NASA’s critical scientific missions hang in the balance as the US government shutdown continues

NASA employees are bracing for layoffs and budget cuts as a dispute in Congress over government funding continues, threatening many critical space missions — including some that… Already in space.

Earlier this week, hundreds of space advocates met with Congress to try to save NASA funding, according to NASA Planetary Society. The White House’s proposed 2026 budget, released in May, would be like that NASA funding cut by $6 billion Compared to 2025. Under this proposal, NASA’s science budget would decrease from $2.7 billion to $1.9 billion. Meanwhile, the fate of nearly 40 NASA missions is unknown, after Congress failed on September 30 to agree on a deal to keep the federal government funded for fiscal year 2026.

How has NASA been affected so far?

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory confirmed that layoffs were imminent this month, though it’s unclear how many workers might be affected, according to Los Angeles Times. The federally funded research center in La Cañada Flintridge, Calif., has suffered two rounds of layoffs affecting 855 of its employees.

But despite the government shutdown, NASA remains focused on sending astronauts to the moon. “NASA will continue to support Artemis operations during any funding interruption,” the agency wrote in a letter. statement Before closing. The agency is making deep preparations for the next Artemis mission — Artemis 2 — which is scheduled to launch a four-person crew on a trip around the moon and back in February 2026.

NASA’s ground teams will also continue to operate their current science missions. “If a satellite mission is in the operational phase, we will maintain the necessary operations to ensure the integrity of that satellite and the data coming from it.”

But not all of its spacecraft are accounted for. NASA’s Juno mission, launched in 2011 to study Jupiter and its moons, has passed its last extension deadline during the shutdown, and it’s not clear if the spacecraft is still operational. The mission is facing Threat of cancellation Under the White House’s proposed budget, although it has not been officially cut, its funding has been cut. It is still unclear whether Juno will survive this or not.

On the other hand, NASA’s OSIRIS-APEX mission was saved. Ars Technica reported. In a follow-up mission to OSIRIS-REx currently on track to study the asteroid Apophis, lawmakers have allocated $20 million to keep the mission going, though the House and Senate Appropriations Committees have yet to agree on a final budget. OSIRIS-APEX was one of 19 operational missions threatened with closure under Trump’s proposed budget.

What is still unknown

We still don’t know exactly how much funding NASA will provide for each of its science missions in the future. Earlier in September, the US House of Representatives Appropriations Committee expressed this Supporting many NASA missions is under threat Through proposed budget cuts. The House’s Commerce, Justice, and Science budget bill, which allocates funding to federal agencies like NASA, has secured more than $24.8 billion for NASA. That’s the same amount the agency received in 2024 and 2025, but much higher than what the administration proposed. $18.8 billion for 2026.

The committee approved amendments to A a report Accompanying the bill, the New Horizons mission to explore the Kuiper Belt, Juno, and a series of low-cost robotic missions to Mars were added as part of the bill. However, the report did not allocate a specific amount of funds to direct these tasks, but noted overall support for the Committee.

The last government shutdown in 2018 lasted 35 days. It remains unclear how long the ongoing closure will last. This means it could take days or weeks until the fate of many of NASA’s most important spaceflight missions is known.