NASA has released detailed documents outlining its proposed fiscal year 2026 budget, sparking widespread concern across the scientific and aerospace communities. Published quietly on the agency’s website late Friday without the usual press briefing, the proposal reveals a dramatic shift in priorities—boosting exploration initiatives at the expense of slashing science missions and eliminating thousands of jobs.
Mars Sample Return was a proposed mission to return samples from the surface of Mars to Earth. The mission would use robotic systems and a Mars ascent rocket to collect and send samples of Martian rocks, soils and atmosphere to Earth for detailed chemical and physical analysis.
The proposed budget totals $18.8 billion, marking a staggering 25% decrease from the $24.9 billion the agency received in 2025. Adjusted for inflation, this would be NASA’s lowest budget since 1961. The cuts would also reduce NASA’s civil servant workforce by nearly a third, from 17,391 employees in 2025 to just 11,853 in 2026.
While the budget documents vaguely reference “workforce impacts” and “reshaping efforts,” the specifics are largely absent.
Major Science Program Reductions
The science portion of NASA's budget faces some of the deepest cuts, dropping to $3.9 billion—a 47% reduction from the previous year. More than 40 science missions are set to be canceled, according to Casey Dreier, chief of space policy at The Planetary Society. These include high-profile efforts such as:
- Mars Sample Return (MSR) program
- Landsat Next, now potentially restructured under a separate initiative
- Earth System Observatory missions, except for GRACE-Continuity
- Mars Odyssey and MAVEN orbiters
- Support for ESA’s Rosalind Franklin Mars rover
- DAVINCI and VERITAS missions to Venus
- NASA’s participation in ESA’s EnVision Venus mission
- Extended missions like Juno, New Horizons, and OSIRIS-APEX
Astrophysics is also heavily affected. Although the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope remains in development, its funding has been reduced by more than half, potentially jeopardizing its planned 2026 launch. Other casualties include the Chandra X-Ray Observatory, Fermi, and multiple smaller missions under the Astrophysics Probe and Explorer-class programs.
The heliophysics division faces its own cuts, including the termination of missions like Magnetospheric Multiscale, while the biological and physical sciences budget will drop by over two-thirds, from $87 million to $25 million.
Dreier expressed surprise at the inclusion of high-performing missions like MAVEN and Juno in the cuts and warned of the broader implications, such as halting production of plutonium-238, critical for powering deep-space missions.
Shift Toward Exploration
In sharp contrast to the cuts, the 2026 budget introduces a major investment in exploration, particularly human Mars exploration. NASA proposes $864 million for a new Commercial Moon to Mars (M2M) Infrastructure and Transportation Program aimed at developing commercial alternatives to the Space Launch System (SLS) and Orion spacecraft, which would be phased out after Artemis 3.
The program also includes funding for Martian surface suits, relay satellites for the Moon and Mars, and a relocation of the Commercial Lunar Payload Services program. Overall, over $1 billion is earmarked for Mars-focused initiatives, including $200 million for a landing demonstration and another $200 million for commercial payload deliveries.
Backlash from Experts and Industry
Reactions to the proposed budget have been swift and critical.
“There’s definitely a lot of significant concern about what this does to the workforce,” said Dreier. He added that even Republican lawmakers, typically more budget-conscious, have indicated the proposal is “dead on arrival” in Congress.
“No one is eager to cut NASA science,” Dreier said. “No one is out there openly defending and saying that this is a great idea.”
The Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) echoed that sentiment. “The proposed budget falls short, making heavy-handed cuts to mission-critical programs that could jeopardize our space leadership,” said AIA President and CEO Eric Fanning. The organization is calling for NASA to be funded at a level of at least $25.6 billion in 2026.
As the proposal heads to Capitol Hill, it is expected to encounter bipartisan resistance, setting the stage for a heated debate over the future of American space exploration and scientific research.
Add comment
Comments