US Congress Destroyed Sea Ice Probe Satellite. Why?

A recent article at The Guardian points out that "Republican-controlled Congress ordered destruction of vital sea-ice probe"

"President Trump has been accused of deliberately obstructing research on global warming after it emerged that a critically important technique for investigating sea-ice cover at the poles faces being blocked.

The row has erupted after a key polar satellite broke down a few days ago, leaving the US with only three ageing ones, each operating long past their shelf lives, to measure the Arctic’s dwindling ice cap. Scientists say there is no chance a new one can now be launched until 2023 or later. None of the current satellites will still be in operation then.

The crisis has been worsened because the US Congress this year insisted that a backup sea-ice probe had to be dismantled because it did not want to provide funds to keep it in storage. Congress is currently under the control of Republicans, who are antagonistic to climate science and the study of global warming."

read even more at the original article cited above

I hate to seem like I think there's a conspiracy around every corner... but was it really so expensive to keep that extra satellite sitting in a locked room?  Wouldn't it cost more to have technicians dismantle it?  And assuming dismantling it did cost more, and the official story is a lie, then what is the real reason?  Would working satellites properly surveying sea ice be likely to uncover something in Arctic or Antarctic waters that our government does not want publicized?

There are lots of rumors about fantastic discoveries in Antarctica that would explain all the high-level visits, the travel bans... And authors researching catastrophic pole shifts have been telling us for over 60 years that Antarctica was habitable just thousands of years ago, and that there is evidence of a civilization that mapped its interior before the ice sheet formed, before the most recent pole shift (which may have been about 12,900 years ago.)

Another article at mongabay.com warned us months ago:

"Beginning in the mid-1980s, the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) constructed eight “F-series” microwave radiometer satellites, in bulk, each with the intended lifespan of three to five years. When one satellite started to fail, the Department of Defense (DoD) would simply launch another, ensuring the record was continuous and that there were always two to three satellites in orbit.

But last year, things began to go awry. The DoD, NASA and National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) were relying on F-17, when it began breaking down. Scientists immediately turned to F-19 for data, the latest in the series, but F-19 went caput shortly thereafter, leading to a coverage gap spanning several months last spring. Now, scientists are relying solely upon F-18, which is well past its lifespan, and F-17, which continues to glitch out."

These could very well be legitimate technical difficulties on aging satellites.  On the other hand, if I made historic secret discoveries in Antarctica and wanted to keep it hidden, I might make sure that the satellites observing the area had technical difficulties, and I might make sure no replacements were authorized.

Or maybe government just does stupid things.  Nothing to see here...