At an online town hall session on 2024-10-23, NASA held off on changes to operations of Chandra and Hubble while awaiting Congress to finalize appropriations for fiscal year 2025.
NASA proposed a 40% cut in Chandra’s budget in its 2024-10-01 budget proposal.
The 2024-06-06 letter opposed NASA’s fiscal year 2025 budget proposal to slash funding for the Chandra X-Ray Observatory.
NASA announced a review in March 2024 to find ways to reduce the costs of operating both the Chandra X-Ray Observatory and the Hubble Space Telescope.
NASA is reviewing ways to reduce operating costs for both Hubble and the Chandra X-Ray Observatory.
The 2024-05-01 letter stated that increased 2024-10-01 funding would support existing NASA missions, including the Chandra X-Ray Observatory and the Hubble Space Telescope, which faced cuts in the 2025 request.
NASA's budget request for Chandra for 2025 is $41.1 million, representing a 40% cut from its funding in 2023.
NASA stated that Chandra and Hubble are operating at high efficiency and can continue to generate world-class science for the next five years.
NASA officials expressed a desire to find efficient operational methods for Chandra and Hubble to continue their missions.
NASA's leadership indicated that they do not want to cancel Chandra but seek more cost-effective operational methods.
In the 2022 senior review of astrophysics missions, NASA exempted the Chandra X-Ray Observatory and the Hubble Space Telescope from the usual operational review.
Congress has not yet addressed NASA's budget proposal, raising concerns about potential favoritism toward Hubble over Chandra.
The Chandra mission has a plan for closeout activities if funding reductions make continued operations impossible.
NASA is reconsidering support for the Chandra and Hubble missions due to budget pressures facing the agency.
NASA plans to reduce Chandra's funding to $26.6 million annually from 2026 through 2028, and $5.2 million in 2029.
NASA stated that the Chandra spacecraft is degrading and requires active management to maintain operational temperatures.
The Chandra X-Ray Observatory received $68,300,000 in 2023 and the fiscal year 2025 budget proposal cuts its funding to $41.1 million, a 40% reduction.
NASA officials at a 2024-03-20 Astrophysics Advisory Committee meeting attributed the proposed cuts to overall budget pressures that require reducing the costs of operating Chandra and Hubble.
Mark Clampin asserted that NASA cannot fund Chandra and Hubble at the levels they have been funded in the past given the 2024-10-01 budget and the outyears.
NASA’s fiscal year 2025 budget proposal released 2024-03-11 proposes reducing the operating budgets of the Hubble Space Telescope and the Chandra X-Ray Observatory.