The White House Office of Management and Budget has released the budget proposal for NASA for fiscal year 2026. It includes a 50% cut in science spending, as well as the abandonment of the SLS rocket, Orion spacecraft, and Gateway orbital station.
NASA’s record budget cuts
Already shortly after the change of administration in the White House, rumors began to circulate about the planned massive cuts to NASA’s budget. Until recently, aerospace officials denied such reports, but in April it became clear that they were absolutely true. The White House actually plans to cut NASA’s budget by 25 percent, from $24.9 billion to just $18.8 billion.
Science will suffer the greatest damage. Spending on space research is planned to be cut by 2.265 billion dollars, and on Earth research by 1.161 billion dollars. Many important projects have come under attack. The most notable of them is the Mars Sample Return mission, which plans to return a sample of Martian soil to Earth. The budget proposal states that this goal will be met by future manned missions. There are also plans to stop work on the Roman space telescope, which has already been built and is due to launch in 2027.
Rejection of SLS and Orion
However, these are not the only significant changes. The draft budget also calls for the decommissioning of the extremely expensive SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft. Their use is planned to be limited to Artemis II and Artemis III missions. As part of Artemis II, four astronauts will fly around the Moon on a free-return trajectory and return to Earth. This mission is scheduled for 2026.
The Artemis III mission involves landing two astronauts on the South Pole of the Moon. The Starship HLS will be used for this purpose. The mission is scheduled for 2027.
Another victim was the Gateway orbital station, which is planned to be placed in near-lunar orbit. It is an international project involving Europe, Japan, Canada and the UAE. They agreed to provide elements of Gateway in exchange for seats for their astronauts on future missions to the Moon. At the moment, two modules of the station are already in the process of being completed.
There are also plans for a half-billion dollar cut in the cost of maintaining ISS operations. It will lead to a reduction in the number of the station crew and in the volume of scientific research conducted at the station.
End of American leadership in space?
A statement published on NASA’s website said the draft budget allocated more than $7 billion for lunar exploration and another $1 billion for Mars-focused programs. This ensures that “U.S. human space exploration efforts remain unprecedented, innovative, and effective.”
However, many critics of the new policy point out that it could conversely lead to the end of American leadership in space. A 50% cut in funding for science programs would severely damage a huge number of projects. Even Jared Isaacman, nominated to be NASA’s new administrator, noted that such significant cuts did not seem optimal.
And the abandonment of the Gateway station has the potential to very seriously complicate NASA’s space cooperation with other countries. Contracts for the construction of all elements of the station have already been approved. Cancellation of the project may lead to the fact that other countries will no longer consider NASA as a reliable partner.
As for SLS and Orion, these projects have long and rightly been criticized as too expensive and inefficient. However, if the US wants to get ahead of China, and get humans back to the Moon before the first Chinese landing, they have no workable alternative at this stage. That was why the Artemis II and Artemis III missions were not canceled. In the future, SLS and Orion are planned to be replaced by cheaper commercial space systems — but which ones, however, are not entirely clear at this point.
In conclusion, it is worth noting that this is a budget proposal. Congress is responsible for allocating money in the United States. That is where the main battle will unfold. In all probability, Congress will oppose some of the proposed cuts. But it will become clear exactly how the situation will develop only closer to the autumn, when it comes to agreement and approval of specific items of expenditure.
According to Аrstechnica
