NASA’s disastrous 2026 budget proposal in seven charts
https://www.planetary.org/articles/nasa-2026-budget-proposal-in-charts
NASA’s disastrous 2026 budget proposal in seven charts
https://www.planetary.org/articles/nasa-2026-budget-proposal-in-charts
7 Comments
The only thing disastrous about it is that it doesn’t cut SLS entirely.
Republicans have been anti-science independent from MAGA. And Republicans have always been cutting Earth science missions.
>The smallest NASA budget since 1961
>The smallest NASA workforce since 1960
Where we’re going [fascism] we don’t need science, engineers, programmers, and the economy.
Is NASA allowed to seek private funding?
Surely there are a lot of rich people/companies that would be willing to give money to NASA that could surpass the budget loss. Or even Even crowd fund missions.
[One thing I noticed](https://spacepolicyonline.com/news/house-appropriators-add-amost-3-billion-to-presidents-request-for-space-force/#:~:text=One%20surprise%20in%20OMB%27s%20appropriations%20request%20was,importance%20of%20space%2Dbased%20assets%20for%20national%20security.); NASA’s budget is generally smaller than the Space Force’s, with a 2024 budget of $24.8 billion and a proposed 2026 budget of $18.8 billion. So what we are seeing is a shift towards a more militaristic direction, ‘[peace through strength](https://spacepolicyonline.com/news/house-approves-25-billion-for-golden-dome-but-saltzman-worries-about-resources/)’ and all that.
When the country is $20+ trillion in debt and has budget deficits across the board, it’s hard to justify spending billions on research that won’t likely yield tangible benefits. Why should I care about a new radio observatory when the bridges I cross everyday have chunks missing in them?
Pure research has its place sure, but you have to be realistic.
Astronomer here! Worth noting this is also not just space missions at risk- I work primarily using the Very Large Array (VLA) in New Mexico, which is the best radio telescope on the planet, and right now they’re looking at “reduced operations” with a third of their budget cut. Another one on the chopping block is LIGO- the best gravitational wave detector on the planet by every metric, and won the Nobel Prize in 2017- is now also gonna be shut under the Trump proposal.
I am on the user committee for the Chandra space telescope (also on the chopping block), and we drafted a letter [here](https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://cxc.harvard.edu/cdo/cuc/cuc_file25/may21/CUC_Statement_on_Proposed_Cuts_to_NASA_Astrophysics.pdf__;!!C5qS4YX3!Ej7pqkKQU5XI4uz6UNYGiuDk-plksn198Fnulg3jFlwWyY6oohs97PvT-lsW69mqAe7eZ_qfeVoPt120h_Ovxw$) with info on how people can constructively talk to their congressional reps about this if anyone finds it helpful! Congress has traditionally supported science, and on the ground it soudns like they say they support science, but are just too bullied by the White House to stand up to them. So **now is the time to exert pressure**, even more so if you’re in a Republican led district, and/or if anyone in your state is on the [Committee For Space Science and Technology.](https://science.house.gov/committee-members)