Experts have alarmed themselves while the White House offers the “greater reduction of a year to NASA in American history”
Friday, May 2, the White House published its “Skinny budget” 2026, a plan that describes how the administration provides for the allocation of government funds for the next financial year. According to this proposal, NASA will see a reduction of 24% to its front line financing, which, according to experts, could be devastating for the agency.
“The White House has proposed the greatest reduction of a single year to NASA in American history,” said Planetary Society, an independent non -profit organization largely supported by scientists and space lovers, in a press release. “It would recklessly reduce the scientific budget of NASA by 47%, forcing the generalized endings of functional missions worth billions of dollars.”
For example, NASA claims that the lean budget, which suggests withdraw approximately $ 6 billion in funding for the agency compared to the levels adopted in 2025, would end the efforts dedicated to the yield of the March sample. This program aims to bring back the samples of the red planet on earth – samples that Perseverance Rover has collected in recent years which, according to experts, require an analysis based on the laboratory to reach their true scientific potential.
The budget would also eliminate “green aviation” expenses focused on climate, focused on the production of aircraft that are better for the environment. The latter also reflects the main reductions in the lean budget for earth science.
In addition, the lean budget calls for the cancellation of the lunar gateway, a space station intended to be built around the moon which has already won major construction milestones here on Earth. And on the theme of the moon, if this budget really passes (which means that it is approved by the congress), it would remove the rocket from the NASA spatial launch system (SLS) after their third flight to the lunar district via the Artemis program. Sls and Orion have stolen once together, in 2022, which means that there are two other opportunities for this duo.
“If it is promulgated, the 56% reduced the National Science Foundation, the reduction of 47% to the Directorate of the Scientific Mission of NASA and the 14% reduced to the Bureau of Sciences of the Ministry of Energy would lead to a historic decline of the American investment in fundamental scientific research,” said the American Astronical Society about the reductions proposed in a declaration published on Friday.
“This budget, as it is supervised by the director of the OMB, Russ Vought, does not support the declared objective of President Trump according to which America must” show the way to fuel the continuation of the discovery and the exploration of the “” space, “The declaration of the planetary company indicates, in reference to the office of management and budget of the White House, which wrote the lean budget.” Basically in contradiction with the president’s vision for the leadership of American space. “
In a declaration of April 30 of the Planetary Society – written in the middle of the previous clues of the budget now published – the organization also speculates to what extent a reduction of approximately 47% of NASA expenses could resemble the line. This could affect the highly anticipated Roman spatial telescope Roman Romanesses, poses the setbacks for planetary defense, the weather forecast for the impact space and perhaps threatening national security, according to this press release.
“We urge the congress to quickly reject this destructive proposal and continue a path in accordance with the president’s vision,” said the last declaration of the planetary company. “This is the opportunity for the Bipartisan agreement to guarantee an effective, capable and balanced national program worthy of the nation it aims to represent.”
It should be noted that a declaration published on April 14 by the Bipartisan US Planetary Science Caucus co-representatives, the representative Judy Chu (D-California) and the representative Don Bacon (R-Nebraska), echo these feelings, in particular by emphasizing the concerns linked to the effects that these cuts could have on national security and the return efforts of the sample of March.
It was published on April 14 in response to reports on the content of “pass documents”, which can be considered an important step before the release of the lean budget. Pass documents describe the possible reductions in NASA financing, and were indeed very similar to the official lean budget. They suggested that the yield of the March sample could be terminated, for example, and that earth science would see a reduction of 50%. They also suggested that NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland could be closed and that no financing is provided for other telescopes “beyond the Hubble space telescope and the James Webb space telescope.
In response, the chairs of the Caucus of the American planetary sciences have jointly declared that “we are extremely alarmed by the reports of a preliminary budget of the White House which proposes to reduce the scientific financing of NASA by almost half and to end dozens of programs already in progress, such as the mission of return of the sample of March and the Telescope of Roman space.”
“Together, we have to maintain American pre-eminence in space,” they added.
The other elements to note in the lean budget of the White House include an increase of $ 650 million in the budget for human spatial exploration – the only branch that has increased funding – and the emphasis on the intention to return to the moon “before China” and to put a “man on Mars”.
It also indicates objectives such as the elimination of the financing of “low -priority climate surveillance satellites”, “reducing or eliminating projects” better suited to research and development of the private sector “and says that” NASA will inspire the next generation of explorers through ambitious and ambitious space missions, not by STEM WOK STEM programs and research On others and had a minimum impact on Aerospace work works. “”
“These cuts would damage a wide range of research areas which will not be supported by the private sector. The negative consequences would be exacerbated because many research efforts may require years of decades to mature and materialize,” said the AAS declaration.
“The reduction of NASA budget by also, this quickly, without the contribution of a confirmed administrator of NASA or in response to a political objective considered, will not make the agency more effective – it will cause chaos, waste the investment of taxpayers and will undermine American leadership in space,” said the recent declaration of the planetary company.
To date, Janet Petro is the acting administrator of NASA; The choice of Trump to follow Petro is the billionaire and the private astronaut Jared Isaacman.
Originally published on Space.com.
