Posted by drewr 2 days ago
Or (tinfoil hat on) they're going to do something the raw microwave data might expose and so they're trying to keep the microwave data secret.
The replacement is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joint_Polar_Satellite_System
The DMSP program was discontinued in 2015 by a vote in congress[1]. Virtually every working stallelite in this program has failed. As best as I can tell there's just a single working one specifically NOAA-19[2].
Instead the program has switched to JPSS[3] which is part of GEOSS[4].
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defense_Meteorological_Satelli... (scroll up slightly)
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NOAA-19
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joint_Polar_Satellite_System
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Earth_Observation_Syste...
Defense Department data also allow hurricane forecasters to see
hurricanes as they form, and monitor them in real-time.
For example, hurricane experts can see where the center of a
newly formed storm is, which allows them to figure out as
early as possible what direction it is likely to go, and whether
the storm might hit land. That's important for people in harm's way,
who need as much time as possible to decide whether to evacuate,
and to prepare their homes for wind and water.
I’ve been thinking about that guy once a week since this administration started.
Predictions won't be less accurate because weather is beyond the comprehension of all people and no amount of data could change that.
Someone should file weekly FOIA requests.
And then people wonder why they are erecting spikes around the White House and the Treasury. The pillaging has begun.
lots of ways to fill in that part. iterating the words seems worth the effort. Thinking out loud, there are readers with frame of reference, and movements or politics-in-practice that have frames of reference, in the messaging .. So making a 2x2 square and filling it in.. you can write for the readers and refine, you can align with movements or their spokespersons and refine, all combined with you yourself representing what you are about.
So to complete the exercise.. how many readers of YNews would respond to "that is evil" wording.. how many movements or politics-in-practice would say "that is evil" as part of their outfacing communications.. and how strongly to you, the writer, want to associate the concepts of "that is evil" with respect to other things that you say or think are important.
I write this pedantic screed because this is so, so critical to communicate right now. The narrow rocky valley pass in which to lay an ambush, is completely in place.. the budget strings. Everyone knows that this is raw executive power in action.. it is to be, because I say so, implemented via the purse. I am not sure how much to include those backdrop statements in any impactful messaging though, because "there is no bad news in sales" and popularity or adaption is part of the task.
> Break up the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
> "fully commercialize" the National Weather Service's forecasting operations.[1]
"Together, these [six main offices of NOAS] form a colossal operation that has become one of the main drivers of the climate change alarm industry and, as such, is harmful to future U.S. prosperity. This industry’s mission emphasis on prediction and management seems designed around the fatal conceit of planning for the unplannable"
"Scientific agencies like NOAA are vulnerable to obstructionism of an Administration’s aims if political appointees are not wholly in sync with Administration policy. Particular attention must be paid to appointments in this area."
Absolutely mind-boggling that someone can put that in writing with a straight face.
Ah yes, that very infamous industry of selling... alarm... for climate change. As opposed to Small Oil, which we all know is a very tiny industry that doesn't influence anything.
I found this one funny:
Overlap exists between the National Marine Fisheries Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Overly simplified, the NMFS handles saltwater species while the Fish and Wildlife Service focuses on fresh water. The goals of these two agencies should be streamlined.
Scientific agencies like NOAA are vulnerable to obstructionism of an Administration’s aims if political appointees are not wholly in sync with Administration policy. Particular attention must be paid to appointments in this area.
The cynic can actually think “oh that project 2025 stuff, that’s just red meat for their base, they went actually do it”, but that’s because neither the cynic nor the idealist can face reality (remember, the cynic and idealist transform between each other).
The horror of reality is the raw hard reality, and there’s no cynicism or idealism that can prepare you for it - both were always a coping mechanism.
You can't privatise NOAA and the services it offers. It cannot work at an equivalent level as a private service. Its effectiveness relies on being able to decide what's valuable in purely scientific terms, and those terms don't align with short-term corporate greed.
But if you ask these cranks what NOAA actually does, they'll have no clue. They're not just evil, they're stupid - the smallest, most banal bureaucrats, cosplaying radicals.
NWS is what they're trying to privatize.
For other NOAA fallout effects in the government, a Potus wouldn’t have to rob from the FEMA funds if there’s nothing for FEMA to prepare for, in that FEMA cannot say we need to spend money to help flooding in Texas or hurricane damage in Florida. No cancel that and put that money into the tax break or 1% monetary “business investment” funnel fund. [0] [1]
[0] https://www.project2025.observer/?search=flood
[1] https://www.project2025.observer/?search=Fema&sort=agency-de...
But with public contracts it can be a very effective way to line ones pockets with tax payer money.
> Break Up NOAA ... NOAA consists of six main offices ... Together, these form a colossal operation that has become one of the main drivers of the climate change alarm industry and, as such, is harmful to future U.S. prosperity. This industry’s mission emphasis on prediction and management seems designed around the fatal conceit of planning for the unplannable. That is not to say NOAA is useless, but its current organization corrupts its useful functions. It should be broken up and downsized. NOAA today boasts that it is a provider of environmental information services, a provider of environmental stewardship services, and a leader in applied scientific research. Each of these functions could be provided commercially, likely at lower cost and higher quality.
https://envirodatagov.org/project-2025-national-oceanic-and-...
Tldr: shut down NOAA to suppress climate change evidence, research, and preparedness; outsource to private industry the remaining parts that are considered directly useful for commerce.
Is it any wonder that the CEO of Accuweather Barry Myers was a Trump donor who became a NOAA head administrator appointee in Trump's first term? The appointment fortunately failed. Now they're trying again.
I don’t think anybody wins from this.
See e.g. https://www.accuweather.com/en/press/accuweather-does-not-su...
If so, they might be benefiting, but that’s about it.
Data from the Copernicus program is available for any citizen or organization worldwide. So a lot of free data will still be accessible.
[0] https://newsletter.terrawatchspace.com/global-earth-observat...
Funny enough, this came up in the Netherlands a few months ago. The government released their own mobile app based on the data they collect and the private weather apps got all upset that the government was competing. What made it hilarious though, is that the private companies are all using the open source government data to power their apps!
So yea, this data will still be collected in the USA, but then sold to for-profit companies for basically nothing and then they will charge consumers for access to data collected with their collective tax dollars. Pretty messed up imo.
Take one quick look at any wealth inequality graph over time and "who's winning" will be pretty clear. Someone always wins. This is simply a step at privatizing everything. Straight out of project 2025.
Kagi 2025 noaa. I shouldn't even have to link it. The fact that their entire game was publicly laid out years ago... and still, people act ignorant or are legitimately not paying any attention to politics... We deserve all that this administration will cost us as a collective.
The current US regime looks at it as a roadmap.
SpaceX scores $81.6 million Space Force contract to launch weather satellite
The contract for the mission designated USSF-178 was awarded on June 27 ( 2025 ) by the Space Systems Command and represents SpaceX’s third consecutive win under the National Security Space Launch (NSSL) Phase 3 Lane 1 program.
The mission will carry the Weather System Follow-on – Microwave Space Vehicle 2 (WSF-M2), along with a secondary payload of experimental small satellites called BLAZE-2.
New weather sats going up, just not "free data for taxpayers".
Do you really need to subsidise this anymore?
If anything brining competition to this space (pun intended) might improve the data quality.
Satellites are still tricky and time consuming to build and are an entire other ball of wax than a lift to orbit.
A typical weather satellite carries a price tag of $290 million; a spy satellite might cost an additional $100 million
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) asked the aerospace and defense giant to build it at least three, and potentially as many as seven, new next-generation Geostationary Extended Observations (GeoXO) sats. If all options are exercised, the total contract value will reach $2.3 billion.
Bad news for Lockheed Martin: That works out to $324.3 million per satellite.
It's generally agreed that ~ $90 million for a sat launch is less than a third of a ~$300 million per sat build cost.
Edit: here's one thats $30M https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2023/05/electron-tropics-lau...
Such as the Lockheed Martin 2024 contract I linked?
Sure.. try that link, it's from last year and talks about grown up big boy weather sat costs in 2024..
Your $30m SmallSat is not in the same league as a full featured $300m sat .. I'll leave you to work out the differences.
Moreover the launch costs for those $30m sats is under $8m each launch, again refuting an upstream claim about launch costs being higher than sat build costs.
See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocket_Lab_Electron
The starting price for delivering payloads to orbit is about US$7.5 million per launch, or US$25,000 per kg, which offers the only dedicated service at this price point.Anyone know what that's about?
Let's try to make sense of that.
1) the cybersecurity talent from DoD and USG is so decimated it can't
field a response to whatever this concern is or
2) the DoD has the talent to resolve whatever this concern is and they
are deliberately leaving this concern in place or
3) the DoD is lying about a cybersecurity issue being the reason
that they're withholding lifesaving data (from benefiting
the public that paid for it).