Casey Darey told me on the phone, “This is probably the most uncertain future that NASA has faced, maybe since the end of Apollo.” Darey is the chief of the space policy in the planet Society, a non -profit that supports the search and study of the place.
On July 10, the Senate Special Committee met to discuss the proposed federal trade, justice and science budget for 2026. On average, funding for NASA is about 0.3 % of the federal government’s annual expenditure since the beginning of the 2010s, President Trump has called for 24 % deductions in the agency’s operating allowance over the year. Through any matriculation, its plan will be disastrous.
After being adjusted for inflation, it will leave NASA with the smallest operating budget, since the Russian Cosmont Yuri Gigrion became the first man to go into space in 1961. In this process, this will spread the agency’s science budget to about half, which will end 55 ongoing and planned missions. It will also leave NASA with its small workforce in 70 years. All this, at a time when the agency has been entrusted with the task of returning to the moon and bringing humans to Mars first.
“There is no historical example of this level of one year, in practice in blind and dramatic deductions. You lose one -third of all active plans for science in a year. (Trump Administration) suggests closing missions that are not just good science, but unique and irreparable science.” “This is definitely the biggest threat to NASA science activities in space agency history.”
When he says it would be impossible to change some missions. One of Trump’s deductions will investigate a new horizon. In 2015, New Horizons gave us the best form in Pluto so far. Four years later, he performed the highest flying in human history. As matters stand, it is the only active spacecraft in the Cooper Belt, which is a region of our solar system that is not well by scientists. Even if NASA has begun to work on an alternative today, it will require a generation to reach the vehicle where there is still New Horizon. The President’s recently approved tax bill, an additional funding allocated for ICE enforcement agencies and detention operations, costs $ 29.9 billion in Congress, costing about $ 14.7 million each year to continue the investigation.
Heather Rupera
Another mission that will be impossible to change is the Osair-Ax. If the name seems familiar, the reason is that Osaris-Apex NASA’s incredibly successful Osrius Rex is a continuation of flight. In 2020, the spacecraft visited an ancient temptation, 101955 Beno, about the size of the Empire State Building, and collected a sample of Regolith (rock and dirt) from its surface using the ever -ever -present technique.
After Osaris Rex successfully returned the sample to Earth, NASA decided to expand the mission of the spacecraft and fly another Texture, 99942 in Apofas. In 2029, Apofas will pass about 19,600 miles away from the earth. This will be the closest view of any staffide of its size. NASA said the expansion would increase a mission by 200 million, which is already priced at $ 1.16 billion.
“This project is a penny for re -publishing the dollar of an existing spacecraft,” said Dreer. It is the only US spacecraft that will once again be in Apofas on the occasion of studying a Temple, which is barely remembered. ” “It seems important to know.”
At a time when almost every aspect of American life is being accelerated, the potential cancellation of dozens of NASA missions may be known to a remote concern, but the agency’s science budget lack will affect communities across the United States.
“NASA is an engine for jobs in the country, and for every NASA job, many more in the private workforce have been born,” said Bethany Ehuman, a professor of planet science at the California Institute of Technology. She also served in the board of directors of the planet Society.
Professor Ehuman’s claim has been supported by NASA’s own data. In 2023, the agency employed 17,823 full -time government employees across the country. With the support of NASA’s private sector, this year’s mission was responsible for maintaining 304,803 jobs in all 50 states and Columbia district. Another way to tell, NASA supports at least 16 private sector jobs, for every full -time equivalent job. “Space science has been widely endorsed, and about three -quarters of every Congress district of the country affect the three -quarters,” said Dreer. “This is not just a red or blue state.”
After the Senate meeting last week, policy makers of both sides said they would withdraw from President Trump’s NASA budget. On Tuesday, the Subcommittee of the House of Committee on Trade, Justice, Science and the relevant agencies passed a funding bill that would provide NASA’s total budget of $ 24.8 billion for 2026, or the same amount was allocated this year. A week ago, the relevant sub -committee in the Senate passed its NASA funding bill.
Both versions are different on an important detail. The Senate Legislature’s Science Budget maintains $ 7.3 billion, while the version of the House tries to reduce it by 18 %. Separately, the Chamber of National Science Foundation is demanding a 23 % cut in the budget. The NSF funds most of the country’s astronomy research.
“What I am listening to the lawmakers is that they understand how important the NASA industry is. They understand how important NASA is for universities in terms of training, and to provide the next generation of space manpower to provide a training grant,” Professor Ehuman, who was on Capital Hill last week. The House and the Senate will need to come to an agreement to proceed to the bill.
Even in favor of maintaining NASA’s budget with many legislators, a flat budget fund is still deducted when calculating inflation. In addition, NASA has already been negatively affected by the Trump administration’s efforts to trim the federal manpower.
According to reporting Polyteco Published on July 9, 2,694 NASA employees agreed to leave the agency through initial retirement, purchase or delayed resignation. Of these individuals, 2,145 are workers in senior positions and are serving in 1,818 missions like human spacelight and science. “Once the manpower is gone, they go away,” said Dareyer. Employees who have agreed to leave are about 15 % of NASA’s 2023 workforce representing 17,823. With the last date of July 25 for initial retirement, voluntary separation and delayed resignations, that number is likely to increase. Under the Trump administration, NASA’s changing priorities have also created uncertainty among agency contractors.
According to Keith Kong, a former NASA employee and NASA Watch creator, the workforce cutting is already affecting employees. “In 40 years, I have been involved in somehow with NASA, I have never seen the morale so bad,” he said. “Is NASA flowering? Yes, but the way you deal with the blot is that you have to go with the skull and you have cut off carefully. And you still stand on the stage with chains (like Elon Musk). This is not a way to run a government, and it is certainly not a way to make the universe.”
Whatever happens after that, Dreer fears that NASA is likely to be harvested in public support. He identified a survey published by Pew Research. In 2023, the organization realized that the monitoring of Kishodarrah, which could target the Earth and tracked the planet’s climate change, were two activities that the Americans wanted to give NASA more priority than the other mandate. On the contrary, sending human astronauts to the moon and Mars was the least important priorities for the public.
Reuters / Reuters
The House version of NASA’s 2026 budget will increase the agency’s Exploration Budget by 25 % $ 9.7 billion. In Trump’s tax bill, Senator Ted Cruise (R-TX) included a language that provided NASA for the fourth and fifth flights of the Space Launch System (SLS) for the fourth and fifth flights.
Both the Trump Administration and the House pushed the Moon and Mars as a priority, saying that they are “doubling the activities they are already doing before the private sector – SpaceX says it is not just a matter of science – that they are not sending humans to Mars.”
In fact, NASA’s budget, which sacrifices on scientific research in exchange for Mars missions, will be one who says the public invested in things that are at least important for it.
“I am afraid that he is expected to be expected from the public, and as a result, it will damage public investment in NASA,” he said. “NASA is usually tied to one or two popular federal agency. People wear NASA T -shirts. No one wears an interior T -shirt department that comes out of space. It is a rare and valuable thing.
When asked to comment on the story, NASA’s press secretary Bethany Stevens pointed to a letter from Acting Administrator Janet Petro NASA, which jointly jointly published the President’s budget request in a technical supplement.
“We should continue to be responsible for the dollar of taxpayers,” Petro wrote, “said Petro. This means making strategic decisions – including steering back or shutting down ineffective efforts that do not associate with our moon and Mars search priorities.”
NASA’s final budget for 2026 is still a month away from finalizing. After Tuesday’s vote, two funding bills will be transferred to the Senate and the House of the House for further review and further review. Only then will each member of each chamber have the opportunity to vote on the matter. The Congress has till September 30 to complete the allocation before the finances of 2025 are finished. President Trump can also decide to veto the bill if he is not in line with his priorities.
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