A renewed threat to JPL as the Trump administration tries again to cut NASA

WASHINGTON— NASA attracted the world’s attention again with Artemis II, which took astronauts to the moon for the first time in half a century. But the agency’s scientific projects may be under threat once again as the Trump administration takes a new step to drastically cut its funding, including to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

The cuts, proposed in the Trump administration’s 2027 budget request to Congress, would pose further challenges to the already weakened Caltech-run laboratory and could greatly harm America’s efforts to bring new discoveries from space. They reflect the administration’s attempt to cut NASA funding, which Congress rejected last year.

Again Artemis project In the project announced as laying the foundation of a crewed NASA mission to Mars, the exploration of the Red Planet is among the efforts that may be interrupted. The rover currently exploring Mars’ ancient river delta and the mission to orbit Venus are among the projects targeted for spending cuts with JPL’s involvement, according to an analysis of the NASA budget proposal by the nonprofit Planetary Society.

“This is not [because] They don’t produce good science anymore. There’s no rhyme or reason to this,” said Casey Dreier, chief of space policy at the Planetary Society, which sparked opposition to similar efforts by the administration to cut NASA funding last year.

This time, the administration is asking Congress to cut NASA funding by 23%; This includes a 46% cut to the science programs responsible for developing spacecraft and sending them into space to observe and analyze the data they send back.

The proposal would cancel 53 science missions and reduce funding for others, according to the Planetary Society’s analysis. The effort to cut back on NASA Science comes amid a broader Trump administration effort to reduce scientific research at federal agencies.

The plan quickly faced bipartisan criticism from members of Congress, who rejected the administration’s similar 2026 proposal in January. Republican Sen. Jerry Moran of Kansas, who chairs the Senate appropriations subcommittee that oversees NASA. stated last week He said he would seek to similarly fund NASA for 2027 and that not funding science missions would be “a mistake.”

Moran plans to hold a hearing with NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman before the end of April to review his budget request, a spokesman for Moran’s office said. The President’s budget request is a request to Congress, which ultimately has the authority to allocate funds.

But until Congress creates its own budget, NASA will use the plan as a road map, which could slow grants and contracts. Rep. Judy Chu (D-Monterey Park), whose district includes JPL, said the proposal “still creates tremendous chaos and uncertainty for critical missions, the scientific workforce, and long-term research planning.”

A NASA spokesman declined to comment Friday. In his budget request, Isaacman wrote that NASA is “pursuing a focused and right-sized portfolio” of space science missions to align with Trump’s federal cost-cutting goals.

Isaacman wrote that the budget “strengthens U.S. leadership in space science through groundbreaking missions, accomplished research, and next-generation observatories.”

Jared Isaacman testified at his confirmation hearing as NASA administrator on December 3, 2025, at the Russell Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill.

(Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

At JPL, which has pioneered innovations in space science and technology at its La Cañada Flintridge campus for decades, questions were already swirling about the laboratory’s role in the future of NASA work.

Multiple layoff tours in the last two years, cut funding his at war Mars Sample Return mission and the Trump administration’s shift away from the type of scientific work JPL conducts and toward lunar research had pushed the laboratory into a difficult process.

There has been a steady stream of employee layoffs in recent months, and those who remain are scrambling to court cases, sell JPL technology to companies and increase productivity in hopes of keeping the lab afloat, apart from funding from private investors, according to two former employees who asked to remain anonymous to describe the mood at the lab.

“If we’re not doing science, then what are we doing?” asked a former employee who recently left JPL after more than a decade.

A spokesman for the laboratory declined to comment, citing The Times’ budget proposal.

Canceled or disrupted NASA programs support thousands of jobs at JPL and other centers, said Chu, who is leading the charge for more funding for NASA Science. Following last year’s layoffs, JPL said in a statement that it “cannot afford to lose any more of this expertise.”

Two of the JPL projects scheduled to be canceled involve Venus, Dreier said. He said Veritas is in development and will employ the lab over the next few years.

Dreier said the project will be the first US mission to Venus in more than 30 years and aims to map the planet’s surface in high resolution and observe its atmosphere.

There may be cuts in expenses for the Perseverance rover, which collects rock and soil samples on Mars. The budget request proposes withdrawing some funding from Perseverance to fund other planetary science missions and reducing the rover’s “speed of operations.”

Despite how Mars samples might return to Earth uncertainThe rover is still being used to explore the planet and look for evidence of whether it is habitable.

Researchers hope the tubes, made up of rocks, soil and sediments from Mars, can eventually be brought back to Earth for study. Jim Bell, a planetary scientist and Arizona State University professor who leads Perseverance’s camera team, which works with JPL on a daily basis, said the team has about a half-dozen more sample tubes to fill and that the rover is in good condition.

He said NASA’s spending proposal lays out “no plan” for the future of the agency’s work.

“Are people supposed to step away from their consoles and let these orbiters go around other planets or allow travelers on other worlds to die?” Bell asked. he asked.

The NASA document did not clearly indicate which programs were targeted for cuts and did not list which projects were targeted for cancellation. The Planetary Society and the American Astronomical Society each analyzed the proposal and found that dozens of projects appeared to have been canceled without being named in the document.

Other projects slated for cancellation across NASA, according to the Planetary Society’s analysis, include New Horizons, a spacecraft exploring the outer edge of the solar system; Atmospheric Observation System, a planned project to collect weather, air quality and climate data; and Juno, a spacecraft studying Jupiter.

Bell said the administration’s plan also does not prioritize new scientific projects, further jeopardizing long-term job stability and field exploration at centers like JPL.

“We’re going through this long process right now where there are very few opportunities to build these spacecraft,” Bell said. “NASA centers all suffer from a lack of opportunity.”

Last year, the Trump administration proposed cutting NASA’s 2026 funding by nearly half. Congress instead approved The funding that provided the agency with $24.4 billion in January was a cut of about 29% rather than the proposed 46%. The 2027 budget request calls for $18.8 billion.

Congress kept funding for science missions nearly constant and $7.25 billion a decline of about 1% from 2025 for science missions. The administration had proposed reducing science investment to $3.91 billion. This time the budget requests $3.89 billion.

NASA under Trump administration emphasize about lunar exploration, including this month’s successful Artemis II mission. Isaacman defending proposed cuts on CNN Last week, he announced the agency’s plans for the month, including a construction project. one base per month.

The agency has stated its commitment to several existing science missions, including the James Webb Space Telescope, the upcoming Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, the Dragonfly spacecraft launching to Saturn’s moon in 2028, and other projects.

“NASA doesn’t have a revenue problem; we just need to focus on implementing and delivering world-changing results,” Isaacman told CNN.

Scientists called on the government not to choose between funding science and discovery, but to continue investing in both.

“Ultimately, it’s a bit confusing, especially on the heels of the Artemis II mission,” said Roohi Dalal, associate director for public policy at the American Astronomical Society. “The scientific community provides critical services to ensure astronauts can safely perform their missions, but they also face this significant disruption.”