NASA has faced threats of losing a significant portion of its funding since the beginning of the Trump administration. A recent NASA economic impact report found that, in fiscal year 2023, the agency generated $75.6 billion in economic output despite the agency’s budget being roughly $25 billion that same year — an approximately threefold return on investment. Yet, the White House proposed setting the NASA budget for fiscal year 2026 at under $19 billion, representing an over 24% cut. Congress only has until Sept. 30 to finalize NASA’s funding — to decide whether to approve or reject the Trump administration’s proposed budget cuts. As Congress has the final say over government spending, there is currently a bipartisan effort to veto the White House’s proposed budget cuts.
A cut of this magnitude would result in layoffs and the dismantling of several projects, including crucial climate research, not to mention putting partnerships with international allies at risk. This would also eliminate the Office of STEM Engagement programming, which provides educational resources and internships to students from elementary school to graduate school in a variety of STEM careers.
Other active missions and projects at risk include the Chandra X-ray observatory, as well as the New Horizons, Juno and Maven spacecrafts. Many other projects could also be shut down if NASA were to lose a significant portion of its budget; in fact, many missions to study Earth’s atmosphere have already been cancelled.
However, there’s one example that’s much closer to home here at Tufts. Professor Samuel Kounaves, who works in the chemistry department, was the lead scientist for the first chemical analysis of martian soil on the Phoenix Mars Lander mission. Regarding the agency, Kounaves wrote, “NASA is not only exploring the cosmos, but has been at the forefront of new technology that also improves life on Earth. Contributing to industry, to the local economy, and supporting Tufts students.”
Kounaves’ research focuses on the search for life — past or present — on Mars, which he pursues by looking at biomarkers, developing microfluidic electroanalytical instrumentation and analyzing extreme environments such as the Atacama Desert. His team has concentrated on understanding the chemistry of the Martian surface and atmosphere, with a current focus on also how it could affect humans and their habitats on Mars.
These budget cuts would directly affect the salaries of the graduate and undergraduate students that work in Kounaves’ research lab, as well as his summer stipend as a NASA affiliate scientist. Over the past 20 years, his team has received over $15 million in grant money from NASA, with a 52% indirect cost going directly to Tufts. In the past few months, Kounaves has witnessed firsthand the impacts of this funding reduction on his lab and the broader fields of NASA science, as well as the lengths to which the agency is going to reduce spending — including encouraging many valuable NASA employees to take early retirement.
Projects on Mars and Venus are applicable to Earth in more ways than many realize. Further, many programs at NASA that are at risk include the Earth science programs. But, NASA does more than send people to space. They also conduct research on Earth’s atmosphere that helps municipalities, farmers, engineers and many others prepare for and adapt to a changing climate. Further, they help build and maintain the satellite based systems that warn of extreme weather, systems which can quite literally save lives.
For better or worse, both NASA and the broader scientific community in the United States are undoubtedly in a period of growth and reckoning, forced to make difficult decisions about where their priorities lie and what needs urgent funding.
