Trump's cuts to NASA budget could make failure an option for space agency
The Trump administration wants to significantly cut NASA’s budget next year, slashing science research funding in half, a reduction that would halt the launch of a high-tech space telescope and curtail other planetary exploration missions.
The proposed cuts – which also could close NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, a prominent research laboratory in Greenbelt, Maryland – have alarmed scientists and politicians.
“This is an extinction-level event for NASA science,” said Casey Dreier, space policy chief for the Planetary Society, a nonprofit space advocacy organization, according to The Washington Post.
In Maryland, Sen. Chris Van Hollen, Rep. Steny Hoyer and Rep. Glenn Ivey, all Democrats, said they believe Congress will oppose the cuts. They said trimming science research will benefit China, which has accelerated its space program.
The cuts are part of the Trump administration's plan to reduce federal spending. In fiscal year 2024, total NASA funding accounted for about 0.36% of the total national budget, according to the Planetary Society.
How has NASA funding changed over the years?
In a statement, Hoyer said he agreed with former NASA administrator Bill Nelson’s reaction: “They’re going to run NASA into a very deep ditch if they proceed with this kind of savagery.”
SpaceX CEO and White House adviser Elon Musk called the planned cuts "troubling" in a social media post.
The budget plan, called a passback, is a draft for fiscal year 2026 that will be revised before being submitted to Congress for approval. It has not yet been made public, but some details were reported by Ars Technica and The Post.
The Office of Management and Budget sent the budget draft to NASA on April 10, SpaceNews reported.
Where would NASA funding be cut?
Under the budget plan, overall NASA funding would drop to about $20 billion, down from $24.9 billion in fiscal year 2024, a loss of about 20%.
Most of that loss would be felt in the space agency's Science Mission Directorate, which oversees NASA's science missions. The directorate's four main departments:
Planetary Science: Spacecraft sent to explore planets and other bodies in the solar system.
Earth Science: Orbiting satellites that observe and monitor changes in Earth's oceans, land mass, ice sheets and atmosphere.
Astrophysics: Exploratory missions include the Hubble Space Telescope, the Chandra X-ray Observatory and the James Webb Space Telescope. Though these telescopes would still receive funding, others like the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, expected to launch in September 2026, would not.
Heliophysics: Missions that study the sun and its influence across the solar system, including space weather and its effect on Earth-based communications systems and power grids.
NASA already has started laying off staff and closing offices at the order of the Trump administration. The agency said March 10 that it would shutter three offices and lay off 23 employees.
NOTE FY 2024 amounts are used to illustrate the drop in the proposed FY 2026 budget because Congress did not pass FY 2025 appropriation bills. Instead, legislators approved a full-year continuing resolution, which continued 2024 funding amounts into 2025.
SOURCE Paste BN Network reporting and research; Reuters; NASA; The Planetary Society; Ars Technica