NASA’s groundbreaking science missions, vital to exploring the cosmos and expanding humanity’s understanding of our place in the universe, are facing unprecedented threats. The White House has proposed deep cuts to NASA’s budget in fiscal year 2026, jeopardizing active missions, future exploration, and the funding that sustains vital research and teaching at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
For UC Santa Cruz, the stakes are high. According to the university’s most recent Office of Research annual report, NASA was one of the top 10 sources of external research funding in 2024. The vast majority of this funding supports research and teaching in the Science Division, fueling discoveries across the fields of astronomy and astrophysics, Earth and planetary sciences, ocean sciences, and physics.
On October 5 and 6, 2025, researchers and advocates nationwide participated in a Day of Action to Save NASA Science—a coordinated campaign to preserve NASA’s Science Mission Directorate top-line budget of $7.3 billion in fiscal year 2026 and ensure that ongoing science missions and programs are not prematurely canceled. UC Santa Cruz supports this effort, underscoring the importance of NASA’s work not just for scientists, but for every person who looks up at the night sky and wonders: Are we alone? How did the universe begin? What does its future hold?
Leading the search for other worlds
Few illustrate UC Santa Cruz’s contributions to NASA’s scientific legacy better than Professor Natalie Batalha, a planetary astronomer who joined the faculty in 2018 after serving as the scientific lead for NASA’s Kepler mission.
Kepler revolutionized our understanding of the galaxy by discovering over 2,700 exoplanets—many of them rocky worlds that may harbor the conditions necessary for life. Batalha herself led the team that confirmed the discovery of the first rocky planet outside our solar system in 2011. Today, her research continues to explore planetary habitability and the search for life beyond Earth.
These kinds of discoveries are only possible with continued federal investment in space science. Without NASA’s support, the very missions that reveal Earth-like planets, probe the origins of galaxies, and trace the forces shaping the universe could be cut short.
Batalha and other astronomers at UC Santa Cruz belong to an interdisciplinary team of scientists from UC Santa Cruz, University of Hawaii at Manoa, University of Colorado at Boulder, University of Kansas, and NASA Ames Research Center who study the diversity of planets orbiting other stars in the Milky Way, and how that diversity impacts planetary habitability. This research is funded by NASA’s Interdisciplinary Consortia for Astrobiology Research (ICAR)
Professor Natalie Batalha
“NASA serves as a beacon of hope and inspiration across the globe and embodies the best qualities in human beings. Its science missions deliver profound new discoveries that change our thinking and ultimately change who we are as a species,” Batalha said.
Poised to find evidence of life beyond Earth, Batalha added that NASA is inspiring our youth to pursue careers in science, “to be part of the generation that puts an end to our cosmic loneliness,” she said. “I can’t imagine a world without NASA playing a leading role in that quest.”
A legacy of impactful discoveries and designs
UC Santa Cruz is internationally recognized for discoveries that have reshaped our understanding of the universe. Faculty and researchers here have advanced knowledge of gravitational waves, stellar and planetary structure, the explosive phenomena that shape galaxies, and the potential habitability of exoplanets.
The Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics is home to some of the world’s most decorated space scientists and innovators. Their work has led to the design and development of some of the most powerful telescopes and space technologies ever built. One of the most notable NASA-funded projects involved UC Santa Cruz scientists fixing the flawed optics of the Hubble Space Telescope, salvaging one of the most iconic scientific tools of our time.
In the Baskin School of Engineering, researchers in the Applied Mathematics Department have also partnered with NASA to create new models of the Sun’s interior. This work helps to better predict events like solar flares and coronal mass ejections—outbursts of activity from the Sun that can disrupt power grids and telecommunications on Earth.
Why this matters to you
NASA missions provide opportunities for students to train with world-class scientists. They drive the development of advanced technologies that have applications across society, and they inspire generations of young people to pursue careers in science and engineering.
From GPS to innovations in computing and optics, technologies developed for space research touch nearly every aspect of modern life. UC Santa Cruz’s legacy of contributions—from Kepler to the Vera C. Rubin Observatory—demonstrates how federally funded research not only answers humanity’s deepest questions, but also produces tangible benefits that strengthen the U.S. economy and society.
The proposed cuts to NASA science, and to federal science funding more broadly, threaten to slow this progress dramatically.
Help us protect science
UC Santa Cruz stands with the broader UC system in urging lawmakers to reject these cuts and preserve NASA’s vital science budget. We invite our community of students, faculty, alumni, and supporters to make their voices heard.
The discoveries made by UC Santa Cruz scientists—whether revealing planets suitable for life beyond our solar system, or creating technologies that help us get home—are part of a shared human endeavor.
Now is the time to ensure that this work continues. By protecting NASA’s science funding, we protect not just research at UC Santa Cruz, but the future of discovery itself.
