Just before midnight on Friday, 21 March, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) announced in a post on X that NASA had terminated $420 million in “unneeded contracts.” Just what had been eliminated was unclear. But since then, scientists and space policy experts have found evidence for tens of millions of dollars worth of possible cuts, including within programs focused on science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) outreach and diversity efforts.
“It’s work that’s not going to get done, it’s bills that aren’t going to get paid, it’s students that aren’t going to get trained,” says Sarah Hörst, a planetary scientist at Johns Hopkins University whose Bluesky post about the terminations on 24 March first tipped many scientists off to the cuts, despite DOGE’s cryptic post on Friday.
Friday’s terminations also included a grant to the National Society of Black Physicists (NSBP), a nonprofit professional organization with more than 600 members. In 2024, NSBP received a NASA grant worth up to $774,000 to sponsor NSBP’s annual conferences in 2024, 2025, and 2026, which the group hosts jointly with the National Society of Hispanic Physicists. According to Stephen Roberson, NSBP’s president, the termination will cut at least $200,000 in funding for the 2026 conference, which he says will jeopardize support for student travel to an event that inspires future physicists.