The White House just dropped its 2026 “skinny budget” on Friday, giving us a sneak peek of how they plan to divvy up government cash for the next fiscal year. And guess what? NASA’s getting the short end of the stick. They’re looking at a whopping 24% budget cut, which experts are saying could be a total disaster for the agency.
According to the Planetary Society, a bunch of smart folks who really dig space stuff, this proposed slash is the biggest one NASA has ever seen. They’re talking about chopping a massive 47% off NASA’s science budget, which means a bunch of important missions worth billions of dollars might have to kiss goodbye to their funding.
Now, hold onto your helmets, because this budget blow might mean the end of the road for the Mars Sample Return mission. Yeah, the one where they’re trying to bring back samples from Mars to study here on Earth. The Perseverance rover has been busting its gears to collect these samples, but without the green light from the budget gods, it might all just go down the drain.
But wait, there’s more! The White House is also thinking about axing the “green aviation” spending, which is all about making airplanes that are kinder to the environment. And that’s not all – they’re also planning to put the kibosh on the Lunar Gateway, a space station that’s supposed to orbit the moon. And get this, they might even retire the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion capsule after just three flights to the moon. Talk about a bummer.
The American Astronomical Society is not impressed either. They’re saying that slashing the National Science Foundation by 56%, NASA’s Science Mission Directorate by 47%, and the Department of Energy’s Office of Science by 14% would be a massive blow to scientific research in America. They’re not mincing words when they call this proposed budget a historic decline in American investment in basic scientific research.
Honestly, not really sure why this matters, but the White House is all about boosting the budget for human space exploration by a cool $650 million. This is the only area that’s actually getting a raise. They’re all about beating China to the moon and sending a human to Mars. So, at least there’s some good news in this sea of budget cuts.
But seriously, this whole budget mess has got everyone in a tizzy. The Planetary Society is calling on Congress to shut down this destructive proposal and come up with something that actually lines up with the President’s vision for space. They’re looking for a bipartisan effort to keep America’s space program strong and capable.
At the end of the day, we’re all just hoping that common sense prevails and that the folks in charge can see the big picture. Slashing NASA’s budget like this won’t make things better – it’ll just make a big ol’ mess. Let’s hope they figure it out soon before it’s too late.
