Overview

• The White House requests cutting NASA’s FY2026 budget by nearly 25%, trimming funding from $24.8 billion to $18.8 billion and targeting its science portfolio.
• It calls for canceling 41 science projects, including Mars Sample Return, the Mars Odyssey and MAVEN orbiters, and Venus missions DAVINCI and VERITAS.
• Terminations would also hit key programs such as the Lunar Gateway, Space Launch System rocket, Orion spacecraft and Chandra X-ray Observatory, as well as New Horizons and Juno.
• The proposal shifts roughly $1 billion into a Commercial Mars Payload Services initiative to engage private companies in Red Planet missions.
• Lawmakers, scientists and the Planetary Society warn the cuts could undermine U.S. leadership in space science and innovation.