New Delhi, May 31
In a significant boost to space exploration, the Donald Trump-led US government has proposed $1 billion in new investments for Mars exploration programmes.
The White House’s 2026 budget proposal, released late on Friday, also allocates over $7 billion for lunar exploration.
“By allocating over $7 billion for lunar exploration and introducing $1 billion in new investments for Mars-focused programmes, the Budget ensures that America’s human space exploration efforts remain unparalleled, innovative, and efficient,” the Budget document said.
The budget proposal also includes a new NASA initiative called the Commercial Mars Payload Services Program (CMPS). Similar to the previous Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) programme, CMPS aims to leverage private sector expertise and investment for space exploration.
The new proposal states that NASA would award contracts to companies developing spacesuits, communications systems, and a human-rated landing vehicle to foster exploration of the Red Planet.
Notably, the budget proposal slashed NASA funding by $6 billion compared to enacted 2025 levels from $24.8 billion to $18.8 billion -- a cut of 24 per cent.
The budget reductions are steep for space science ($2.3 billion), Earth science ($1.2 billion), and legacy human exploration systems (nearly $900 million.