Produced by: Mohsin Shaikh
NASA’s most powerful telescope, James Webb, faces a crippling 20% budget cut, threatening its groundbreaking discoveries.
Astronomers requested nine years’ worth of observing time in just one operational year, proving Webb’s massive scientific value.
Webb is only halfway through its primary 10-year mission, but funding cuts could derail its most ambitious research.
The iconic Hubble Space Telescope faces its own 20% budget cut, further jeopardizing NASA’s deep-space research.
NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory is being phased out, with its budget dropping from $41.1M to just $5.2M by 2029.
Webb has outperformed all expectations, yet it’s now at risk of losing the funding it needs to continue its success.
In 2011, lawmakers nearly canceled Webb, citing budget overruns—but fierce backlash saved it. Will history repeat itself?
NASA planned for Webb to operate for at least two decades, but funding cuts could shorten its mission drastically.
Budget cuts to Webb, Hubble, and Chandra could set astronomy and space exploration back decades at a critical time.