WASHINGTON — NASA's planetary science program, while spared steep cuts proposed last year, is still facing a funding shortfall that requires "strategic choices" about which missions to continue.
Speaking at a town hall during the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference on March 16, Louise Prockter, director of NASA's planetary science division, said funding for fiscal year 2026 is about $200 million below what her division received in 2025.
An appropriations bill passed in January provided the planetary science division with $2.54 billion in 2026. While that was much higher than the administration's original proposal of $1.89 billion, it is less than the $2.72 billion the division received in both fiscal years 2024 and 2025.
