NASA’s big headline this week: the agency confirmed the July 30 launch date for the NISAR mission—a joint project with India’s ISRO—setting a new milestone in international space cooperation. NISAR, the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar satellite, will be the first to carry dual-frequency L- and S-band radars. It’s designed to scan nearly all of Earth’s land and ice surfaces every 12 days, providing vital data on everything from ecosystem changes and ice sheet dynamics to supporting disaster response and agricultural decision-making. Anyone can access this data, empowering local governments and businesses to use space-based insights for real-world challenges. President Trump and Prime Minister Modi have both praised NISAR, calling it a model for US-India partnership in space science.

Budget news remains top of mind. Congress is currently in heated negotiations over NASA’s fiscal 2025 budget. The Senate bill keeps NASA science funding at $7.3 billion, matching 2025 levels and protecting key missions like NEO Surveyor, Dragonfly, and the Roman Space Telescope. It even preserves projects at risk of cancellation, such as OSIRIS-APEX and support for Europe’s Rosalind Franklin Rover. But uncertainty looms: the House and Senate need to reconcile their differences and pass a final bill for the President to sign. Meanwhile, the White House budget office is pushing an aggressive stance—treating congressional funding as a ceiling, not a floor, potentially leading to under-spending and prompting legal challenges that might go all the way to the Supreme Court. Casey Dreier of The Planetary Society summed up the mood, saying, “Congress is saying no to unprecedented, unstrategic, and wasteful cuts to NASA. That much is clear.”

Organizational changes are underway as well. NASA is closing three offices: Technology, Policy, and Strategy; Chief Scientist; and Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility, as part of federal workforce reductions. This impacts ongoing projects and signals a shift in internal priorities, as DEIA activities are now frozen for grantees following new executive orders. NASA’s Office of Procurement has told grant recipients to halt all DEIA-related work immediately, and notify officers if grant requirements are in conflict.

In commercial partnerships, the fourth private astronaut mission to the International Space Station—Axiom Mission 4—successfully concluded, with an international crew returning safely home. This demonstrates robust demand and builds know-how for future commercial space stations, opening opportunities for new businesses and offering local governments a stake in commercial space activity.

For regular citizens, these updates shape future STEM job opportunities, educational engagement, and even disaster preparedness thanks to improved satellite data. For the business sector, NASA’s release of more than 1,200 free software programs could be a game-changer for startups and established firms alike.

Looking ahead, keep an eye on the NISAR launch July 30, ongoing budget negotiations on Capitol Hill, and the Roman Space Telescope, which just completed solar panel installation at Goddard and is ahead of schedule for a launch before May 2027. For more details, check NASA’s official newsroom or The Planetary Society. And if you want to support NASA’s science mission, now’s the time to contact your representatives—these budget decisions will impact discoveries for decades.

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