spacetoday.net: White House proposes steep cuts in NASA science

Posted: Sun, Apr 20, 2025, 10:11 AM ET (1411 GMT)
A draft of the White House's proposed budget for NASA would slash its science budget nearly in half. The "passback" budget for fiscal year 2026, delivered from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to NASA last week, proposes just $3.9 billion for science at the agency, compared to its current budget of $7.3 billion. It would cancel several missions, including the Roman Space Telescope, Mars Sample Return and the DAVINCI Venus spacecraft, and put the future of the Goddard Space Flight Center at risk. The budget runs counter to comments made by Jared Isaacman, nominee for NASA administrator, at his confirmation hearing last week when he vowed there would be "more telescopes, more probes, more rovers" at NASA under his watch. Space science advocates and members of Congress sharply criticized the proposed budget. A formal release of the administration's budget proposal for fiscal year 2026 is expected in the coming weeks.