Will NASA’s 2026 budget cuts stall American space exploration? By Varsha Sukumar

The Trump administration has requested a so-called “skinny budget” for the 2026 fiscal year, which involves major cuts to select areas of the government. This proposition cuts NASA funding by 25%, from $24.8 billion to $18.8 billion, with the majority of reductions coming from its science programs. According to the Planetary Society, it is the largest single-year cut to NASA since the end of the Apollo program and the lowest funding since 1961, after accounting for inflation. Yet, the proposal tasks NASA with returning humans to the Moon and sending humans to Mars, which may be undermined due to the lack of funding. Furthermore, it reduces the agency’s workforce by 32% in a single year through involuntary layoffs, making it NASA’s smallest workforce since 1960.  

The 2026 White House budget proposal slashes nearly every NASA program, except human exploration, and has eliminated STEM education and outreach programs, arguing that the next generation will be inspired by “ambitious space programs” instead. This large 47% cut in NASA’s science program funding will eliminate missions and campaigns across divisions, such as the Mars Sample Return, which was tasked with retrieving material already collected by the Perseverance rover. This proposal aims to cancel 41 projects, which is a third of NASA’s science portfolio. In the graphic below, the proposed budget will cancel or defund all missions marked with an X. For partner-led missions, an X will appear if the budget eliminates NASA’s contributions to the mission. 

This graphic visualizes NASA missions impacted by the proposed 2026 budget. An X marks missions slated for cancellation or defunding, while exclamation points (!) highlight those facing cuts of 40 percent or more. Credit: NASA/Astronomy magazine

Other canceled projects include two orbiters that have been studying Mars’ atmosphere and geology for years, the Mars Odyssey and MAVEN, which would take generations to restore lost capability and data. The Gateway project, which was supposed to be a lunar space station that revolves around the moon and is central to the NASA-led Artemis mission, is also proposed for cancellation. Furthermore, the 2026 budget request calls for a discontinuation of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and the Orion capsule after they fly with the crewed landing mission, Artemis 3, in 2027. These pieces have forever remained a part of NASA’s architecture for Artemis, and the removal of these pieces will result in significant changes to the mission. They would be replaced by private vehicles, namely the “Commercial Moon to Mars (M2M) Infrastructure and Transportation Program,” which has $864 million allocated in the request.   

The long-awaited, next-gen Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope has $156.6 million allocated in the request for development, which is less than half of what NASA originally planned to spend. This observatory would have a field view 100 times larger than Hubble’s, allowing it to study dark energy, survey exoplanets, and observe more than a billion galaxies in unparalleled detail. A similar project that is being canceled is the Chandra X-Ray Observatory, which has shown unprecedented views of the universe, including black holes and supernovae, since 1999.  

NASA’s Science Mission Directorate (SMD) is responsible for the agency’s scientific discovery and research, operating a multitude of space-based observatories, planetary probes, and satellites that explore everything, ranging from our home planet to the edge of the universe. This includes projects such as the Hubble Space Telescope, the Mars Perseverance Rover, and planetary defense projects, such as the NEO Surveyor. This directorate has proposed a 47% cut in the aforementioned budget. 

Amid these cancellations, the budget proposal does allocate $7 billion for the return to the moon and $1 billion for humans going to Mars, leaving a sliver of hope for the establishment of future NASA programs. But the door to hope does not close, as this budget proposal remains merely a request and has been labeled “dead on arrival” when it reaches Congress, according to the Planetary Society. Although a dominant position in Congress, several detractors have emerged, and due to leaked budget documents, advocacy and industry groups have shown resistance to the proposed NASA cuts, according to Payload. Therefore, the proposal will be under review by Congress and is not finalized.  

At EcoAero, we value a deep understanding of what the future of space travel and development will hold. This drastic slimming of NASA’s budget will undoubtedly have huge impacts on the future of government-backed space travel in the United States of America. Despite the projected loss of many space-based endeavors, human expansion into space is something that can never be stopped, only set back. We believe that no matter what decisions are made by the current administration, humanity still has a place in the stars.

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