White House may seek to slash NASA’s science budget by 50 percent

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Does the manned space budget suffer if the science budget is cut?

With the ISS service life coming to an end in the near future, more should be spend on space science .....
 
There are some that don’t even want tax dollars spent on that.

The big reason Starliner had such problems was that America was out of practice.

Keeping tribal knowledge alive should be the number one goal.
 
A European prospective on the proposed cuts to the NASA budget.

Prof Sir Martin Sweeting, head of the UK space firm Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd, and co-author of a Royal Society report on the future of space says that while the development was "unwelcome", there may be an upside for Europe as it takes greater responsibility for its own space exploration programme.

"Maybe we have been too reliant on Nasa the big player to carry a lot of the emphasis in space," he told BBC News.

"It is an opportunity to think about how Europe wants to get a better balance in its space activities."

But there is much more downside for Europe in the short term. As well as the return of Mars samples and its Rover, ESA risks reduced access to the International Space Station if it is wound down, and the budget cuts cancel Nasa's extensive contributions to its successor, the Lunar Gateway, a multinational space station planned for orbit around the Moon.
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www.bbc.com

Trump-Musk row fuels 'biggest crisis ever' at Nasa

The space agency has published its budget request to Congress which would see funding for science projects cut by nearly a half.
www.bbc.com www.bbc.com
 
President Trump on canceling Elon Musk's contracts:

"We'll take a look at everything. He's got a lot of money. He gets a lot of subsidy, so we'll take a look at that only if it's fair for him and for the country. I would certainly think about it yeah but it has to be fair."
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Fair enough
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https://twitter.com/x/status/1931180153775825288
View: https://twitter.com/cb_doge/status/1931180153775825288


https://twitter.com/x/status/1931181466488053883
View: https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1931181466488053883
 
The article is linked, but is behind a paywall.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1931404540059799830
View: https://twitter.com/washingtonpost/status/1931404540059799830


The Washington Post @washingtonpost
Exclusive: Officials at NASA and the Pentagon are urging SpaceX competitors to quickly develop alternative rockets and spacecraft after President Trump threatened to cancel SpaceX’s contracts and Elon Musk’s defiant response.
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SOURCE

Here's a free link, for those who want to read the actual article.

NASA, Pentagon push for SpaceX alternatives amid Trump’s feud with Musk
 
publiusr said:
Truth is always somewhere in between.
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I disagree.

Quote Origin: If One Person Says It’s Raining and Another Says It’s Not Raining Then the Journalist Should Look Out the Window and Report the Truth – Quote Investigator®

quoteinvestigator.com quoteinvestigator.com
"In 1974 journalists Sam Kinch and ‎Stuart Long published a book about Texas politics. The book credited “Texas Spectator” journalist Hubert Mewhinney with formulating the didactic tale under examination in the late 1940s. The tale referred to the two most powerful Texas politicians during that era.
[...]
It was designed as a criticism of the then current attitude of Texas newspapers—that you quote what the man says, and that’s all. “If Jimmy Allred says it’s raining, and W. Lee O’Daniel says it isn’t raining.” Mewhinney wrote. “Texas newspapermen quote them both, and don’t look out the window to see which is lying, and to tell the readers what the truth is at the moment."
 
I think the frequency of virga occuring in Texas is not covered by 'always', but rather by 'extremely rare'.
I believe my point was sufficiently clear.
 
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publiusr said:
Well, as a fig leaf/hair-splitter, I would remind both that Earth is ever so slightly pear shaped --and that Zwicky considered me the most spherical :)
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Now I *love* me a fellow sophist contrarian deliberately obtuse brother from another mother as much as the next guy, but no matter whatever sphere/pear/peanut/whatever non-planar shape you would like to prefer as a mental construct, USSPACECOM rules apply accordingly.
 
Justo Miranda said:
Search Gooogle for "NASA administrators" and compare it to what was in 1969.
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I really vonder vy Germans fell out of favor running se USA space program - it vas one of my childhood dreams to succeed Verner von brown...
 
martinbayer said:
I really vonder vy Germans fell out of favor running se USA space program - it vas one of my childhood dreams to succeed Verner von brown...
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I know it is a joke, but it is a common misconception that he did.
 
NASA Budget Cut Proposal 06/2025 - a major hit to American leadership in space

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zH9WBG8YnJo


Jun 18, 2025
A proposed 24% NASA budget cut passed in the House of Representatives as part of a "reconciliation" bill, now awaiting Senate action. Major cuts were made to science programs and the Artemis lunar landing program beyond the "flags and footprints" short visit in mission 3. Funding for the International Space Station (ISS) will be cut back, as well budgets for education and public affairs. Most new or incomplete programs will be eliminated, such as Mars Sample Return, Venus probes, future space telescopes, and nuclear propulsion. 19 active science programs will be stopped - meaning that the spacecraft are already launched, so that most of the money is already spent.

The National Space Society (NSS) strongly opposes overall cuts to NASA's budget, favoring increases instead. But it agrees with transitioning away from the SLS rocket and other Artemis vehicles, towards commercial programs. It also agrees that the Mars Sample Return is proving too costly, so we might as well wait for humans to return the samples taken by the Perseverance rover.

NSS also wants to see us return to stay on the Moon, with permanent lunar and Mars bases, not one-off "flags and footprints" missions. NSS also wants to maintain ISS operations, for a seamless transition to commercial alternatives, rather than abandoning microgravity research to the Chinese space station.

There may be time to fix this, since the Senate is now working through changes in the House proposed budget. Unfortunately, some proposals such as one by Ted Cruz add back funding only for the wasteful "pork".
In any case, NASA will be rudderless and get picked apart with no unified voice until a new NASA administrator is appointed.
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ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Something was missing at the American Astronomical Society's 246th meeting this year, a conference sometimes referred to as the "Superbowl of Astronomy."

It's a meeting that brings many of the country's most renowned scientists into the same room to share what they've been working on and thinking about lately; as you can imagine, that tends to organically foster brand new ideas for exploring the universe. Being at these events, you can almost feel study blueprints sprouting up all around you in real-time. It's electric.

But this summer, NASA wasn't there. And in fact, the National Science Foundation cancelled its planned talk at the meeting, too.
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…

The agency, for instance, cancelled its International Space Station Research and Development Conference that was scheduled for the end of July in Seattle and withdrew its participation from the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (LPSC).

Space.com reached out to NASA to question why they decided to pull out of the AAS conference and whether they intend to cancel any future conference attendances.

"NASA is evaluating our spending and prioritizing resources as we adjust our exploration objectives toward a renewed focus on human exploration to the moon and Mars. We'll continue to evaluate conference participation on a case-by-case basis," Bethany Stevens, a NASA spokesperson, told Space.com.
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www.space.com

NASA's been pulling out of major astronomy meetings — and scientists are feeling the effects

"We are given rules by our own institutions about what we can and cannot say."
www.space.com www.space.com
 
After the row, is Musk done?
 
An exceedingly rare asteroid flyby will happen soon, but NASA may be left on the sidelines [Jun 27]

“The most cost-efficient thing you can do in spaceflight is continue with a heathy spacecraft that is already operating in space," Binzel said.

And that was the plan until the Trump administration released its budget proposal for fiscal year 2026. In its detailed budget information, the White House provided no real rationale for the cancellation, simply stating, "Operating missions that have completed their prime missions (New Horizons and Juno) and the follow-on mission to OSIRIX-REx, OSIRIS-Apophis Explorer, are eliminated."

It's unclear how much of a savings this resulted in. However, Apex is a pittance in NASA's overall budget. The operating funds to keep the mission alive in 2024, for example, were $14.5 million. Annual costs would be similar through the end of the decade. This is less than one-thousandth of NASA's budget, by the way.

"Apex is already on its way to reach Apophis, and to turn it off would be an incredible waste of resources," Binzel said.

Congress, of course, ultimately sets the budget. It will have the final say. But it's clear that NASA's primary mission to study a once-in-a-lifetime asteroid is at serious risk.
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martinbayer said:
Office spaces, labs, facilities, real estate, equipment...
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not really. Many of the facilities have no commercial use. Office buildings, meh, cheaper to build their own,
 
NMaude said:
Who were the shortsighted idiot bean-counters who came up with this idea?
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It's just like Halley in 86'
Everyone had a probe--except the United States...and that they want to scuttle...and not just the liner in Mobile that's due for a deep-six.

Bad News
www.space.com

More than 1,800 National Science Foundation workers abruptly kicked out of agency headquarters

Officials from the Department of Housing and Urban Development announced they would be moving into the building.
www.space.com www.space.com
www.space.com

NASA's been pulling out of major astronomy meetings — and scientists are feeling the effects

"We are given rules by our own institutions about what we can and cannot say."
www.space.com www.space.com

Good news
www.space.com

Former NASA astronaut Terry Virts announces campaign for Texas Senate seat

"I'm Terry Virts I'm running for US Senate and I'm ready for my next mission."
www.space.com www.space.com
 
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