James Webb Space Telescope

JWST is scheduled to launch in 2019. Goddard Space Flight Center, which manages the project, has the second-most employees exempted from furlough under NASA's shutdown plan (221; only Johnson Space Center, with 300, has more).

An email Friday to the JWST public affairs office went unreturned.

Parker Solar Probe

Goddard also manages Parker Solar Probe, which is scheduled to launch July 31. On January 19, the spacecraft started thermal vacuum chamber testing. Here's what a NASA public affairs officer told us Friday:

"All questions regarding possible impacts on NASA programs if a lapse of federal funding should be directed to the OMB communications office."

The OMB did not respond to our emails.

InSight

The next NASA Mars lander is being prepared for launch out of Vandenberg Air Force Base on May 5, which is less than five months away. A JPL public affairs officer referred us to the OMB on Friday:

"All questions regarding possible impacts on NASA programs if a lapse of federal funding should be directed to the OMB communications office."

Regrettably, government institutions are developing experience with shutdowns, so NASA headquarters has clearly coordinated a more disciplined response to our inquiries than they have in the past! We did receive more information Friday from a public affairs officer at Lockheed:

"InSight is still at Lockheed Martin's Denver (Waterton) facility and if there's a shutdown we will be able to continue our work on the spacecraft. We're scheduled to ship it to California in late February."

Currently active robotic missions

During the last government shutdown in 2013, missions operated out of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the Applied Physics Laboratory continued to operate normally, although scientists who are directly funded by the federal government (like those at the United States Geological Survey) could not participate in active roles on tactical operations planning. Those missions included: