NASA headquarters in Washington DC
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NASA is preparing for substantial budget cuts that could force the cancellation of current and future missions through the solar system, leaving it in front of a “brutal” future, experts warned.
The space agency has already started a few layoffs as part of the vast restructuring of American federal agencies by the Ministry of Government efficiency (DOGE), an independent working group led by Elon Musk. Earlier this week, he announced that she would close his technology, policy and strategy office; the office of the chief scientist; And diversity, diversity, equity, inclusion and the branch of accessibility to the office of diversity and equal opportunities in Washington DC, representing a total of 23 jobs at the agency.
“The change in this magnitude is never easy, but our strength comes from our shared commitment to our mission and from each other,” wrote Janet Petro, the acting administrator of NASA, in an email to the staff. “I encourage you to support you each other when we are advancing.”
An employee of the Technology, Politics and Strategy Office, who learned that they had been dismissed this week and obtained anonymity due to the fear of reprisals, says they were an “easy target” because their office was created under the administration of Joe Biden. “Some people thought it could happen,” they say.
The roles of the chief technologist and chief economist of NASA were in this office, which “helped the agency 'strategic planning,” said the employee. This included the management of the recent increase in lunar missions and “ensuring that these missions do not interfere with each other” during the planning of landing sites and operations based on the moon.
“There is a lot of interest in the southern Pole of the Lunar, and there are concerns about each other,” they said, like the boost that could coat the solar panels on other vehicles. “I don't think these problems will be resolved in the future.”
These losses should be the beginning of a much greater slaughter at NASA. Casey Dreier In the United States Exploration Services Defense Group, the Planetary Society says there are rumors that in its next budget request, President Donald Trump will order that the Global Scientific Budget of NASA is reduced to 50%, in favor of spending money for the CREWED space exploration. It would be a blow for the office of the Directorate of the Scientific Mission of NASA, which manages “almost all that NASA does which is not a mission of space flight of crew”, explains Dreier; He currently has a budget of approximately $ 7 billion on the total annual budget of $ 25 billion in NASA.
A scientist familiar with NASA's political decisions, speaking anonymously for fear of reprisals, says that all the cuts requested by the president will always have to be approved by the congress, which may not support them so easily. “NASA is really appreciated on a bipartite basis,” they say. But if the cuts went ahead, they “would be essentially the end of the science of NASA”, they add. “No mission will be safe.”
Half of the budget “would be a deeply brutal consequence which would symbolize the nation turning its back on the cosmos”, explains Dreier, and would lead to the cancellation of many missions. While some missions at their peak – such as the James Webb space telescope – would probably survive, those most at risk are missions either in the early or later planning phase in their lives. This could include climatic satellites, the Hubble space telescope, perseverance and Rovers curiosity on Mars and travel missions, which were the first spacecraft to leave our solar system.
The effects on NASA could be permanent: “If you completely destroy people's pipeline, you have a significant and lasting consequence,” explains Dreier. “It is an event in terms of extinction.”
In a letter to Petro this week, Zoe Lofgren from California, the best democrat of the committee of science, space and room technology, urged NASA to fight against the cuts. “Doge will seek to reduce and burn the basic functions of NASA,” she wrote. “It is imperative to defend the critical work of NASA.”
Talk to New scientistLofgren warned that the situation could have international ramifications. “The dismantling of the highly qualified workforce of NASA would be a giant jump back to the United States and allowed a leap forward for China,” she said. “The insane and reckless discounts will paralyze the agency's ability to maintain its leadership in advanced innovation, science focused on curiosity and human exploration.”
