A wide-field image of the Tarantula Nebula, taken by Hubble, showcases the remnant of recent, nearby supernova 1987a and its surroundings. Whereas our combined datasets from the past 30+ years have given us hundreds of supernovae out to many billions of light years, WFIRST will get us many thousands of supernovae out to distances never-before-reached by our observatories today. There is no substitute for the science it can accomplish. (NASA, ESA, AND R. KIRSHNER (HARVARD-SMITHSONIAN CENTER FOR ASTROPHYSICS AND GORDON AND BETTY MOORE FOUNDATION) AND P. CHALLIS (HARVARD-SMITHSONIAN CENTER FOR ASTROPHYSICS))

Trump’s Plan To Destroy NASA Science Laid Bare In FY2020 Budget

If your goal was to destroy the science of astronomy and astrophysics, this is exactly how you’d do it.

One of the perks of being President of the United States of America is that you get to submit your budget recommendations to the US Congress before any decisions are made. While it’s up to Congress to make the budget and the President to sign it into law, the recommendations for the next fiscal year are where the administration gets to set their agenda and announce to the world the direction it wants to go in.

Last year, the Trump administration proposed cutting a number of Earth Science missions, ending NASA Astrophysics’ flagship mission for the 2020s, WFIRST, and eliminating NASA’s Office of Education. Then-acting administrator Robert Lightfoot put out a statement mentioning hard choices and an inability to do everything with a limited budget, but Congress overturned these cuts and restored funding for these programs. This year, the assault is even worse, and has a better chance of succeeding. Here’s why.

The viewing area of Hubble (top left) as compared to the area that WFIRST will be able to view, at the same depth, in the same amount of time. The wide-field view of WFIRST will allow us to capture a greater number of distant supernovae than ever before, and will enable us to perform deep, wide surveys of galaxies on cosmic scales never probed before. It will bring a revolution in science, regardless of what it finds. (NASA / GODDARD / WFIRST)