The Trump Administration has unveiled its detailed budget request for the fiscal year 2026, drawing sharp criticism from the scientific community.
Experts are warning that the proposed budget could significantly undermine the national scientific enterprise and jeopardize America’s leadership in the field.
“This is a profound, generational threat to scientific leadership in the United States,” said Casey Dreier, chief of space policy at the Planetary Society, a science advocacy group.
The Trump administration’s budget proposal, which still requires congressional approval, poses major challenges for various scientific agencies, particularly NASA and the National Science Foundation (NSF).
These two organizations provide funding for a significant portion of U.S. research in fields such as astronomy, astrophysics, planetary science, heliophysics, and Earth science.
Traditionally, these areas have attracted bipartisan support, making the proposed cuts likely to ignite backlash from both scientists and lawmakers.
Notably, the proposed budget suggests a staggering 57 percent reduction to the NSF’s $9 billion budget, which could cripple numerous programs while sparing only President Trump’s prioritized areas like artificial intelligence and quantum information science.
NASA, facing a 25 percent budget cut, would see its budget drop from $24.9 billion to $18.8 billion.
While the plan includes a focus on sending human missions to the Moon and Mars, it also proposes near 50 percent cuts to NASA’s Science Mission Directorate.
The Science Mission Directorate oversees numerous projects, including the Mars rovers, Voyager probes, and the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).
Joel Parriott, director of external affairs and public policy at the American Astronomical Society, commented on the potential impact, saying, “It’s an end-game scenario for science at NASA.”
Parriott highlighted the long-term consequences of the proposed cuts, noting that they could leave a significant gap in the scientific and technical workforce.
“People are going to move on,” he said.
Adding to the uncertainty, President Trump recently withdrew the nomination of billionaire entrepreneur Jared Isaacman for NASA administrator, just before the Senate was set to confirm him.
The reasons behind this decision remain unclear but have been tied to Isaacman’s donations to Democratic candidates.
This sudden change has created a leadership vacuum at both NASA and the NSF, where the former has a placeholder leader and the latter is without a permanent director.
The absence of empowered leadership further complicates both agencies’ abilities to push back against the proposed budget cuts.
Dreier remarked, “What’s more inefficient than a rudderless agency without empowered leadership?”
During his second term, President Trump has publicly celebrated U.S. achievements in space exploration, previously expressing admiration for NASA’s mission of ‘discovery and inspiration.’
However, critics argue that the budgetary actions contradict Trump’s proclamations.
Instead of promoting a new golden age of space exploration, the proposed budget appears to cut funding for areas beyond moon and Mars missions, effectively limiting the scope of U.S. space science.
Dreier has pointed out that adjusted for inflation, the overall NASA budget would be at its lowest since 1961, a time when the launch of the first human into orbit spurred increased funding for space efforts.
With countries like China advancing rapidly in space endeavors, the timing seems inopportune for a budget that narrows focus rather than broadens it.
“The seesaw is sort of unbalanced,” commented Tony Beasley, director of the NSF-funded National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), noting that while there’s a call for U.S. action against China’s space ambitions, funding is simultaneously being reduced.
The proposed budget raises concerns about how NASA will achieve its ambitions for manned moon and Mars missions without compromising its leadership in scientific exploration.
According to Dreier, the budget’s direction seems to align more closely with the views of Russ Vought, director of the White House’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB), suggesting a radical reshaping of government funding priorities.
Rumors about severe cuts to NASA science programs surfaced in April when a leaked OMB document indicated potential cancellations of large initiatives, including the Mars Sample Return program.
Though the finalized budget provides some reprieve for select missions, the overall scientific landscape remains bleak.
NASA science funding is projected to plummet from $7.3 billion to $3.9 billion, with significant cuts targeting Earth science missions and educational programs.
Projects like LIGO, which recently earned a Nobel Prize, are also threatened, as budget cuts could lead to the potential shutdown of one of its gravitational-wave detectors.
As O’Meara noted, depriving key scientific collaborations of necessary funding will delay or entirely prevent ambitious scientific endeavors.
The implications of these budget cuts extend beyond immediate funding issues and could lead to lasting impacts on the scientific workforce, especially as emerging scientists face dwindling opportunities.
In light of the recently proposed budget, many feel the need for substantial advocacy to counteract the potential fallout.
Both Democratic and Republican lawmakers have expressed discontent with the budget request, indicating that a rigorous debate is likely on Capitol Hill.
Representative Zoe Lofgren, the ranking member of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, called the budget a “sick joke” and remarked that it is a nonstarter.
Senator Susan Collins echoed similar sentiments, cautioning that the budget request is merely the first step in a multi-step budgetary process.
As the dust settles after the release of this budget, it’s clear that the scientific community will need to mobilize to defend its interests.
The proposed budget cuts not only threaten vital projects in planetary and astrophysical research but also undermine the broader vision for science and technology in the United States.
Under the current administration’s budget proposal, America’s ability to advance understanding in crucial areas of exploration and discovery is under serious threat, leaving many scientists questioning the future trajectory of U.S. scientific leadership.
image source from：https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/proposed-federal-budget-would-devastate-u-s-space-science/
