NASA is facing the one that is, probably, the biggest budget cut in its recent history… And it’s not just any adjustment. The Trump administration has proposed reducing the agency’s operating budget by 24%, leaving it with fewer funds than during the space race era. If approved, it would not only put key missions at risk, but could also wipe out thousands of jobs and weaken the role of the U.S. in space.
The plan involves abruptly cancelling more than 50 scientific projects already underway or in preparation. Among them are important missions like the New Horizons probe, the only one still exploring the Kuiper Belt, or OSIRIS-APEX, designed to study the asteroid Apophis when it flies close to Earth in 2029.
The harshest cut in decades
According to Casey Dreier of The Planetary Society, what’s on the table is a massive cut, without criteria and with no intention of reinvesting in other initiatives. It’s basically about eliminating programs, period.
The New Horizons mission, for example, costs just 14.7 million a year. That’s ridiculous compared to the nearly 30 billion allocated in the same budget to border control. But there it is, on the list of what can be cut.
Then there’s the case of OSIRIS-APEX. This spacecraft already proved its worth: it brought samples from the asteroid Bennu back to Earth. Now it was supposed to use its return trip to closely observe Apophis’s passage, which in 2029 will come within just 31,000 kilometers of our planet. And the official response? There’s no money. Just like that…
When you cut science, you cut future
In 2023, NASA maintained about 17,800 direct jobs and generated more than 300,000 indirect jobs across the country… Universities, tech centers, contractors… a whole ecosystem that partly depends on this agency.
Mars excites, but Earth matters too
There’s a contradiction that’s hard to ignore. While scientific missions are being eliminated, the government is increasing investment in lunar and Martian exploration plans.
A Pew Research survey makes it clear that what citizens care about most is monitoring dangerous asteroids and studying climate change. Yet the budget prioritizes the SLS rocket (a project that has faced years of cost overruns) over much cheaper private options like those from SpaceX.
People are leaving… and it’s no coincidence
The uncertainty is already having internal consequences. More than 2,600 people have left the agency in recent months. Of those, about 2,000 were senior employees. This represents a huge loss of talent, difficult to recover, and it’s affecting both crewed missions and climate research programs.
Keith Cowing, who worked for NASA and has followed the agency’s developments for decades, says he’s never seen morale so low. And it doesn’t look like the blow will stop anytime soon.
What if the connection with society breaks?
NASA has always held a special place in the collective imagination. It’s not just an agency. It’s a symbol. Its logos are everywhere, from t-shirts to coffee mugs. It represents achievement, ambition, collaboration. But if its ability to produce useful science continues to be undermined, that connection may weaken. And when that happens, it’s very hard to get it back.
What now?
The final budget will be voted on in Congress before September 30. The Senate has already presented a more moderate version that tries to save the scientific part, but the House of Representatives’ proposal still reflects a brutal cut.
If no one stops it, the United States could dismantle one of its most valuable institutions just as other countries are betting on space more strongly than ever.