((Translation automated by Reuters, please consult the non-responsibility clause https://bit.ly/rtrsauto))))
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Trump’s proposal would reduce NASA’s current budget by 24 %
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Discounts would affect joint missions with Europe, Canada and Japan
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“programs focused on March” would benefit from a billion dollars boost
(The new plan adds details to the budgetary plan and the context) by Joey Roulette
The Budget proposal for US President Donald Trump aims to remove key elements from the NASA lunar program with a reduction of $ 6 billion for the 2026 budget of the space agency, but gives a boost to the program focused by the billionaire director of SpaceX, Elon Musk.
The main lines of the 2026 budget proposed by Trump, published on Friday, would cancel the Space Launch System (SLS), a gigantic rocket built by Boeing and Northrop Grumman, and its Orion crew Capsule built by Lockheed Martin after their third mission in 2027 as part of the Artemis program of the Agency.
Reducing by 24 % of the current budget of $ 24.8 billion from NASA, the proposal threatens to cancel major scientific programs with thousands of researchers worldwide. It would call into question active contracts defended for years in Washington by a whole series of established contractors from NASA and would cancel missions and programs in which the Allies of the United States play a key role, such as the European Space Agency, Canada and Japan.
Almost all NASA sectors are faced with dark cuts, with the exception of the human exploration portfolio, for which the administration has proposed an increase of $ 1 billion for “programs focused on March” this suggests a major review of the Artemis effort which is based on the vision of Musk, director general of SpaceX, to send humans to the red planet.
A summary of the White House budget qualified the SLS and Orion as “roughly expensive” which have largely exceeded their budgets. Critics qualified the cuts, including a 47 % reduction in NASA scientific budget, “historic decline” for the country’s spatial efforts.
The Artemis program, launched by the first administration of Mr. Trump, aims to bring humans back to the moon before Chinese astronauts went there in 2030. Considering the lunar surface as a test bench for subsequent Martian missions, Artemis has turned into an effort of several billion dollars on the front line of a global race for the emerging space, involving dozens of private companies and country.
Trump’s new administration has set itself the aim of sending humans to Mars, the destination long wanted by Mr. Musk, the outgoing advisor to the president () who spent $ 250 million for Mr. Trump’s campaign to return to the White House.
-The Starship rocket of SpaceX, a versatile mastodon at the center of the Musk Martian vision, is under contract to land NASA astronauts on the Moon in 2027, as one of the many vehicles involved in the program, such as the SLS and the Duo Orion that work together to take off the astronauts from the Earth.
“The budget provides for the gradual withdrawal of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and the Orion capsule after three flights, which is extremely expensive and delayed,” said the budget summary, which specifies that the price of the SLS per launch amounts to $ 4 billion. The cost of developing the rocket, which amounts to around 23 billion dollars since 2010, is “140 % higher than the budget,” added the document.
“The budget finances a program to replace SLS and Orion flights to the Moon with more profitable commercial systems that would support more ambitious lunar missions,” added the summary.
“This reduction proposal would represent a historic decline in American leadership in spatial science, exploration and innovation,” said Planetary Society, an organization of spatial policy founded by the famous scientist Bill Nye, referring to the global reduction in the budget proposed by Mr. Trump.
The budgetary plan mentions a parallel program of lunar and Martian missions, seeming to balance the intense pressures of the congress and the space industry to maintain the lunar program with the calls of the Circle of Musk to give priority to a Martian program.
Trump’s candidate for NASA explained similar ideas during his confirmation hearing last month. Jared Isaacman, a billionaire private astronaut and SpaceX client, was to receive a vote from the Senate during the month to become a director of NASA.
Contracts of several billion dollars at stake
Lockheed Martin is under contract to build the Orion crew capsules to Artemis 8, which represents at least $ 4 billion which may be terminated.
The company is currently building the Orion spacecraft for Artemis 4, said Kirk Shireman, Vice-President of Lockheed in charge of human space exploration in Reuters on Thursday before the announcement of the budgetary plan.
“We strive to accelerate our production for Artemis 3, 4, 5 and beyond, and NASA works with us and encourages us to continue on this path,” said Shireman.
The budget provides for the cancellation of the Gateway station, a research station and a transfer point between the spaceships launched from the earth and the landing descending on the surface of the moon. Gateway was designed to orbit near the moon and was to be deployed for the first time as part of Artemis 4.
Northrop Grumman Noc.N has a $ 935 million contract with NASA to provide a Gateway module that was delivered last month by subcontractor Thales Alenia Space. Northrop has taken about $ 100 million in the program, as shown in securities deposits.
The lunar missions provided by Trump NASA after Artemis 3 were not clear, but it is likely that they favor the rockets by SpaceX and Blue Origin by Jeff Bezos, which also builds a lunar landing intended to be used during subsequent artemis missions.
Last year, NASA and Japan signed an agreement providing for the participation of Japanese astronauts in a future Lunar Mission Artemis, an important step in the American-Japanese alliance which would allow the first Asian astronaut to go to another celestial body.
NASA said that the elements of the gateway already built can be reused for other missions and that “international partners will be invited to join these renewed efforts”
