Report: Proposed NASA Budget Cuts Could Affect Pasadena’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory

A report published Sunday by the Los Angeles Times said the Jet Propulsion Laboratory could face renewed financial pressure under a proposed federal budget that would significantly reduce funding for NASA.

According to theTimes, the Trump administration’s Fiscal Year 2027 budget request calls for a 23% reduction in NASA funding, including a 46% cut to the agency’s science programs.

The newspaper reported that the proposed reductions could pose further challenges to JPL, the Caltech-managed laboratory in Pasadena near La Cañada Flintridge, and could affect scientific projects involving the lab.

Citing an analysis by the nonprofit Planetary Society, the Los Angeles Times reported that the proposal would cancel 53 science missions and reduce funding for others.

The report said some of the affected work includes missions involving Mars exploration and planned missions to Venus with JPL involvement.

Rep. Judy Chu, a Democrat whose district includes JPL, said the proposal could create “enormous chaos and uncertainty” for “critical missions, the scientific workforce, and long-term research planning,” according to the article.

TheTimes also reported that JPL has faced layoffs and internal restructuring in recent years, and cited two former staffers who described concern about funding stability and the lab’s future direction.

The report said the administration has stressed lunar exploration, including the Artemis program, while shifting away from some science-focused missions of the kind JPL typically carries out.

Any changes to NASA’s funding would require approval by Congress, which ultimately determines federal spending levels. TheTimes reported that similar proposals have previously been rejected or modified by lawmakers and that the current plan has drawn bipartisan criticism.

Until Congress adopts a final budget, NASA is expected to use the proposal as a planning framework, which could slow grants and contracts and create uncertainty for research institutions such as JPL, according to the report.