U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration is seeking to axe key parts of NASA’s moon program in favour of commercial alternatives and his Mars-focused agenda, targeting an array of established projects in a proposed $6-billion US cut to the space agency’s overall budget for next year.
The “skinny” — or outline — version of Trump’s proposed 2026 budget, released on Friday, would cancel NASA’s over-budget Space Launch System (SLS), a gigantic rocket built by Boeing and Northrop Grumman, and its Lockheed Martin-built Orion crew capsule after its third mission in 2027 under the agency’s Artemis program.
“The SLS [Space Launch System] rocket and Orion capsule will be retired after Artemis III, paving the way for more cost-effective, next-generation commercial systems that will support subsequent NASA lunar missions,” a NASA release said.
The proposal, cutting 24 per cent of NASA’s current $24.8 billion US budget, threatens to upend active contracts defended for years in Washington by an array of established NASA contractors.
The budget also calls to cut Gateway, a space station that would be in lunar orbit and serve as a jumping off point for missions to the moon and, eventually, Mars. Canada, along with the European Space Agency, and JAXA — the Japanese Space Agency — were all partners in the program.
In 2024, the Canadian Space Agency awarded MDA Space a $1-billion contract to build Canadarm3, which would be used on Gateway.
As of yet, it is unclear what the proposed cuts could mean for Canada.
In his latest term, Trump has fixated on getting humans to Mars, the long-sought destination for SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, the president’s outgoing adviser who spent $250 million US on Trump’s effort to return to the White House.
“The budget phases out the grossly expensive and delayed Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion capsule after three flights,” the budget summary said, noting SLS’s per-launch price tag of $4 billion US. The rocket’s development cost of roughly $23 billion US since 2010 is “140 per cent over budget,” it added.