Congressional budget action appears to just save two of seventeen on-going NASA missions
Though no final budget has yet been approved, based on the language in the budget the House has approved and sent to the Senate, only two of the seventeen on-going missions presently in space are specifically allocated money, thus allowing the Trump administration to zero out funding for the remaining fifteen.
The two missions saved are Osiris-Apex, on its way to the potentially dangerous asteroid Apophis, and the Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission (MMS), four satellites in orbit that observe the Earth’s magnetosphere.
The article at the link is typical of our propaganda press. It clearly opposes any cuts to NASA, and lobbies repeatedly for all funding to be reinstated. This pattern has gotten quite boring and tedious. It would be so refreshing to see a more objective take, at least one in a while.
However, its reporting confirms my own reporting from mid-September, where I noted that the vague language in the House budget bill would allow Trump to cut these missions. Congress wants to preen itself as supporting all funding for NASA, while carefully allowing Trump to go ahead with large cuts.
It is a good thing these two missions have been saved, though it does appear their funding has been trimmed. Of the fifteen missions in limbo, the only two that seem worth keeping is the Chandra X-Ray Observatory and New Horizons, though the second should likely be set up similar to the two Voyager spacecraft, with a very small crew aimed mainly at keeping the spacecraft functioning and able to send back data periodically.
We are in great debt. It is time that the federal government make some real choices. We can no longer afford to buy all the candy in the store.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Though no final budget has yet been approved, based on the language in the budget the House has approved and sent to the Senate, only two of the seventeen on-going missions presently in space are specifically allocated money, thus allowing the Trump administration to zero out funding for the remaining fifteen.
The two missions saved are Osiris-Apex, on its way to the potentially dangerous asteroid Apophis, and the Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission (MMS), four satellites in orbit that observe the Earth’s magnetosphere.
The article at the link is typical of our propaganda press. It clearly opposes any cuts to NASA, and lobbies repeatedly for all funding to be reinstated. This pattern has gotten quite boring and tedious. It would be so refreshing to see a more objective take, at least one in a while.
However, its reporting confirms my own reporting from mid-September, where I noted that the vague language in the House budget bill would allow Trump to cut these missions. Congress wants to preen itself as supporting all funding for NASA, while carefully allowing Trump to go ahead with large cuts.
It is a good thing these two missions have been saved, though it does appear their funding has been trimmed. Of the fifteen missions in limbo, the only two that seem worth keeping is the Chandra X-Ray Observatory and New Horizons, though the second should likely be set up similar to the two Voyager spacecraft, with a very small crew aimed mainly at keeping the spacecraft functioning and able to send back data periodically.
We are in great debt. It is time that the federal government make some real choices. We can no longer afford to buy all the candy in the store.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Well Grace Roman ought to be launched as well.
….even at the cost of Chandra
Saville,
The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is not “ongoing,” however! It is still being fabricated.
(But it is going to be funded, last I checked. Which is good.)
Hello Bob,
“Of the fifteen missions in limbo, the only two that seem worth keeping is the Chandra X-Ray Observatory and New Horizons, though the second should likely be set up similar to the two Voyager spacecraft, with a very small crew aimed mainly at keeping the spacecraft functioning and able to send back data periodically.”
Yeah, I think the NH staff could be trimmed: Looks like there are still over 100 people listed on staff, though it is not clear to me (a) how much work all of them are still putting in on the mission, given the end of its primary mission and the lack of any further planned flybys, or (b) how much they are still being paid. At only $14.7 million (2024 budget), I suspect that some of these people have a fairly nominal presence on the mission payroll now.
https://pluto.jhuapl.edu/Mission/The-Team.php
But yes, given the reduced science output, it does seem like Alan Stern could make do with a staff size closer to Voyager. Still, that has value. It’s the only active mission in the Kuiper Belt now. It will be a few decades before any new missions get out there, at least.
Just a question here… If anyone knows the answer… Are the mission scientists that look after the Voyager and new horizons missions working on them full time? I can’t imagine a world where you need to check in every few days and get a full time wage….
I’m sure that any of the “grey beards” would be willing to donate their time to keep viable missions going… I have zero idea of how the cost breaks down, but I have no doubt that if mission personal were given the choice, they would donate a few hours of free time to keep their babies alive.
On a side note…. I still have no idea what and why is going on with your governmental shutdown ( it’s ok… I don’t have the bandwidth to take a detailed dive… No explanation needed. ), but I have been told that mission critical folks are still working, but non mission critical folks are banned from even donating their time for free.. even down to receiving and answering emails. It must be so frustrating when someone really wants to work but has been hamstrung by the system.
Lee S,
Sadly, there were a lot of people on government payrolls still drawing full-time salary and benefits for showing up at work as little as one day per month when Trump took office for the second time. This is because government employment has been used for decades as a way for the Democratic Party to pay its minions with taxpayer funds for no-show or barely-show “jobs.” Their ranks have been pruned since, but Trump is taking the Democrat-forced government “shutdown” as an opportunity to dump the remainder.
The cause of said “shutdown” is straightforward. The Democratic Party insists on continuing federal welfare and medical care expenditures for the millions of illegal immigrants it let into the country during the Biden regime and has been willing to impose this (partial) shutdown in order to get its way. It is still Democratic Party policy to “stuff” the voter rolls with more pliable foreigners whom they still intend to make into citizens and voters should they ever regain power. The Trump administration is busily rounding up and deporting these folks, but cutting off their taxpayer-funded goodies in the meantime will induce many to self-deport and save the government the trouble of winkling them out and showing them the door.
The latest SpaceX usurpation attempt?
https://phys.org/news/2025-10-source-mega-constellations-overcrowding.html
A new paper from researchers at the National University of Defense Technology in China published in the National Science Review suggests an alternative to these multiple mega-constellations—a single, modular system similar to how cloud computing works on the current internet.
Eco-spies:
Members of the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, a network of nearly 100 cities that together make up 20% of the global gross domestic product, have pledged to work together to reduce urban greenhouse gas emissions. In an article published in AGU Advances, D. Y. Ahn and colleagues tried a “top-down” approach, using space-based observations to estimate emissions for 54 C40 cities.
https://phys.org/news/2025-10-satellite-scans-urban-emissions.html