Anchorage, Alaska – The Trump administration has been disrupting the science infrastructure in the US over the past few months. The latest blow is a 2026 budget proposal that cuts NASA’s scientific funding by about half. If passed by Congress, the budget will be devastating, scientists say. It cancels numerous developments and current operational missions, leading to important layoffs and forces the closure of some astronomical facilities.
Neil Reid, a multi-mission project scientist at the Institute for Space Telescope Science (STSCI) in Baltimore, said here last month at the 246th conference of the American Astronomical Association (AAS). “NASA science will be reduced by twice as much. Astrophysics will be increased by two thirds.”
So how could this situation cut the reductions proposed by Trump in US science funding to fund Dominoes for two of the most well-known astronomical equipment we have: the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and the James Webbspace Telescope (JWST)?
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The short (and half-full of glass) answer is that Trump’s 2026 budget request won’t cancel JWST or HST entirely. The proposed reductions for these equipment are rather modest compared to those proposed in other projects (not to mention missions that are completely removed from the roster, like the Juno spacecraft attacking Jupiter).
Still, if the budget is passed, JWST funds will decrease from $187 million allocated in 2024 to $140 million in 2026. Hubble’s funding will fall from $93.3 million in 2024 to $85 million in 2026. These proposed reductions certainly affect these space imagers.
Less money, less stars
To start with JWST, Reid says the $10 billion telescope, about a million miles from Earth, could potentially expect a 25% to 35% reduction in operation.
“The operating costs of JWST fell back in 2011. There was some optimism that went into some of those,” he said. “There was inflation too. And then you have it [President’s budget request] It comes in and cuts more. ”
Lead’s presentation slides state that “the issues with inflation and NASA budgets are [a] Serious risks to JWST support from October 2025.
Regarding Hubble, Reed noted that the telescope budget has remained “flat” for the past decade. That is, the team has already lost about 30% of its spending power on the spacecraft due to inflation.
To be fair, Hubble’s funding debate precedes the Trump administration’s proposed budget cuts. For example, last year, as the future of the Hubble budget faced a potential 10% cut in the budget under the Biden administration, an independent panel of experts convened to consider what the future of the Hubble budget would look like. The Hubble Space Telescope orbit also naturally declines over the years. NASA is still not sure if the boosting mission is worth the technology, time and effort (but not 100% off the question).
“The main point of Hubble is that she is healthy. It’s likely that she will produce a large astrophysics in the early 2030s. The orbit is falling apart – we know – but the median estimate of the entrance is [into Earth’s atmosphere] It’s September 2033. ”
With Trump’s proposed Hubble Cut, Reid said some of the telescope’s instruments remain “unsupported” in Earth orbit, even if they could stay online. He said there is work currently going on in some sort of “close-out” so that Hubble can get as much support as possible, but the team relies on “self-support” while using those specific instruments.
“The bottom line here is not going to do anything about it until it gets official direction from NASA,” he said. “We’re preparing… but we’ll continue to do that until NASA says, ‘We need to stop doing something.’ ”
“I think it’s up to us to push back and emphasize the importance of NASA science leadership to our representatives,” he added. “Science can even tell them that America is safer, stronger and more prosperous.”
This is an emotional reflection of many people at the AAS conference, especially as many scientists are being pressured by agencies to not speak out for fear of retaliation.
Grants, synergistic effects of telescopes, White House
For scientists, some of the most severe consequences of Trump’s 2026 budget demands have been linked to substantial cuts in grant funding. It’s great to have an operational telescope in space, but if scientists can’t create instructions, it’s not very useful.
And these instructions come from scientific research funded by grants.
“There will be less money to enter a high-level science product at a must [which is an astronomy data archive]”Reid said, ‘And we’ll have less grants.’
“That would have an impact on the whole, basically,” he added. “We don’t have any specific plans here yet. We’ll continue to provide information to the community.”
Reed also touched on the importance of publicity for both Hubble and JWST science. In this sense, “advertising” refers to, for example, the article you are currently reading. Media communications from scientific institutions such as NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) allow others to see this sector cuts to allow journalists to learn about research timelines, results and hurdles, allowing them to explain to the public. This is an important aspect of the scientific process.
“Advertising is what lets taxpayers know how we spend our money and what we’re doing with it,” he said.
Furthermore, it cannot be ignored that the primary objective of science is to further promote human knowledge and outlook. In other words, humanity should know about the discoveries that are driving this goal. It is only then that scientific observation can lead to breakthroughs in other fields, form the next generation of scientists and source art that cyclically stimulates the scientists themselves.
“So there’s a universe of learning. It’s a consortium of different organizations that we’re participating in. We’ll provide materials for the museum, planetarium. The grants will end at the end of this year. It’s not updated,” Reed said. “This is something we need to critically consider in the future, so we can tell people what we are still doing.
In fact, both JWST and Hubble are veterans who strengthen the bond between scientific research and public discourse. Both can create a visual expanse that makes the unimaginable universe look a little more consistent and concrete, normalizing concepts once confined to fantasy.
“There’s a strong synergistic effect between what Hubble does with UV. [ultraviolet] “Reid said what will he do with the wavelength and the web approaching.”
(The galaxies in Redshift 13 are galaxies that existed over 13 billion years ago. When Cosmos was still in its early stages. Thanks to JWST, you can literally see them today.)
“The Rocky World Project brings together the best aspects of JWST and HST,” Reid said. “This is an exciting program and there is a real chance to tell you whether it is M-Dwarf Planets or not. [those circling red dwarfs, the most common stars in the Milky Way] It’s a good place to look for signs of life. ”
He also mentioned how excellent the results were when JWST and Hubble collaborated with the Chandra X-Ray telescope. Trump’s 2026 budget proposal will bring Chandra to $0 in 2026 from the $70 million allocation in 2024.
“Habitable Worlds Observatory, Hubble 2.0, is the next big thing NASA is aiming for. [President’s budget request]. It’s still there, and has been a massive decline, but it’s still there.
“that’s good.”
This article was originally published on Space.com.
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