter iconic research center in New York (https://www.axios.com/2025/05/17/trump-nasa-goddard-office) · 2025-05-17
[4] PIX11 (via Yahoo): NASA scientists evicted from Morningside Heights facility (https://www.yahoo.com/news/nasa-scientists-evicted-morningside-heights-021022572.html) · 2025-06
[5] E&E News: White House withholds NASA science funds (https://www.eenews.net/articles/white-house-withholds-nasa-science-funds/) · 2026-02-11
[6] The Planetary Society: The FY 2027 NASA budget request (https://www.planetary.org/articles/analyzing-the-fy-2027-nasa-budget-request) · 2026-04-23
[7] AGU The Bridge: Science Funding for FY26 Secured (https://thebridge.agu.org/2026/02/05/science-funding-for-fy26-secured/) · 2026-02-05
[8] Eos: Science Escapes Largest Cuts in Latest Budget Bills (https://eos.org/research-and-developments/science-escapes-largest-cuts-in-latest-budget-bills) · 2026-01

Connections

Same context — EPA staff, research and budget cuts, and DOGE grant cancellations (2025-2026)
Both cover 2025-2026 cuts to federal environmental and climate research, including DOGE-linked actions.

Same context — NSF and NCAR: the plan to break up the National Center for Atmospheric Research and NSF climate grant terminations (2025-2026)
Both involve OMB-driven actions against climate research centers (NCAR and GISS) in 2025-2026.

Same context — Ocean observing under budget pressure: NOAA research cuts, Argo floats and the end of U.S. biogeochemical Argo (2025-2026)
Both cover proposed cuts to federal Earth-observation and climate research in the same budget cycles; Congress rejected most of the deep cuts for both NASA and NOAA in fiscal 2026.