The White House Releases its 2026 Budget Request for NASA. Cuts to SLS, Gateway and Orion

The Committee on Appropriations presented its suggestions for discretionary funding for the upcoming fiscal year 2026 (FY 2026) earlier today. The Budget reduces funding for numerous NASA initiatives and programs in addition to recommending significant reductions for departments such as education, health, international programs, and others. In total, the Budget provides $7 billion for Mars-focused programs and $1 billion for lunar exploration. However, NASA is also facing significant budget reductions and the demise of numerous programs that are integral to its "Moon to Mars" and science goals.

NASA should be the first space agency to send humans to Mars and should return astronauts to the Moon before China, which plans to send the first taikonauts to the lunar surface by 2030, according to the budget proposal. The SLS, Orion, Gateway, and Mars Sample Return (MSR) missions are all slated to be canceled at the same time as the Budget does. It also tells NASA to look for more "cost-effective" solutions, like commercial space stations and launch services.

When compared to FY 2025, when NASA received $25.4 billion, the budget calls for a total reduction of $6.34 billion. As a result, NASA's budget for the upcoming year is approximately $18.8 billion, or about the same as NASA's budget for 1980, which was $18.925 billion, after accounting for inflation.

Moon to Mars

Human Space Exploration, specifically "Mars-focused programs," receives an additional $647 million from the proposed Budget as the top priority for FY 2026. This includes the sample-return mission, which will now fall under the purview of crewed missions that will be launched in the 2030s. This indicates that the agency has reversed its previous decision to carry out a joint robotic sample return that involved an ascent vehicle developed by NASA and the ESA, an orbiter, a lander, sample retrieval helicopters, and others.

e

Concerns regarding the budget and the lack of progress in numerous aspects of the "Moon to Mars" mission architecture were the primary driving forces behind this. This included the Mars Base Camp and the proposed Deep Space Transport (DST), which NASA considered essential to its long-term plan to send crewed missions to Mars. The MSR was considered a cost-effective alternative that could be sent in the interim because there was no established date for when astronauts would reach Mars. The mission, on the other hand, is "unaffordable" and "grossly over budget" due to years of budget uncertainty.

When it comes to the Artemis Program, NASA faces yet another significant reorganization of its proposed mission architecture and significant reductions. In a nutshell, NASA will have to cut $879 million from its Legacy Human Exploration Systems budget. In particular, a strategy to gradually retire the Space Launch System (SLS) and Orion spacecraft following the completion of the Artemis III mission is included in the proposed budget. As of 2016, NASA planned to pair a reusable lunar lander with the SLS to deliver the components of the Lunar Gateway to the Moon. By 2028, astronauts would be brought to the Gateway by means of the SLS and Orion, where they would begin routine missions to the surface.

Vice President Mike Pence made the announcement in 2019 that this timetable would be accelerated by four years. NASA was now tasked with getting astronauts back to the Moon by 2024 or earlier. As a result, the Gateway was given less importance, and SpaceX was hired to launch the Power and Propulsion Element (PPE) and Habitation and Logistics Outpost (HALO) of the space station using the Falcon Heavy. This mission was to be carried out in 2024, which is now 2027, just a few months before Artemis III was to take place.

In the meantime, NASA had to look into other Gateway alternatives and a reusable lunar lander. SpaceX's Starship HLS won the task of developing a Human Landing System (HLS) again by 2020. Despite this, the Gateway remained an essential component of the Artemis Program and was scheduled to be completed in 2028 with the SLS-enabled delivery of the International Habitation Module (I-Hab). After that, NASA expected to send missions to the Moon once a year. However, after 2027, the SLS, Orion, and Gateway may all be scrapped by NASA.