President Donald Trump has proposed the single largest year-over-year cut to NASA’s budget in his 2026 budget proposal, essentially terminating many of the space agency’s most promising missions.
The budget request slashes NASA total funding by nearly 25% — from $24.9 billion to $18.8 billion. Most of the cuts are made by eliminating a significant portion of the agency’s science programs.
The proposed 47% reduction in NASA’s science funding would kill about a third of NASA’s science missions, including one designed to study Apophis, the massive asteroid that will pass extremely close to Earth in 2029. It would also stunt NASA’s ability to study our own planet: Earth science funding would drop by 53%. One-third of NASA’s workforce would be laid off as well.
The White House Office of Management and Budget claimed in its budget request that NASA’s current spending levels on science missions –– more than $7 billion –– are “unsustainable” and that a $3.9 billion budget would be able to support a “leaner, more focused Science program.”
The proposal to severely slash NASA’s budget still needs to pass through Congress. However, if passed, it could end up costing the U.S. more in the long run, says Jacqueline McCleary, an assistant professor of physics at Northeastern University.
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AP Photo by Scott Schilke