These two images of the Pillars of Creation, a star-forming region 6,500 light-years from Earth, were taken by the Hubble Space Telescope (left) and the James Webb Space Telescope (right). (Image credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Hubble Heritage Project (STScI, AURA), Joseph DePasquale (STScI), Anton M. Kokemoor (STScI), Alyssa Pagan (STScI))
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — The Trump administration has been tearing apart the fabric of American science in recent months. The latest blow is a 2026 budget proposal that would cut NASA’s science funding by nearly half. If Congress passes the budget, scientists say it would be catastrophic, leading to the cancellation of a number of missions in development and existing ones, and deep cuts and closures of some astronomy facilities.
“This effectively cuts science research almost everywhere in the world,” Neil Reed, a scientist who works on many projects at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, said at the 246th meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) last month. “NASA funding is being cut in half, and astrophysics is being cut by two-thirds.”
This raises the question: How could Trump's proposed cuts to American science funding set off a chain reaction affecting two of the most famous astronomical instruments we have: the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)?
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