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.If enacted, NASA programmes such as the Mars sample return, and Gateway will be affected.
“In line with the Administration’s objectives of returning to the Moon before China and putting a man on Mars, the Budget would reduce lower priority research and terminate unaffordable missions such as the Mars Sample Return mission that is grossly over budget and whose goals would be achieved by human missions to Mars. The mission is not scheduled to return samples until the 2030s,” the Budget document said.
It also proposed phasing “out the grossly expensive and delayed Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion capsule after three flights". The document added that the “Budget refocuses NASA on beating China back to the Moon and putting the first human on Mars. To achieve these objectives, it would streamline the workforce, IT services, NASA Center operations, facility maintenance, and construction and environmental compliance activities”.