Agency officials said Monday that NOAA would continue to maintain the Joint Polar Satellite System, crucial weather satellites, after a previous memo suggested maintenance would be deferred
Artist’s rendering of NOAA’s JPSS-2.
CLIMATEWIRE | NOAA has backed off a plan that would have deferred the maintenance of satellites critical to weather forecasts and storm predictions.
A March 28 memo obtained by POLITICO’s E&E News and highlighted in a previous story showed the agency was prepared to operate its Joint Polar Satellite System under a “minimum mission operations approach.” The directive would have meant the delay of maintenance work such as flight software updates — which former NOAA officials said could ultimately degrade the accuracy of weather forecasts.
But NOAA said Monday it would continue to maintain the satellite network. At issue was whether the agency was going to renew a contract for its upkeep, which it says has been done.
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“There were no changes in maintenance and support of those or any of our satellites,” the unattributed NOAA statement said. “The contract option was ultimately exercised, so normal satellite operations continue.”
NOAA refused to say when the contract was renewed. Agency officials also declined to provide information on how much money NOAA would have saved if it deferred maintenance work for the Joint Polar Satellite System. NOAA did not answer questions about which agency officials were behind the plan.
“We are not discussing internal personnel and management matters,” the NOAA statement said.
NOAA maintains a contract for satellite upkeep with Arctic Slope Technical Services, which is part of a large government contractor. Arctic Slope Technical Services declined comment for this story.
The JPSS satellites, which orbit Earth’s poles, provide the backbone of U.S. weather forecasting. Their data is shared with other nations, who in turn provide the United States with weather information. The JPSS program, estimated to cost more than $13 billion, is scheduled to include five satellites by 2032.
Former NOAA Administrator Rick Spinrad, who served under former President Joe Biden, had raised concerns about the plan to cut back on satellite maintenance. The approach might save a small amount of money on the front end, he said, but could lead to much higher costs over the long term — and possibly imperil important weather data collection.
He said he was relieved the Trump administration decided to renew the maintenance contract.
“Sounds like cooler heads prevail,” Spinrad said. “That is clearly the most efficient way forward.”
The Trump White House has tasked political appointees at every agency to dramatically cut personnel and spending. Billionaire Elon Musk, an ally of President Donald Trump, has joined in this effort and championed its goals through a new effort dubbed the Department of Government Efficiency.
The aggressive cost-cutting campaign, however, has led to moments of confusion and uncertainty.
Trump political appointees at NOAA were prepared last week to let a cloud usage contract expire, which would have knocked offline dozens of key climate and weather research information sites and made some essential data unrecoverable, E&E News reported. But after news reports pointed out the potential lapse, NOAA said the contract was restored — just hours before it was set to expire.
Craig McLean, NOAA’s former top scientist, took issue with the agency’s plan to defer upkeep of the Joint Polar Satellite System. He said it was a sign the Trump team is more focused on slashing budgets than spending taxpayer money efficiently.
“We’re using a gas station attendant’s mentality of how to maintain something as sophisticated as the United States technology enterprise that surveys planet Earth,” McLean said. “That’s basically what we’re doing here: Fix it if it breaks.”
Reprinted from E&E News with permission from POLITICO, LLC. Copyright 2025. E&E News provides essential news for energy and environment professionals.