{"id":393522,"date":"2025-08-07T08:33:51","date_gmt":"2025-08-07T06:33:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=393522"},"modified":"2025-08-07T08:34:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-07T06:34:08","slug":"oco-satellites-fancy-tools-empty-pockets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=393522","title":{"rendered":"OCO Satellites: Fancy Tools, Empty Pockets"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"An<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Watts Up With That?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Guest Post by<\/em><\/strong> Willis Eschenbach<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the most reliable tells in the climate shell game is a government program with a name that promises \u201ccarbon\u201d and delivers something suspiciously less concrete. Enter the OCO satellites\u2014Orbiting Carbon Observatories, which, right off the bat, don\u2019t actually measure \u201ccarbon.\u201d They measure CO\u2082. It\u2019s like opening a box labeled \u201cMystery Steak\u201d and finding tofu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you want a tale of cosmic hubris stitched to pure bureaucratic ambition, look no further than NASA\u2019s Orbiting Carbon Observatory satellites\u2014OCO by name, not by actual carbon content. These polished tin cans were launched to spy on atmospheric CO\u2082 from space, the latest chapter in humanity\u2019s endless fantasy that, if we just measure nature sharply enough, we might finally drag the carbon cycle kicking and screaming under bureaucratic control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The original OCO was a flame-out before the party started\u2014launched in 2009, it belly-flopped into the Southern Ocean. NASA called this a \u201claunch vehicle anomaly\u201d<\/em>\u2014which is bureaucratese for \u201cthe thing blew up.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then, like every Hollywood flop, we got the sequel: OCO-2, plucky and determined, rising phoenix-like in July 2014. Imagine NASA muttering \u201cthis time for sure\u201d<\/em> and clutching its high-resolution spectrometer like a blackjack player eyeing his last stack of chips.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What does OCO-2 do? It chases reflected sunlight\u2014zeroing in on those precise, CO\u2082-hungry wavelengths the gas loves to slurp up. With this, OCO-2 pulls the ultimate global neighborhood watch: polar sun-synchronous orbit, meaning it goes pole to pole, day after day, circling the globe every sixteen spins of the Earth. The result? Near-global selfies of the planet\u2019s every atmospheric sigh, with precision down to less than one part per million. Yes, it picks out the smallest seasonal burp in CO\u2082 from the leafy lungs of the world; yes, climate modelers treat its graphs like sacred runes; no, it won\u2019t find your missing car keys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And then came OCO-3\u2014the inevitable space family photo. Shuttled up to the International Space Station in 2019, this cousin gets to peek sideways, take \u201caction shots\u201d in new viewing geometries, and basically try angles even OCO-2 didn\u2019t dare. Think of it as the satellite version of a go-pro on a skateboard: more, more, always more coverage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So the OCO saga rolls on\u2014a dazzling dance of technical triumphs, fizzled launches, and a hope bordering on superstition: if we can just catalog the ghostly flux of carbon well enough, maybe we\u2019ll wrestle the climate into submission. It\u2019s noble, in a way. Or maybe it\u2019s just expensive performance art for an audience allergic to low budgets and short stories. Either way, it\u2019s one hell of a ride\u2014assuming you\u2019re not footing the bill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, with the Trump Administration threatening to pull the plug on OCO, the usual suspects are sounding the klaxons\u2014 \u201cCatastrophe! The data! The lost science!\u201d\u00a0<\/em>Yet, I did what apparently nobody at NASA, NOAA, or CNN ever attempts: I actually looked at what the satellites have coughed up, and whether anyone\u2014any actual person, business, or government\u2014has found these cosmic spreadsheets useful outside of tenure applications and conference circuit PowerPoints.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Map<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

First, let\u2019s take the case most likely to give the climate alarmists the vapors: a real, honest-to-god, peer-reviewed study that used OCO data to figure out how much more corn, soy, and wheat the Midwest is pumping out thanks to the CO\u2082 \u201cfertilization effect.\u201d The math, by\u00a0Taylor and Schlenker<\/a>, goes like this: for every 1 ppm rise in CO\u2082 measured from space, corn yields go up 0.5%, soybeans 0.6%, wheat 0.8%. Over the last decade, thanks in part to 20 ppm worth of bonus CO\u2082, global farmers collected an extra $71.7 billion worth of food, including $4 billion a year for U.S. corn alone. If you\u2019re a wheat farmer, this is the part where you lift your hat and say, \u201cThanks to fossil fuels for all the carbon dioxide!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But here\u2019s the rub. These dollars aren\u2019t landing in anyone\u2019s account because of OCO. They\u2019re landing because\u2026 well, CO\u2082 went up. The OCO satellites simply told us, after the fact, how green the grass grew. Their role is \u201cobserver,\u201d not \u201crainmaker.\u201d If you\u2019re waiting for a case where a power utility, a city, a trader on the CBOT, or even a budget-stressed county extension officer flipped through OCO\u2019s gigabytes and made a buck, I hope you packed a lunch and a good book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The supposed \u201capplications\u201d for OCO-2 data beyond academic joyrides? They\u2019re a gospel of indirectness. \u201cNational carbon accounting.\u201d \u201cLarge-scale scientific assessments.\u201d \u201cParis Agreement verification.\u201d \u201cModel input.\u201d If you boil this all down, what you get is more paperwork, higher-resolution graphs, and the chance for government ministries to add another decimal point to emission numbers with satellite snapshots. The impact on your life, the price of your groceries, or the peril to your electrical grid? Round off to zero.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Best I can tell, not a single primary source\u2014not NASA, not peer-reviewed journals, not the Paris Agreement\u2019s own secretariat\u2014documents any organization, utility, or corporation making a real-world, real-money decision using OCO data. Every \u201cbenefit\u201d is hypothetical, every \u201capplication\u201d is a footnote for a climate negotiation PowerPoint, and every stakeholder story ends a step before anything actually happens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So when the media lights up with righteous indignation about the imminent unplugging of the OCO satellites, it\u2019s not because the world stands to lose operations, dollars, or even actionable knowledge. It\u2019s because a lot of institutional, academic, and consulting interests stand to lose a reliable grant generator\u2014a justification parade for more \u201curgent\u201d research, more staff, more servers buzzing away in the service of an endless, mostly circular, pursuit of \u201cclimate verification.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Could I have missed a secret billion-dollar industry quietly built on real-time OCO data? Well, sure. And if those unicorns take up day-trading next week, I\u2019ll issue an apology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Until then, the obvious answer is: if a satellite\u2019s only measurable benefit is keeping research staff busy and PowerPoint decks vivid, it\u2019s better to let the thing burn up, let the lights go out at OCO HQ, and see if maybe, just maybe, someone finds a direct use for satellite data that isn\u2019t another exercise in scientific navel-gazing. Otherwise, call it what it is:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A very fancy, very expensive cosmic spectator sport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My very best regards to all of you on a lovely summer morning,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

w.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My Usual Request:<\/strong> When you comment, please quote the exact words that you are referring to. It avoids endless misunderstandings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the most reliable tells in the climate shell game is a government program with a name that promises \u201ccarbon\u201d and delivers something suspiciously less concrete. Enter the OCO satellites\u2014Orbiting Carbon Observatories, which, right off the bat, don\u2019t actually measure \u201ccarbon.\u201d They measure CO\u2082. It\u2019s like opening a box labeled \u201cMystery Steak\u201d and finding tofu.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":393527,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"Explore the OCO satellites' journey from lofty goals to bureaucratic challenges, revealing their limited real-world impact on climate data.","jetpack_seo_html_title":"The OCO Satellites: Marvels of Space or Waste of Resources?","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691829997,691830212,691818491,691837075,691837076,691831504],"class_list":{"0":"post-393522","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-carbon-dioxide-co","9":"tag-fertilization-effect-2","10":"tag-nasa","11":"tag-oco-satellites","12":"tag-orbiting-carbon-observatories","13":"tag-trump-administration","15":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/0AQNqooGZkCJlDw-dp-i_SQqya0hKBrDb68VM4Izg4U9q_LDkd2bw1tlWmk4wMWe_TJkpT8blvBelOQEj5QC8qQVcjRLv1_tbhHd6lFiE7RdVyakmuz1f9KJIADWGWsgdJXvzYIhp4cP_AETKVNPXjKoq6sIzIg-1.jpeg?fit=1280%2C1280&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1En8","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":194277,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=194277","url_meta":{"origin":393522,"position":0},"title":"NASA Science Enables First-of-its-Kind Detection of Reduced Human CO2 Emissions","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"01\/04\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"From NASA For the first time,\u00a0researchers have spotted\u00a0short-term, regional fluctuations in atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) across the globe due to emissions from human activities. 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