NASA has eliminated key science offices its chief scientist and her office according to an internal email obtained by Axios.The news comes less than a week after Ars Technica reported that the Trump administration is expected to slash the space agency's science budget by as much as 50 percent, an "extinction-level event for space science and exploration in the United States," as Planetary Society chief of space policy Casey Dreier told the publication.Now that chief scientist Katherine Calvin has been let go, the future of space science in the country is as uncertain as ever.In the email, acting NASA administrator Janet Petro said that the cuts were in response to president Donald Trump's executive orders aimed at slashing budgets across departments.Apart from the office of the chief scientist, the Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility branch of NASA's Office of Diversity and Equal Opportunity was cut as well, affecting around 20 people, per Axios.NASA's office of the chief scientist was created to ensure that the agency's scientific endeavors were "aligned with and fulfill the administrations science objectives," per the agency's website.The latest news could be a harbinger of what's still in store for NASA. Petro said the agency is only beginning its "phased approach to a reduction in force."The agency has already been the target of cuts. Shortly after reports emerged that Elon Musk's so-called Department of Government Efficiency was cutting over 1,000 NASA employees last month, affected workers were sparedas part of a chaotic last-minute decision.Billionaire tech founder and SpaceX space tourist Jared Isaacman, who's widely expected to be sworn in as the next NASA administrator, appears to have been shut out of ongoing conversations, tweeting that he was simply a "humble nominee on the outside, hoping for a chance to contribute."Now that key scientific figures are being eliminated, scientists are worried the Trump administration is making irreversible changes that could undercut the agency's core missions."NASA is small, but it is arguably the most legendary and globally beloved agency in American history,"Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics external relations lead Grant Tremblay tweeted. "Its gutting has begun, & the cuts to come are so massive that we won't recognize it in a year.""I worry that, absent strong leadership, there is a theory of destruction but no plan for creation," he added in a followup. "It's hard to build something great from a pile of ash and rubble. The people you lose will not come back."Share This Article