Although the Trump administration will not publicly release its budget request for at least a few more weeks, senior agency officials are starting to be briefed on the president’s priorities.
This includes NASA. As expected, the president’s plan for the space agency includes some significant shakeups, including a desire to move elements of NASA headquarters to field centers around the country. However, in perhaps the most drastic change, the White House seeks to massively cut funding for science programs at the space agency.
Multiple people familiar with the White House proposal said cuts to NASA’s “Science Mission Directorate” could be as high as 50 percent. These sources emphasized that no decisions are final, and there are some scenarios in which the cuts to NASA’s science programs would be less. But the intent is to slash science.