Heliospheric Turbulence: Presidential Budget Request Offers a Bleak Forecast for Space Weather Research

Abstract The presidential budget request (PBR) for fiscal year 2026 in the United States recommends a cut in NASA science funding by more than 45% and the cancellation of a dozen active missions and several missions in design or formulation. Funding reductions at the National Science Foundation (NSF) are even larger and include cancellations of numerous post‐doctoral fellowship programs. While the recently released Decadal Survey for Solar and Space Physics presents an optimistic vision of the growth of space science and space weather in the next decade, the future as painted in the PBR is bleak. Non‐US countries may restore some of the programs and reduce the direct impacts of these cuts; however, this will come at the cost of additional investments. Additionally, the impact on US civil servants and contractors, including at universities, is expected to be high and harder to mitigate.