NASA's FY 2024 Budget

The Biden Administration proposed $27.2 billion for NASA's 2024 fiscal year. If approved by Congress, this would represent a 7.1% increase over 2023 levels. The budget would grow funding for NASA's Artemis lunar exploration program, Mars Sample Return, Earth Science, and technology research and development.

A divided Congress, however, instituted spending caps for 2024 and 2025, and essentially freezing NASA's budget at 2023 levels. Within this restricted budget environment, the Artemis program emerged as the clear congressional priority. Senate and House proposals provide funding increases in line with the President's request. That comes at a price paid mainly by the Science directorate, with the Senate targeting Mars Sample Return for severe cuts and threatening to cancel the top planetary science priority.

The President's Budget Request

Explore this data. View historical NASA budget data, including breakdowns by fiscal year, and comparisons to total U.S. spending and GDP, on this Google Spreadsheet.

Highlights include:

• Increase Mars Sample Return funding to $949M in 2024, with the following warning "costs are expected to increase beyond what is shown in the outyear profile in this budget. To address this budget challenge, NASA will have to either reduce funding for other activities within the Science Program or descope elements of the Mars Sample Return mission."
• An indefinite delay of the VERITAS Venus mission "due to Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) workforce issues raised in the Psyche Independent Review Board findings. NASA will continue to support the VERITAS science team."
• Proposes $210 million for NEO Surveyor "to support a June 2028 launch readiness date."
• $30 million to increase contributions to the European Space Agency's Rosalind Franklin rover "previously a joint Europe/Russia mission, which will search Mars for indications of ancient life"
• Increase funding for Artemis' Human Landing System program by 27% to support "additional work with SpaceX to upgrade the version of Starship used for the Artemis III mission [and] invite other U.S. companies to provide new lander development and demonstration missions from lunar orbit to the surface of the Moon with an initial demonstration on Artemis V."

Note: all quotes are from NASA's FY 2024 president's budget request and related documents.

President's Budget Request Source Documents

• FY 2024 Agency Fact Sheet
  
• FY 2024 Congressional Justification
  
• FY 2024 Summary Budget Brief

Congressional Activity

The Senate moved its funding legislation for NASA out of committee on July 13th, 2023, by a vote of 28 - 1. It provided $25 billion to the space agency, a cut of more than $300 million from the prior year and over $2 billion less than requested. Mars Sample Return was targeted by the Senate for cost overruns, and provided only $300 million — $649 million less than requested — and directed NASA to restrain the total budget to $5.3 billion or face cancellation.

The House released its NASA budget the same week, but, as of this writing, has not released the explanatory text with detailed spending directives. It provides $25.3 billion for NASA, and meets the full FY 2024 request amount for human exploration and Artemis. It provides a similar amount of funding for NASA's Science Mission Directorate as the Senate, representing a cut of nearly half a billion relative to 2023.

Both House and Senate provide modest increases in funding for NASA's Deep Space Exploration account, which is responsible for the Artemis lunar return program. The House meets the President's request, and the Senate comes close. The SLS and Orion programs continue to receive unwavering support from Congress, exactly matching their requested amounts in both chambers. This growth in Artemis within a flat NASA budget clearly demonstrates that Artemis is the nations's top political priority.

Senate FY2024 Source Documents

• FY 2024 Commerce, Justice, Science (CJS) legislative text
• FY 2024 Commerce, Justice, Science committee report text (NASA Section only)

House FY2024 Source Documents

• FY 2024 Commerce, Justice, Science (CJS) legislative text (subcommittee mark)

Additional Resources and Analysis