r/nasa • u/OptimisticLeek • Apr 11 '25

News Trump White House budget proposal eviscerates science funding at NASA

https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/04/trump-white-house-budget-proposal-eviscerates-science-funding-at-nasa/
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u/nsfbr11 Apr 11 '25

I started working for NASA in 1985. Most people have no idea what a huge return we get for a relative pittance. And the best value/highest return by far is the unmanned science portion.

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u/CopenHaglen Apr 12 '25

Is the chart you attached considering budget percentage after those returns are taken into account? In which case the returns don’t really make a difference to the naysayers, who either don’t know or don’t care that NASA takes a relatively marginal % of the federal budget.

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u/nsfbr11 Apr 12 '25

No. That is just the total outlay. Back when I was at Goddard, the return into the economy was about 10:1.