President Donald Trump released a 2018 budget proposal on Thursday that would cancel NASA's Asteroid Redirect Mission and several Earth science programs. The plan for NASA would still shift money in line with Trump's intentions for the space agency, which is to focus more on space exploration and less on monitoring Earth's vital functions.
NASA missions to the surface of Europa, a nearby asteroid, and the atmosphere from above the planet would be cut from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's portfolio under Trump's budget proposal. But there are still some missions spared from the cut, including the Mars 2020 mission that would send a rover to the Red Planet to collect samples for further study. Additionally, the Europa Clipper, a spacecraft set to fly Jupiter's icy moon to study a hidden liquid ocean that can potentially house extraterrestrial life, survived the Trump cut.
The 2018 budget proposal set forth by Trump would cut NASA funding from roughly $19.3 billion to $19.1 billion, according to the Los Angeles Times. "This is in line with our funding in recent years, and will enable us to effectively execute our core mission for the nation, even during these times of fiscal constraint," NASA Administrator Robert Lightfoot said in a statement.
Trump administration also plans to cancel the ARM that aims to capture a large asteroid and bring it close to Earth. The program has attracted criticisms over the past few years with one scientist calling it a one-off costly stunt that prevented NASA from getting humans to Mars. But Lightfoot stated that much of the technology developed will be preserved for future projects.
Furthermore, Trump's budget proposal would target NASA's work on environmental science. As such, JPL's Orbiting Carbon Observatory 3 (OCO-3); the Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, Ocean Ecosystem mission (also known as PACE); and the Climate Absolute Radiance and Refractivity Observatory (CLARREO) would be affected. It would also limit NASA from leading the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR).
The budget proposal, however, does not mention any plans to send back humans to the moon nor does it contradict the goal of NASA to get humans to Mars by 2030. Trump is pushing for more industry involvement in space exploration, including in the operation of the International Space Station.
Despite the cut to some NASA programs, the overall effect on the agency is relatively minor compared to others. The budget proposal makes much deeper cuts to the operations of other agencies, including a 31 percent reduction at the Environmental Protection Agency and 28 percent cut at the State Department, according to Space News.
Charles Bolden, the acting NASA administrator under Obama, has said that he is disappointed with Trump's budget proposal for choosing to cut funds not only for environmental research but on education, as well. NASA, on the other hand, has taken the overall budget positively.
A full budget proposal will be released early in May.