NASA’s Space Science Budget: Major Cuts Loom Large
The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope — which is being developed on schedule and within budget — is on the chopping block, according to a recent draft budget issued by the Office of Management and Budget. Credit: NASA The prospect that NASA’s space science budget could face major cuts is prompting worried feedback. Those wake-up alarms are being sounded due to an Office of Management and Budget (OMB) draft budget called a “passback” to the space agency. The OMB passback reportedly axes a number of projects, such as the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, the DAVINCI mission to Venus, and the space agency’s Mars Sample Return mission. It may also close down NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, which employs about 10,000 people. Reaction to that news from the space science community has been swift. The American Astronomical Society (AAS) stated that it is “gravely concerned” about the reported deep cuts to NASA science funding for Fiscal Year 2026. If left unchallenged, the nearly 50% cut to the NASA Science Mission Directorate “would be catastrophic to our nation’s leadership in the space sciences, damaging a broad range of research areas that are unlikely to be supported by the private […]