The chance of a continuing resolution being necessary before Sept. 30 is high, so expect that we will be tracking the threat of pocket rescissions and impoundment around that time. The results of the 2026 midterm elections will determine the balance of power in Washington, and depending on their outcome, Congress will have to decide to either pass full-year appropriations or kick the decision to the 120th Congress.
The Planetary Society and our partners will remain actively involved in monitoring the FY 2027 appropriations process and offering opportunities for you to get involved, like our Day of Action on April 19-20, 2026.
Executive actions
On Dec. 18, 2025, the same day that Jared Isaacman was sworn in as NASA Administrator, President Trump signed an executive order titled “Ensuring American Space Superiority,” signaling a shift in administration priorities when it comes to space policy. The executive order set clear targets for Americans returning to the Moon by 2028 and setting up initial elements of a permanent lunar outpost by 2030. It also directs the deployment of a nuclear reactor on the Moon, calls for winding down the International Space Station by 2030 (though that is already national policy), and clearly prioritizes lunar exploration over a rushed Mars program favored by the administration in early 2025.
This is not out of the ordinary. The first Trump Administration expressed its space policy priorities through executive orders, labeling them as Space Policy Directives. Now that we have the first of these from the second term, should we expect the administration to set more policy this way?
The outcomes are still uncertain, as the President’s previous vehicle for developing these Space Policy Directives, the National Space Council, was disbanded. The duties of this council, which the President had revived in 2017, now fall on the Office of Science and Technology Policy. This fulcrum shift for space policy development may indicate that space exploration does not stand alone, but in the eyes of the administration exists to bolster other technology priorities: from the Golden Dome to artificial intelligence to quantum computing.
It bears watching whether the administration uses executive action to work around Congress on issues where there is disagreement, particularly as it relates to spending. The Planetary Society will be tracking executive actions that affect the NASA Science portfolio and flagging opportunities for the space community to weigh in.
Other legislation
Meanwhile, as Executive Branch priorities play out, Congress may still employ its own mechanisms for setting the direction of space policy. Beyond appropriating funds, Congress will sometimes step in to steer some NASA activities through targeted legislation and authorization bills. Congress hasn’t passed a NASA authorization since the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act. In 2024, then-Chairman of the House Science Committee Rep. Frank Lucas (R-OK) led a bipartisan NASA Authorization Act to passage in the House, but the Senate did not take up the bill before the end of the year. In early 2025, Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) introduced a new bipartisan NASA Authorization Act with significant updates to the previous year’s House bill. To date, this Senate-led bill has not seen any official action. Based on current political priorities and trends in the space sector, there is interest in Congress passing a bill that addresses some major themes:
Science. Congress protected NASA Science in FY 2026. Now the question is what will happen in FY 2027 and beyond. The National Academies’ Decadal Surveys set an ambitious strategy for space science. An authorization could hold NASA accountable to these consensus goals and reaffirm congressional endorsement of these important documents.
Mars. Though Mars Sample Return is formally canceled, those tantalizing samples of martian regolith still sit in the belly of the Perseverance rover and in caches on the surface. The FY 2026 budget set aside $110 million for Mars Future Missions to develop technologies that keep the nation engaged on Mars exploration. An authorization could give further guidance to NASA on developing a roadmap for future robotic and crewed missions, keeping the door open for those samples’ eventual analysis in terrestrial laboratories.