Tucson space industry hopeful as Congress passes NASA mission funding

Tucsonans who work in the space industry breathed a sigh of relief as the U.S. Senate passed a budget bill Thursday that rejected nearly all of the cuts proposed by President Donald Trump for NASA’s 2026 budget.

“It’s definitely a very positive development, and it reinforces that space science and planetary science really do enjoy bipartisan support in the legislature,” said Kathryn Volk, senior scientist at the Tucson-based Planetary Science Institute.

The bill provides NASA with a fiscal year 2026 budget of $24.44 billion, saving it from a cut that would have seen nearly a quarter of the agency’s spending slashed — sending it back to 1960s budget levels. The budget will set a compromise at only 1.7% less than the current funding levels, according to The Planetary Society.

The budget bill passed through the House last week with a vote of 397 – 28 and saw three Arizona representatives vote against it, with Republicans Reps. Andy Biggs, Elijah Crane, and Paul Gosar all voting nay.

In the Senate, it passed 82-15 with both Arizona senators voting yes, including Mark Kelly, who called the previously proposed cuts “a full frontal assault on science,” when he spoke to the Tucson Sentinel last summer.  The budget bill now heads to the president.

“Now there is some question of how long this will take to trickle down to all of the grant-funded work and how it will actually be implemented,” said Volk.

For the Planetary Science Institute, most of the funding comes from the Research and Analysis program, a part of the Science Mission Directorate. Within that lies the annual Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Science (ROSES), which allows scientists to submit research proposals. Scientists at PSI focus entirely on planetary and celestial body research, and those grants provided through ROSES are the backbone of their livelihood.

“Usually, these bills don’t specify that level of detail of exactly how much of the money should go to the R&A program. But it certainly will increase the budget of those programs,” said Volk. The current budgeting for R&A was slashed heavily, assuming the cuts to NASA science were to be taken literally.

“I anticipate this being good news for planetary science and astronomy R&A, and it is good news for most of the missions that were potentially on the chopping block,” said Volk.

Outside of PSI, there were fears that seven University of Arizona-led missions would also be at risk of losing all their funding, some of which are currently mid-flight and in space.

The Tucson Sentinel spoke to mission directors of OSIRIS-APEX and HelioSwarm back in June 2025, both missions that were slated for cancellation. But the newly passed bill now promises $20 million and $109.5 million, respectively, to each mission. All other UA missions have funding promised to keep them operational according to a full budget picture released by the Planetary Society.

All together, the space science work at the UA employs about 3,300 people, bringing in about $275 million per year—the equivalent economic value as holding a Super Bowl every other year, according to Dr. Daniella Mendoza DellaGiustina, director of OSIRIS-APEX. 

Volk expects there to be tangible signs of budget allocations within the next couple of months, as NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman puts together more detailed spending plans based on the appropriations.