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SAN FRANCISCO – A White House budget proposal calls for replacing the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s future geostationary satellite constellation, GeoXO, with a far less expensive and ambitious program.
The plan was included in the draft 2026 budget proposal, called the passback, prepared by the White House Office of Management and Budget and delivered to NOAA earlier this month. The document suggests NOAA’s National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service (NESDIS) “immediately cancel all major instrument and spacecraft contracts on the GeoXO program,” saying the projected costs are “unstainable, lack support of Congress, and are out of step with international peers.”
GeoXO is a $19.6 billion program that includes six satellites and ground infrastructure to significantly enhance NOAA’s ability to monitor weather, map lightning, and track ocean and atmospheric conditions over decades. To maintain observations from geostationary orbit at the conclusion of the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES)-R Series, the White House memo calls on NOAA to “immediately institute a major overhaul to lower lifecycle costs by 50 percent” with annual costs below $500 million, while remaining on schedule to launch the first satellite in 2032.
Rather than expanding the geostationary constellation to include satellites over the East, West and Central United States, the proposal includes only East and West satellites like the GOES-R Series. OMB also recommends an immediate end to NOAA relying on NASA to help it acquire weather satellites.
“While the expertise and knowledge of the NASA staff have offered significant benefits to the geostationary programs over their history, NASA’s reluctance to accept risk, to utilize fixed price contracts, and NASA’s high levels of overhead charges has made the continuation of the arrangement untenable,” according to the document.
Big Picture
NOAA will review the OMB plan and provide input before the Trump administration’s 2026 budget blueprint is sent to Congress sometime in May. If the OMB plan were approved, NESDIS would receive $336 million in 2026, a decrease of $44.8 million from its 2024 budget.
Funding cuts would affect the Office of Space Commerce, National Center for Environmental Information and the Office of Satellite and Product Operations. In addition, NESDIS’ education office and NOAA’s Ocean Service would be closed.
For GeoXO specifically, OMB suggests a $385-million budget in 2026, $100 million more than in 2024 and $306.5 million below what NESDIS expected to spend next year.
“Restarting the program without NASA’s people, protocols, and authorities presents both challenges and opportunities,” according to the document. “By April 24, 2025, please provide to OMB any legal authorities that NOAA currently lacks to execute a restart of the GeoXO program for review and possible transmittal to Congress with the Budget. OMB expects to work closely with NOAA in the weeks ahead to develop a plan for the capabilities and acquisition schedule for the reconstituted program.”
The program OMB recommends focuses on gathering weather data without monitoring ocean and atmospheric conditions.
“The program shall be redesigned to fit budget constraints, not maximize new capabilities,” according to the budget proposal. And a sounder should only be flown on the geostationary satellites “if the overall budget goals can be met.”
The first satellite in the new geostationary constellation should be equipped with an Advanced Baseline Imager built for the GOES-R program, according to OMB. Using the existing imager “will allow NOAA ample time to recompete the next generation imager as a fixed-priced contract with technical capabilities that fit within the new cost profile. Given the health of GOES-18 and GOES-19, as well as maintaining the first planned launch of the new series, the first new imager wouldn’t be needed until the late 2030s.”
Regarding GeoXO’s lightning mapper, OMB wants NOAA to analyze whether “the benefits outweigh the costs” given the capabilities of “ground-based networks.”
Space Weather and NEON
NOAA’s Near Earth Orbit Network would not be scaled back under the OMB plan. Funding levels in 2026 would rise to $125 million in 2026 as previously planned. The budget for the Space Weather Next program would dip slightly to $150 million in 2026 rather than rising to roughly $207 million.
Also trimmed in the proposal is funding for satellite ground services and systems architecture and engineering. In contrast, money would continue to flow to legacy programs including GOES-R and polar weather satellites.
Mixed Reactions
Since OMB delivered the passback to NOAA on April 10, the document has circulated widely. Reactions vary from dismay that NOAA would not enhance its geostationary-observation capabilities to approval of OMB’s call for less expensive instruments and fixed-price contracts.
A spokeswoman for Lockheed Martin, the company building the GeoXO satellites and lightning mapper, said by email, “It’s too early in the budget cycle for us to comment based on these unofficial reports.”
“Lockheed Martin has proudly developed and delivered breakthrough geostationary weather satellites and technologies that have saved countless lives,” the spokeswoman added. “Solutions like GeoXO are also designed to support public safety, search and rescue, and mission success for military operations.”
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