NASA announced the closure of at least 23 accounts on social network X (formerly Twitter) that were run by the Science Mission Directorate (SMD). The reason is a strategic reduction in the communications department. According to the official version, this should help the agency better coordinate information campaigns. However, in the context of the significant funding cuts proposed by President Donald Trump, such a measure is causing concern among the scientific community.
Nowadays, NASA runs over 400 social media accounts, and more than 300 of them belong to SMD. The agency has been working for several years to consolidate this network in order to avoid duplication and increase efficiency. However, not everyone considers such centralization to be positive.
“Social media gives voice to individual projects and allows them to find their audience,” said Harvard University astronomer Jonathan McDowell. He believes that the merger will unify NASA’s messages, but at the same time erase the uniqueness of each mission.
Among the accounts that have already been archived or will be closed in the near future are the pages of missions that have become real online stars:
- @NASAPersevere — Perseverance Mars rover;
- @MarsCuriosity — Curiosity, with millions of followers;
- @NASAVoyager — Voyager 1 and 2 space probes;
- @NASA\_TESS — a satellite for searching for exoplanets;
- @NASA\_Orion, @NASA\_SLS — future deep space systems;
- @ISS\_Research — research on the ISS;
- @Commercial\_Crew — commercial crew program;
- @NASAGISS — NASA’s climate institute.
Summary of the official @NASA accounts on @X which are being discontinued:@NASAPersevere@MarsCuriosity@NASAVoyager@Commercial_Crew @NASAGroundSys@NASAARSET@NASA_APPEL@NASAPrize @ISS_Research @NASAClimate@NASAExoplanets@NASA_SLS @NASA_Supercomp @NASA_NCCS@NASA_Orion… pic.twitter.com/SsjHlEjSWj
— Ryan Caton (@dpoddolphinpro) June 10, 2025
Some accounts will be merged into larger “thematic” channels or NASA’s flagship pages. However, many users have concerns that this will affect the openness of research and access to scientific information.
NASA’s budget has been cut by 25%
The concern is heightened by news of the Trump administration’s new budget request for 2026: NASA could lose up to 25% of its funding — one of the largest cuts in the agency’s history. First and foremost, the scientific program will suffer: its budget is proposed to be cut by almost half.
According to estimates by the Planetary Society, this could lead to the cancellation of more than 40 scientific missions. For example, funding for the legendary Voyager spacecraft will be completely discontinued by 2029. The large-scale Mars Sample Return mission, which is supposed to bring back to Earth soil samples collected by Perseverance, is also at risk.
Deep space infrastructure will also suffer from funding cuts: the Orion capsule and the SLS heavy-lift rocket may be decommissioned. On Earth, NASA may reduce its staff by about a third — to the lowest level since the 1960s. This will significantly impact the agency’s ability to plan and implement ambitious projects.
Hit on science in the US
Negative trends are not only observed at NASA. For example, Climate.gov, a website owned by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), is also preparing to close after laying off most of its staff. According to employees, this indicates attempts to reduce the amount of climate information available to the general public.
The reduction in funding and digital presence of key US scientific agencies causes concern at a time when humanity needs scientific knowledge more than ever. Restrictions on communication are not only a technical change, but also a reflection of deeper processes that may determine the future of global science.
Earlier, we reported on how the ISS fell into a financial hole.
According to NASA
