Flat Funding, Big Ambitions: Inside the US Government’s FY 2025 Space Budget

When President Trump signed the full-year continuing resolution (CR) on 15 March 2025, Washington traded partisan gridlock for a dose of budgetary predictability. The legislation extends FY 2024 funding for almost every federal program through 30 September 2025, with only a handful of line-item adjustments. For the space community, the move secures near-term operating funds while spotlighting deeper questions about how the United States will resource civil exploration, national security space power and commercial partnerships once the stop-gap expires. ​

The Space Insider analyst team has released the “USG Space Budget Outlook – FY 2025,” a 97 page report that includes agency-by-agency line items, program timelines and contract opportunities.

Access a free preview of the report here.

Contact our team to learn more about the full report where you’ll find detailed break-outs of every Space Force RDT&E line, SDA tranche schedules through FY 2031, NASA directorate-level historical trend charts, and more!

Stability with Strings Attached

Because a CR bars most “new starts,” agencies must funnel dollars toward programmes already in motion. That limitation comforts incumbent contractors—launch ranges stay open, satellites in production keep moving down the line—but it hampers the government’s ability to pivot toward emerging requirements, whether that is cislunar logistics or advanced orbital surveillance. Programme managers may seek creative work-arounds, yet true flexibility will not return until Congress adopts a full appropriation.

Space Force: First Taste of Austerity

The US Space Force enters FY 2025 with a US $28.8 billion topline, about two percent below last year’s request and the first decline since the service’s creation in 2019. Nearly two-thirds of that money still flows to research, development, testing and evaluation, underscoring the Pentagon’s faith in proliferated low-Earth-orbit constellations and next-generation missile-warning sensors. Even so, commanders concede the flat budget complicates efforts to field offensive and defensive counter-space systems fast enough to outpace China’s rapid advances. ​

NASA: Flat Today, Potential Cuts Tomorrow

NASA’s allocation remains steady at US $24.9 billion. The agency can press ahead with Artemis, keep the International Space Station running and fund its core science missions. Yet the White House’s FY 2026 preview already signals pressure—especially on the Science Mission Directorate—as the administration pursues broader deficit-reduction goals. Unless lawmakers reverse course, flagship missions beyond the Mars Sample Return or the Europa Clipper could face descopes or delays. ​

A Budget Built to Combat “Waste, Fraud and Abuse” 

The administration frames the modest trims as part of a broader drive to root out “waste, fraud and abuse.” That rhetoric resonates on Capitol Hill, but critics warn that annual CRs, followed by abrupt realignments, make it harder to plan multi-year acquisitions—particularly for human-rated exploration systems and strategic missile-defence architectures that demand decades-long funding commitments.

Golden Dome: Trump’s Budget Stamp on Missile Defense

The FY 2025 spending plan mirrors President Trump’s broader defense agenda: tighten outlays elsewhere while pouring resources into layered missile defense. Nowhere is that clearer than in the administration’s “Golden Dome” initiative—a proposed, all‑domain shield that would knit together ground‑based interceptors, Aegis ships, airborne sensors and a new ring of low‑Earth‑orbit tracking satellites. 

Although the CR freezes most accounts, it preserves the flexibilities Missile Defence Agency and the Space Development Agency need to fund Golden Dome trade studies, architecture modelling and early technology risk‑reduction. Those dollars advance Trump’s stated goal of countering hypersonic and ballistic threats “from launch to impact” rather than simply safeguarding space assets. In practice, that means priority money for space‑based sensors, rapid‑refresh constellations and command‑and‑control software that can cue terrestrial interceptors in seconds—an approach the White House argues will deliver more deterrence value than incremental force‑structure growth.

Commercial Space: Doors Opening for New Entrants

The FY 2025 continuing resolution doesn’t just keep the lights on—it codifies a broader shift toward buying services from industry rather than building government‑owned systems. Every major space agency now leans on commercial partners:

• Space Force and SDA are sourcing entire constellations, launch slots and ground software through rapid, fixed‑price awards that favour firms able to iterate every 24 months.
• NASA continues to contract lunar landers, cargo runs and soon low‑Earth‑orbit stations under milestone‑based, pay‑for‑performance deals.
• NOAA and USGS are expanding “data‑buy” pilots, purchasing Earth‑observation feeds directly from private operators instead of commissioning bespoke government spacecraft.
• The NSSL Phase 3 contract mix deliberately splits national‑security launches among multiple commercial providers to break single‑vendor dependence.

These moves pair with acquisition reforms—other‑transaction authorities, streamlined source selections and larger transfer authority inside the Pentagon—that give non‑traditional suppliers a clearer runway to prove low‑cost, quickly deployable hardware and software. For venture‑backed companies in sensors, autonomy, in‑space servicing or responsive launch, the federal market has never been more open—nor the competition more intense.

Commercial Opportunities

Beyond SpaceX: The Need for a Broader Industrial Base

SpaceX still dominates national-security launches under the National Security Space Launch programme, but policymakers are determined to diversify. United Launch Alliance’s newly certified Vulcan, Blue Origin’s New Glenn and a cadre of smaller rockets from Rocket Lab and Stoke are all vying for Phase 3 missions awarded this spring. As Musk steps back from his advisory role in the administration, concerns about conflicts of interest may fade, but the strategic imperative remains: the nation wants multiple lanes to orbit. ​

What to Watch in the FY 2026 Cycle

1. Defense topline in flux — White‑House guidance calls for an 8 % real‑dollar cut to “legacy” defense accounts over the FY 2027‑2031 plan—a goal meant to free head‑room for missile defense, Indo‑Pacific posture and rapid acquisitions. But President Trump has also pledged to send Congress a record ~US $1 trillion defense request for FY 2026—up from the current US $892 billion topline. Whether lawmakers embrace the bigger number or the targeted trims, programs that cannot show near‑term war‑fighter value will face hard scrutiny. 
2. NASA science squeeze — Early OMB passback tables flag a multi‑billion‑dollar haircut to astrophysics, Earth science and heliophysics, with Roman Space Telescope, Mars Sample Return and several Discovery‑class missions listed as at‑risk. Expect descopes, stretched schedules or joint‑agency cost‑sharing. 
3. Golden Dome build‑out — Should DoD formally approve a space‑layered missile shield, Golden Dome would push the buy of LEO tracking and comms satellites from hundreds to potentially thousands, accelerating SDA tranche cadence and opening room for multiple payload suppliers.

The CR delivers what the sector needed most—time—but not the long-term clarity that large, complex space programmes require. With uncertainty surrounding defence spending over the next five years and the FY 2026 request already hinting at NASA science cuts, the debate over priorities is only beginning. Whether Congress can pivot from continuing resolutions to predictable appropriations will determine if the United States keeps its edge in an increasingly contested and commercially vibrant space domain.

Access the Full Report

This article barely scratches the surface of the 97 pages of agency-by-agency line items, program timelines and contract forecasts captured in the Space Insider  “USG Space Budget Outlook – FY 2025”. In the full report you’ll find:

• Detailed break-outs of every Space Force RDT&E line 
• SDA tranche schedules through FY 2031 
• NASA directorate-level historical trend charts
• And more!

While the full report is only available on the Space Insider Market Intelligence Platform, we’re offering free access to a preview of the report.

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Interested in the full report? Contact Our Team: Click Here

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