NAsal is a funny way to framing bad news. May 2 A white house released Its upper budget numbers for 2026 for the financial year and the space agency responded quickly – applause.
“President Trump's FY26 budget revives the exploration of human space,” reads read press releaseTo. NASA Administrator Janet Petro said in a statement: “This proposal includes investments for the moon and Mars for simultaneous examination, still preferring critical sciences and technology research. I appreciate the president's continued support for NASA mission and look forward to working closely with administration and congress to ensure the progress.
However, it may be realistic to think about how NASA achieved with the dramatic cuts that the president suggested. Petro is right if you accommodate a relatively modest 10% financing of space research, with $ 7 billion a proposal for Missing Missions and a billion dollars later on to Mars. But besides, things get terribly gloomy.
Its Mission to Return Mars SampleWhat is currently underway, collecting Rover with perseverance and recording cache to the soil and stone lamps to return the later robot with handicrafts. Twenty -seven sample pipes, sealed and left over the Mars surface like Easter eggs to accumulate, are forever untouched. These samples could have told us about possible conditions for ancient or even existing life in a world-potential knowledge that now disappears.
Its Space Starting System (SLS) Monthly missile and The orion spacecraftBoth development in one form or another since 2006 and the team for the development of the moon is also demolished.
The element is also celebrated Gateway spaceshipA small space station designed for the orbit of the moon – despite the fact that the first of its modules has already been built. Gateway was designed for a quick service on the moon surface and from there to visit astronauts. The missions of space science are with a slash of more than 50%Threatening – other projects – the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, which, like the gateway module, is already mostly structured. Rome is designed to answer deep and exciting questions about the residence of exoplanetes – or other letters circling the planets and dark energy, which is believed to account for 68% of the universe and keeps its accelerating expansion key.
Read more: NASA Fighting America to Return to Moon
In addition, exploring the sustainable flight technology of the environment is one of many climate fraud programs, as the White House referred to it In a statementwhich is also for cancellation. All NASA DeI programs must also be eliminated in accordance with the new government-related policies. Generally, NASA with a budget cut of 24%, from $ 24.8 billion in 2025 to $ 18.8 billion – in 2026 – 2026 – The lowest level of funding since 2015To.
“No spin changes the fact that it would stop critical missions, dramatically reduce labor and risk our scientific management worldwide,” said California Democrat and Science, Space and Technology Committee, California Democrat and Vice President George White, George White, x -lTo. “It's completely irresponsible and I fight it in every way.”
“The planned cuts are drastic,” says Stephan McCandliss, a research professor of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Johns Hopkins University. “They are devastating and very angry [being] An unfriendly science in general. ”
The proposed cuts represent not only alternative costs, but also the loss of sunken costs. Sls is already paying There are nearly $ 24 billion and another $ 20 billion to Orion – the money that is spent on the cancellation of the two projects. The Roman telescope, which is currently cleaning in Greenbelt, Greenbelt, Maryland, cost $ 4 billion. According to the general accounting office dataGateway has spent $ 3.5 billion, the first module initially launched by 2027.
All this hassle is President Trump's departure who edited A small but steady budget increases For NASA – from just over $ 18 billion to just over $ 21 billion – is his first term. The financing of space agencies rose to its almost $ 25 billion excellence under the leadership of President Joe Biden before the ax fell this week. In the upcoming starvation rations, as always, NASA are veterans who look back with the former Soviet Union during the spacecraft in the golden era. Historically, NASA's excellence year was in 1966, when $ 5.93 billion, or $ 58.5 billion, to the Agency was awarded to the Agency for 2025 years. This accounted for 4% of the government's round budget. NASA slice of federal pie today –before Trump cuts? Only 0.4%.
Read more: NASA's new, $ 4 billion space telescope understands a great cosmic puzzle
The generous funding of the 1960s yielded impressive results. The US launched the NASA twin program in 1965 and 1966 in 1968-1972 for 10 team flights in just 20 months. Between 1968 and 1972, one of the Apollo mission was launched – one of them either to the orbit of the moon or the month further and six of those who go to the surface of the month. It was all when NASA retained a solid pure research program by launching more than 20 mission to Moon, Mars and Venus in the 1960s. The most worried about the abolition of these learning science flights.
“This is a future mortgage,” says Henry Hertzfeld, a research professor at George Washington University Space Policy InstituteTo. “Developing these programs, creating instruments and analyzing the results is, of course.”
“I see the role of the government in making science,” says McCandliss. “This should be done by the government – a cutting -edge stuff that is not commercial, but in the long run will give surprising results.”
The issue of commercial vitality – with the private sector, takes over the growing part of the work done by NASA – it seems to lead a large part of the administration budget. The aging International Space Station (ISS) is planned to be organized in 2030, and NASA and the White House are looking for industry to bankrupt and launch the next generation. “The budget reflects the upcoming transition to a more cost -effective, open commercial approach to human activities in low Earth orbit … The safe decision of the station and its replacement with commercial stations,” NASA said in his press release. Currently NASA spends about $ 3 billion a year ISS. Privatization would eliminate its expense.
Similarly, if SLS and Orion stand down, this step would be deleted for the massive field of SpaceX Star ship Rocket. SLS and Orion have only flown once – in 2022, the non -existent mission known as Artemis I. Current plans require Artemis II to bring a four -member team around the end of next year and Artemis III Monitor the landing with the team before the end of the decade. Artemis IV and beyond were intended to create a long-term presence in the Southern Monthly Pob, but the new planned budget will revoke these plans.
Starship could be a worthy descendant. The largest and most powerful rocket ever built is Starship's 40 story long and puts 16.7 million pounds of thrust at startup – almost twice as much as SLS 8.8 million pounds. Single flight SLS has been able to have been underdeveloped for 20 years Eight unpaired launches Starship has just been in April 2023. None of these launches have been fully successful, but the business model of SpaceX and the Elon Musk Boss of this boss has always been fast to fly, quickly fail and fly again until you can get it right. A company of smaller timeless success Falcon 9 rocketWhat has been repeated with 467 successful flights to the world's work horse is evidence that this approach to research and development can work.
“It's a pretty amazing stuff they've done,” says McCandliss. “If you have a fucking care manager who is willing to spend your personal capital on such things, this is another story [from what the government can do]To. Musk has not tried to try his dreams and has the capital. ”
If NASA has hope to escape the cuts proposed by Trump administration, they are just like that –designedTo. The President's budgets are lists of wish lists for Congress, where legislators invited final expenses, and NASA has seen this movie before – most recently and dramatically in 2010. At the time, President Barack Obama canceled the Charter's Agency Program – the forerunner of Artemis, aimed at bringing when it was announced when it was six, when it was six, which was given to it in about 2015. V. but the legislators of space-friendly countries who depend on NASA thousands of local jobs-specialized Texas, Florida and California-where they were attached, and funding was restored for both vehicles.
Today, the Republican Republican and Washington Democrat Maria Cantwell – Chairman of the Senate Trade, Science and Technology Committee and member of the leaderboard – is being investigated to control the lights in NASA. Neither legislator has yet made a public statement about the planned cuts and did not respond to the request of the comment. However, Capitol Hill gets the final word.
“The President makes a proposal and Congress commands,” says McCandliss. “I know there are terribly NASA centers in the red states.”
NASA is responsible for its funding for the congress and the Congress is responsible for their red countries and everyone else for their work to voters. Ultimately, Americans get the space program they demand.
