This week, the Trump administration presented a draft budget request for NASA as part of its fiscal year 2026 budget planning. This initial proposal indicates a significant reduction, targeting an overall budget cut of around 20 percent for the space agency, which translates to approximately $5 billion from the total budget of about $25 billion.
The bulk of the funding reductions will impact the Science Mission Directorate, responsible for overseeing various scientific endeavors, including planetary science, Earth science, and astrophysics research.
Documents shared with NASA officials on Thursday reveal that funding for the agency’s science programs may be slashed by nearly 50 percent. Following an allocation of $7.5 billion for science in fiscal year 2025, the administration’s proposal suggests a budget of only $3.9 billion for the upcoming fiscal year.
Overview of Proposed Cuts
The budget proposal includes substantial reductions in several areas: funding for astrophysics would decrease by two-thirds to $487 million; heliophysics would face cuts exceeding two-thirds, dropping to $455 million; Earth science funding would experience a cut of more than 50 percent, reduced to $1.033 billion; and planetary science funding would see a 30 percent decrease, downsized to $1.929 billion.
While the budget maintains support for existing missions such as the Hubble Space Telescope and the James Webb Space Telescope, it proposes the cancellation of the much-anticipated Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. This observatory, which has been fully assembled and is on track for a launch in two years, had been viewed as a key addition to the United States’ astronomical capabilities.
The documents specify, “Passback supports continued operation of the Hubble and James Webb Space Telescopes and assumes no funding is provided for other telescopes.”
