Trump’s 2026 budget proposal cuts NASA science funding by 47 percent, placing more than 40 current and future missions at risk of cancellation.
This graphic visualizes NASA missions impacted by the proposed 2026 budget. An X marks missions slated for cancellation or defunding, while exclamation points (!) highlight those facing cuts of 40 percent or more. Credit: NASA/Astronomy magazine
The White House’s proposed 2026 NASA budget calls for a dramatic 24 percent cut to funding, reducing NASA’s budget from $24.8 billion to $18.8 billion. If enacted, this would mark the agency’s smallest budget since 1961, when adjusted for inflation. The most severe reductions target NASA’s Science Mission Directorate (SMD), which faces a 47 percent funding cut. The Planetary Society warns the proposal would deliver “an extinction-level event” to NASA’s science efforts.
Missions on the chopping block
The proposed budget will defund or cancel more than 40 active and future missions, totaling roughly a third of NASA’s science portfolio. Among those at risk are New Horizons, continuing its journey through the Kuiper Belt; Juno, investigating Jupiter’s structure and magnetic field; Mars Sample Return, aimed at returning martian soil samples currently being cached by the Perseverance rover to Earth; Mars Odyssey and MAVEN, orbiters aimed at understanding Mars’ atmosphere and geology; and the Chandra X-ray Observatory, which has shown us unprecedented views of the high-energy universe, including black holes and supernovae, since 1999.
Each of these missions represents decades of investment and irreplaceable data. The Planetary Society notes that recreating many of these missions would require billions in new funding.
Visualizing the cuts
The graphic accompanying this story aims to help readers visualize the impact of the proposed budget. Our graphic borrows its format from similar images created by Reddit user u/SlartibartfastGhola and science communicator Skylar Grayson. The Astronomy version details the proposed budget’s impact by superimposing X and ! symbols over NASA’s 2024 SMD Master Fleet Chart.
The proposed budget would cancel or defund all missions marked with an X. An X appears on partner-led missions (i.e., missions led by other countries or commercial missions to which NASA is contributing but not solely responsible for) if the proposed budget eliminates NASA’s contributions to the mission. For example, NASA is currently responsible for building the Contribution to ARIEL Spectroscopy of Exoplanets (CASE) instrument for the upcoming European Space Agency-led ARIEL mission. If the budget pblockes, NASA will no cancel all funding for the instrument’s production.
Exclamation points (!) are used to signify missions facing cuts of over 40 percent. One example drawing lots of attention is the upcoming Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, which would see its funding halved. Named after NASA’s first chief astronomer, NASA expects the Roman Telescope to revolutionize space observation with a field of view 100 times larger than Hubble’s, enabling it to study dark energy, survey exoplanets, and observe a billion galaxies in unprecedented detail.
Three missions are facing a reduction in their funding following successful launches: PACE, Europa Clipper, and SPHEREx launched in 2024 and 2025. Astronomy chose not to mark those missions on the graphic, as it is unclear how much of the proposed funding reduction is attributable to standard post-launch drawdowns versus broader budget cuts.
NASA will also conduct senior reviews for dozens of other missions in 2026 — a process it uses to evaluate whether ongoing missions should continue receiving funding. It is currently unclear how the proposed budget reductions will affect the outcome of these reviews. While such reviews may grant extensions for some missions, others could face termination.
Astronomy used information from the recently released NASA Fiscal Year 2026 Budget Technical Supplement to create this graphic. Astronomy reached out to the principal investigators and project scientists behind several of the affected missions for comment and received an email from NASA Public Affairs Specialist Liz Vlock that provided no further information on the missions, linking back to the technical supplement.
What comes next?
While the proposed budget presents significant cuts to NASA’s budget, it is far from final. Congress controls appropriations, and early signs suggest bipartisan resistance. The Planetary Society has called the plan “dead on arrival,” pointing to longstanding congressional support for NASA’s scientific work.
NASA leadership had planned to address community concerns in greater detail during a public community meeting June 12; however, NASA postponed the meeting to allow Mission Directorates time for internal briefings. If and when it is held, the meeting may offer insights into how agency officials plan to navigate this uncertain funding landscape.
