An illustration of the Mars Curiosity rover. President Trump says he wants astronauts on Mars. What will that take … and will the White House’s proposed budget cuts to NASA make it more, or less possible?
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An illustration of the Mars Curiosity rover. President Trump says he wants astronauts on Mars. What will that take … and will the White House’s proposed budget cuts to NASA make it more, or less possible?
Piranka/Getty Images
Earlier this year, the White House proposed a nearly 24% cut to NASA’s 2026 fiscal year budget, primarily aimed at the organization’s fundamental science research. If the cuts come to fruition, they would be the largest in the agency’s entire history.
If approved by Congress as is, the proposed trims would halt science that has already been partially paid for, like the Mars sample return and funding the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. Plus, multiple scientists and policy experts we spoke to for this episode believe that this reduced funding to NASA and other scientific agencies would knock the United States off its spot as the world leader in scientific discoveries.
But within the last month, Congress has started to discuss appropriations packages that suggest the finalized budget may not severely contract after all. So, in this episode, Short Wave host Regina G. Barber reports on the important hypotheticals: What programs might be affected? Are these cuts likely to happen? If so, when?
Want to hear more stories about space and policy? Let us know at shortwave@npr.org.
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This episode was produced by Hannah Chinn. It was edited by Rebecca Ramirez and fact-checked by Tyler Jones. Kwesi Lee was the audio engineer.
