Space for Sale: How Trump’s NASA Cuts Serve Private Power

Behind the budget axe is a plan to dismantle science, weaken public institutions, and hand space exploration to billionaires.

On the surface, the story sounds like another round of painful budget cuts: NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, home to some of the agency’s most ambitious Earth and planetary science programs, is facing a near 50% reduction under the Trump administration’s proposed 2026 budget. The Astrogeology Science Center—a crucial arm responsible for mapping plane…