| A draft of the White House's proposed budget for NASA would slash its science budget nearly in half. The "passback" budget for fiscal year 2026, delivered from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to NASA last week, proposes just $3.9 billion for science at the agency, compared to its current budget of $7.3 billion. It would cancel several missions, including the Roman Space Telescope, Mars Sample Return and the DAVINCI Venus spacecraft, and put the future of the Goddard Space Flight Center at risk. The budget runs counter to comments made by Jared Isaacman, nominee for NASA administrator, at his confirmation hearing last week when he vowed there would be "more telescopes, more probes, more rovers" at NASA under his watch. Space science advocates and members of Congress sharply criticized the proposed budget. A formal release of the administration's budget proposal for fiscal year 2026 is expected in the coming weeks. [SpaceNews]
The draft of the NOAA budget, meanwhile, would impact a GEO weather satellite program as well as work on space weather and space traffic coordination. The OMB passback for that agency called for sharp cuts in the GeoXO weather satellite program, removing instruments the administration considers focused on climate rather than weather forecasting. It would also move the Space Weather Prediction Center from NOAA to the Department of Homeland Security and direct the Office of Space Commerce to transfer its work on the TraCSS space traffic coordination system to a company or nonprofit organization. [SpaceNews]
Space businesses are under pressure to adapt to artificial intelligence and shifting geopolitics. During a panel at last week's Space Symposium, companies said they are increasingly relying on AI to make sense of the torrent of data from space-based systems, and finding ways to use AI to change how they interact with data, markets and even talent. Changing geopolitics are also affecting businesses, with Europe in particular pledging hundreds of billions of euros in new defense investments. [SpaceNews]
Those businesses, though, have to work to match the hype surrounding AI with the reality of what it can do today. At a recent conference, industry officials pointed to progress on AI in Earth observation and space domain awareness. However, government agencies remain cautious, as intelligence analysts often resist fully automated decision-making. A proving ground for AI in government may be the Pentagon's ambitious Golden Dome missile defense program, which will likely require AI to effectively detect and intercept missiles. [SpaceNews]
NASA and Roscosmos have extended an agreement to barter seats on missions to the ISS. NASA confirmed last week that it extended that agreement, which allows NASA astronauts to fly on Soyuz missions to the ISS while Roscosmos cosmonauts go on commercial crew vehicles, into 2027. One change is that Soyuz missions, starting with this month's launch of Soyuz MS-27 to the station, will spend eight months there rather than six. [SpaceNews]
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