The Planetary Society built an interactive side-by-side "track changes" comparison for the proposed OMB rules. They show exactly what the current rules say versus what the proposed rules would change, section by section, across all *399* affected provisions. dashboards.planetary.org/rules-change/ 🧪🔭

The Planetary Society created a fact sheet and action alert about the recent OMB proposal that would, among other things, insert politics into the proposal review process across science. More discussion here: www.planetary.org/articles/whe...

This month's episode of the Space Policy Edition podcast features Elizabeth Ginexi, who walked me through proposed rules changes to federal grant-making that would suppress, isolate, and set back American science. Listen here: www.planetary.org/planetary-ra...

Will you be in the Washington, D.C. area on Wednesday, June 3? Come see me and @weinersmith.bsky.social discuss "Our Future on Mars?" at The National Air and Space Museum! airandspace.si.edu/whats-on/eve...

The Planetary Society led a coalition letter with 23 organizational signatories calling for the rejection of draconian cuts to NASA and science in FY 2027 proposed by the White House. Coverage here, letter PDF in comments. www.nbcnews.com/science/spac...

This is very similar to the 2026 cycle. House sets NASA Science at $6B, not great, but much better than the $3.9B proposed. Sets the floor going forward, Senate will likely come in higher.

What a fantastic Day of Action! 130 Planetary Society members came from 34 states and held over 200 meetings in Congress to #SaveNASAScience from the draconian cuts proposed in FY 2027. Between the two of us, Bill Nye and I did 13 TV interviews, from 6am to 6pm, local to national stations.

Amazing turnout for our Day of Action to Save NASA Science! Truly inspired by the dedication of our members and advocates who are here with me in D.C.

My April edition of the Space Advocate newsletter grapples with the experience of witnessing the first crewed lunar spaceflight mission of my life against the release of new budget that would dismantle large portions of NASA. www.planetary.org/space-advoca...

What's getting weird is that NASA has, so far, been completely unresponsive regarding this seeming contradiction: spacenews.com/nasa-selects...

This is great news, but utterly inconsistent with the FY 2027 NASA budget request, which omits any funding for ROSA. Is NASA ignoring its own budget proposal? Or is ROSA funding hidden in some other program?

Don't miss my new op-ed on how space science is getting demoted to hitchhiker status at NASA: spacenews.com/put-science-...

NASA science faces 'very serious threat' from new White House budget, experts say www.space.com/astronomy/na...

The FY 2027 NASA budget request hides its science cuts by omitting mission names instead of explicitly zeroing them out. We did the work and found 54 missions cancelled in this proposal. This is another extinction-level event for NASA science. Full list: planetary.org/save-nasa-science

Join me and Jack Kiraly for our first detailed briefing and Q&A on NASA's FY 2027 budget request. This first one is exclusively for Planetary Society members in our online community: community.planetary.org/events/the-p...

Initial set of charts tracking some of the massive cuts from NASA's FY 2027 budget proposal are now posted at www.planetary.org/charts?imgke...

The FY 2027 budget request for NASA is an insult to the four astronauts currently risking their lives to explore the Moon. The world should be celebrating humanity's return to deep space, as well as the space agency and partners that put them there. [1/2]

The FY 2027 NASA Budget request isn't just bad, it's sloppy and riddled with errors. Just one example: JWST and HST both have funds requests for the wrong fiscal year (it should by FY 2027).

The Planetary Society has re-launched our Save NASA Science action hub today given the draconian cuts proposed in the FY 2027 NASA budget — follow here for running updates, statements, charts, and advocacy actions you can take now: planetary.org/save-nasa-sc...

FY 2027 NASA PBR: 23% cut to NASA, 47% cut to NASA science: www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/u... The OMB learned nothing; they are needlessly and wastefully attempting to gut NASA and NASA science despite overwhelming public and congressional opposition. They will fail.

Initial details of the FY 2027 President's Budget Request are now posted at the OMB website (no highlights or details about NASA yet): www.whitehouse.gov/omb/informat...

A quarter of the entire House of Representatives just called for INCREASING NASA Science funding by nearly $2 billion: www.planetary.org/press-releas...

I enjoyed speaking about Artemis on Brookings' TechTank podcast this week: www.brookings.edu/articles/goi...

This is a really good analysis of the recent restructuing of the Artemis Program and how big of a change it was from the preexisting plan put in place by Congress 16 years ago bhavyalal.substack.com/p/class-3-co...

Help NASA science! Submit your appropriations request forms today — many offices have deadlines by COB on Friday, March 6th. Use our helpful guide to submit: dashboards.planetary.org/appropriatio...

There are less than 48 hours for most U.S. residents to submit congressional spending requests to their House representative. Support NASA Science and submit a request! Our handy online guide will walk you through the process: dashboards.planetary.org/appropriations-guide

The @planetarysociety.bsky.social has shared their presentation from yesterday on how they leveraged AI to fight the draconian DOGE cuts to NASA Science. The presentation runs a little over an hour, but it is well worth your time. www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LvG...

Join me today at 3pm ET to learn how we've been leveraging AI to increase our productivity for policy work. Registration req'd: us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

I'm excited to share the lessons we've learned over the last year for how to responsibly leverage AI to improve our advocacy and policy work. Register (free!) here: us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

My historical NASA budget dataset has a new home on The Planetary Society's website, and is now updated with all final FY 2026 details. New per-sheet CSV/XLSX download options as well! Check it out at: www.planetary.org/space-policy...

New Space Policy Edition episode on NASA authorization bills. Oft' overlooked, but potentially potent legislative vehicles that define the program of record for the U.S. space program: www.planetary.org/planetary-ra...

After 15 years heading The Planetary Society, Bill Nye "The Science Guy" is transitioning from CEO to a new role as Chief Ambassador as well as Vice Chair of the Board of Directors. Current COO Jennifer Vaughn will be the new CEO as of Feb. 17. www.planetary.org/press-releas...

Statement on the passage of HR 6938, which includes funding for NASA in FY 2026: www.planetary.org/press-releas...

New Space Policy Ed. podcast! Marcia Smith, founder and editor of Space Policy Online, joined me a year after her last appearance to assess our initial predictions for the Trump II-era of NASA, what surprised us in 2025, and what she's looking for in 2026: www.planetary.org/planetary-ra...

Even more promising news regarding our efforts to Save NASA Science today. As a reminder, we went all out in the last year to stop these cuts:

Very good news for NASA Science in the compromise 2026 funding bill released by Congress today:

The Planetary Society held nothing back in our efforts to Save NASA Science this year. The results are extraordinary, and we will not slow down next year. Read more in our 2025 Impact Report: planetary.org/about/our-im...

Big updates to the NASA Science Spending Dashboard: - added FY 2025 spending data - improved mobile/desktop UI - new state/district-level economic impact maps - AI-generated pain-language summaries of top award activities Check it out: dashboards.planetary.org/nasa-science/

I was delighted (and, frankly, surprised!) to receive SpaceNews’ 2025 Icon Award for Individual Achievement for my work tracking NASA’s contract cancellations and economic impacts of potential budget cuts. Thanks to the members and supporters of The Planetary Society who make this possible!

This Thanksgiving, I’m grateful for The Planetary Society’s members and supporters who make this organization possible—and enable this unique and rewarding career.

Data update! Our NASA Planetary Science historical budget dataset now includes all values for the FY 2026 request and final FY 2024 expenditures. Includes annual funding for every NASA planetary mission, helpful programmatic breakdowns, more: docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

The Planetary Society and members of the Save NASA Science coalition have released a statement congratulating Jared Isaacman on his re-nomination for NASA Administrator: www.planetary.org/press-releas...

🚨 NASA scientists warn: critical equipment at Goddard Space Flight Center could be discarded during the shutdown, jeopardizing decades of Earth & space science missions. 📢 Act now: agu.quorum.us/campaign/146... #sciencepolicy #saveNASA

A new Space Policy Edition episode today! Guest Lou Friedman argues that the recent announcement of a potential biosignature collected by Perseverance should reignite our commitment to Mars Sample Return,. www.planetary.org/planetary-ra...

Watch Bill Nye and me "take over" the latest episode of StarTalk Radio, now on YouTube. We're talking, of course, about the need to #SaveNASAScience from the extreme budget cuts in FY 2026: youtu.be/g9T6udCp-RY?...

I'm very excited to announce `usaspending-orm` a new Python library to ease access to data from the USASpending API. Available now on PyPI and GitHub. Repo link in thread.

Any new entrant to provide a human lunar landing system for Artemis would have to pull off a successful development effort within 5 years — a feat last accomplished for crewed spacecraft by project Gemini in 1965:

I really enjoyed talking to Nayeema Raza on her podcast, "Smart Girl, Dumb Questions". We discussed the civil religion of spaceflight, my "conversion" to space advocacy, and the current cuts facing NASA. Apple: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/i... YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=373D...

A deeper reflection on our recent Day of Action, written by my colleague Jack Kiraly, on why we did it and where we go from here: www.planetary.org/articles/sec...