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The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is responsible for increasing 

understanding of the universe and our place in it, advancing America’s world-leading 

aerospace technology, inspiring the Nation, and opening the space frontier. The Budget 

increases cooperation with industry through the use of public-private partnerships, focuses 

the Nation’s efforts on deep space exploration rather than Earth-centric research, and 

develops technologies that would help achieve U.S. space goals and benefit the economy. 

The President’s 2018 Budget requests $19.1 billion for NASA, a 0.8 percent decrease from the 

2017 annualized CR level, with targeted increases consistent with the President’s priorities.

NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND 

SPACE ADMINISTRATION

The President’s 2018 Budget:

• Supports and expands public-private partnerships as the foundation of future U.S. civilian space 

efforts. The Budget creates new opportunities for collaboration with industry on space station 

operations, supports public-private partnerships for deep-space habitation and exploration 

systems, funds data buys from companies operating small satellite constellations, and supports 

work with industry to develop and commercialize new space technologies.

• Paves the way for eventual over-land commercial supersonic flights and safer, more efficient 

air travel with a strong program of aeronautics research. The Budget provides $624 million for 

aeronautics research and development. 

• Reinvigorates robotic exploration of the Solar System by providing $1.9 billion for the Planetary 

Science program, including funding for a mission to repeatedly fly by Jupiter’s icy ocean moon 

Europa and a Mars rover that would launch in 2020. To preserve the balance of NASA’s science 

portfolio and maintain flexibility to conduct missions that were determined to be more important 

by the science community, the Budget provides no funding for a multi-billion-dollar mission to 

land on Europa. The Budget also supports initiatives that use smaller, less expensive satellites 

to advance science in a cost-effective manner. 

• Provides $3.7 billion for continued development of the Orion crew vehicle, Space Launch 

System, and associated ground system, to send American astronauts on deep-space missions. To 

accommodate increasing development costs, the Budget cancels the multi-billion-dollar Asteroid 

Redirect Mission. NASA will investigate approaches for reducing the costs of exploration 

missions to enable a more expansive exploration program. 

• Provides $1.8 billion for a focused, balanced Earth science portfolio that supports the priorities 

of the science and applications communities, a savings of $102 million from the 2017 annualized 

CR level. The Budget terminates four Earth science missions (PACE, OCO-3, DSCOVR 
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Earth-viewing instruments, and CLARREO Pathfinder) and reduces funding for Earth science 

research grants. 

• Eliminates the $115 million Office of Education, resulting in a more focused education effort 

through NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. The Office of Education has experienced significant 

challenges in implementing a NASA-wide education strategy and is performing functions that 

are duplicative of other parts of the agency. 

• Restructures a duplicative robotic satellite refueling demonstration mission to reduce its cost 

and better position it to support a nascent commercial satellite servicing industry, resulting in a 

savings of $88 million from the 2017 annualized CR level.

• Strengthens NASA’s cybersecurity capabilities, safeguarding critical systems and data.