That includes the Nancy Grace Roman Space #Telescope, which has been designed to study distant #galaxies & faraway #planets from an orbital outpost about a million miles from Earth. The hardware of the Roman is in place & being integrated & tested at #NASA’s Goddard #Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD. The Roman is scheduled to launch as early as Sept 2026.

The #Hubble & #Webb space #telescopes —celebrated for their long list of discoveries as well as stunning images of the #universe — would remain supported under the proposal. However, no other telescope would be funded.

“This is an extinction-level event for #NASA science,” said Casey Dreier, chief of #space policy for the #Planetary Society, a space advocacy group. “It needlessly terminates functional, productive #science missions & cancels new missions currently being built, wasting billions of taxpayer dollars in the process. This is neither efficient nor smart budgeting.”

#Trump #BrainDrain #AntiIntellectualism #research #tech #advancement #progress

#NASA’s #science budget could be cut nearly in half under an early version of #Trump’s #budget proposal to #Congress, a move that would terminate billions of dollars’ worth of ongoing & future missions….

The budget plan, sent to NASA by the #RussVought led #OMB, would give NASA’s Science Mission Directorate $3.9B, down from its current budget of about $7.3B….

The Grantham Institute at Imperial College #London, which specialises in #ClimateChange #research, is creating at least 2 more research fellowship posts for early-career #climate researchers from the US & has already seen an clear uptick in applications, said its Director of Research, Joeri Rogelj.

"Our colleagues were frightened...It was our duty to rise to the occasion," university director Eric Berton said, noting 10 European #universities have contacted him about launching similar programs.

In the #Netherlands, the govt wants to establish a fund to attract top foreign scientists & bolster the #EU's 'strategic autonomy' aims, #Education Minister Eppo Bruins said in a letter to parliament on 20 March.

…Aix Marseille University in #France told Reuters it had received interest from 120 researchers at institutions in the US, including #NASA & #Stanford, for a €15-million “safe space for #science” program launched on March 7. The initiative aims to attract #US staff from fields including #health, #LGBT+ #medicine, #epidemiology & #ClimateChange.

The European Research Council, an #EU body that finances #scientific work, told Reuters it would double the relocation budget for funding #researchers moving to the EU to €2 million ($2.16 million) per applicant. That goes towards covering the cost of moving to a European institution, which may involve setting up a laboratory.

The threat to #academics' livelihoods at universities including #Yale, #Columbia & #JohnsHopkins has given #Europe's political leaders hope they could reap an #intellectual windfall.

A letter, reviewed by Reuters, signed in March by 13 European countries including #France, #Germany & #Spain, urged the #EU Commission to move fast to attract #academic talent.

One had just lost a job because of a canceled govt grant; the other feared a similar fate if they went ahead w/the paper. Although both were legally in the #US, they worried they might lose their residency if their names appeared on a potentially *controversial* article.

The subject: #evolution.

A #ConsentDecree, which can last for years, would give a federal judge responsibility for ensuring #ColumbiaUniversity changes its practices along lines laid out by #Trump’s admin. If such a decree is in place, #Columbia would have to comply with it. If a judge determines the #school is out of compliance, it could be held in contempt of court, punishable by penalties including fines.

The #Trump admin has frozen more than $1 billion in funding for #Cornell & $790 million for #Northwestern amid *#CivilRights* [white man sad] investigations into both schools.

The #funding pause involves mostly grants & contracts with the depts of #Agriculture [HUGE school at Cornell], #Defense, #Education & #Health & Human Services.

In many cases #Trump is relying on, or asserting, unilateral power rather than turning to the courts or federal agencies to carry out his demands. Many of his targets are those who prosecuted or challenged him politically, or are institutions & groups he sees as ideological impediments, like elite #universities.