The situation with the U.S. federal budget for 2026 is pretty complicated right now. The White House initially proposed big cuts to NASA’s funding, which worried many in the space community. Since then, Congress has been working on its own budget plans, but no final deal has been reached yet. With the new fiscal year starting on October 1, there’s a real risk of a government shutdown if Congress doesn’t pass a budget or a stopgap measure soon.

In case of a shutdown, there was a lot of uncertainty about what would happen to NASA’s projects. Earlier this year, the White House asked NASA to prepare “closeout plans” for around two dozen spacecraft. Basically, these plans were about shutting down some missions if the budget didn’t get approved. It looked like many science missions might be canceled if the White House’s budget proposal went through as planned, which would have been a big blow to space science.

But things seem to be changing. Recently, NASA’s interim administrator, Sean Duffy, told the agency to aim for the funding level approved by the House Appropriations Committee. This doesn’t mean full funding for all NASA’s science missions, but it’s a lot better than the deep cuts proposed by the White House. The president’s budget wanted to cut NASA’s overall budget from about $18.81 billion to roughly $12 billion, which would have meant slashing science funding by around 20%.

In comparison, the House budget suggests keeping NASA’s funding almost at current levels, around $24.84 billion. That’s a big difference. For science specifically, the White House had proposed slashing science funding from $7.33 billion in 2025 down to just $3.9 billion in 2026. The House budget doesn’t restore all those cuts but still allocates about $6 billion for NASA science, which is a significant increase compared to the White House plan.

Earth science is one of the hardest-hit areas under the House proposal. Its funding would drop from $2.14 billion to about $1.33 billion in 2026. Still, some key missions would keep going. For example, the budget extends the timeline for spacecraft already in operation, like OSIRIS-APEX, which is set to fly by the asteroid Apophis in 2029. This shows that even with budget worries, NASA intends to keep some of its most important missions moving forward.

Of course, all these numbers and plans are not set in stone. The final budget still depends on Congress’s negotiations, and Duffy could adjust NASA’s funding guidance before any final approval. But for many scientists and space fans, this news is a bit of good news in a tough situation. It means NASA might be able to avoid the worst cuts and still pursue some of its most exciting science missions for now.

Inspired by

• https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/09/amid-budget-uncertainty-nasa-gets-some-good-news-use-house-funding-levels/

Sources

• conde.digital
• cnevids.com
• house.gov
• aas.org
• benbellabooks.com