The Space Advocate Newsletter, December 2025

This month

🎉 NASA finally has an administrator
📊 Reflecting on an unprecedented year of advocacy
📣 2026 Day of Action registration now open!
🚀 Consider donating to enable our work in 2026

286 days ago, we issued our first public statement in response to reports that the White House was planning massive cuts of up to 50% to NASA science. At the time, those were just reports, but they aligned with what our sources were telling us. We took it seriously and started sketching out what became our Save NASA Science campaign.

As we all know, the reporting was correct, and in May, the President’s Budget Request for NASA formally proposed the largest single-year cuts to NASA and space science in U.S. history. Roughly a third of all space science missions faced outright termination, the commitment to Artemis after the first landing was absent, and Jared Isaacman, the nominee to lead NASA, faced sudden dismissal.

286 days later, we face a profoundly different situation. Congress seems ready to reject most — if not all — of the proposed cuts. Isaacman has been confirmed by the Senate as the next NASA administrator, and, so far, no active science missions have been terminated. Some missions on the chopping block have even received formal approval to continue operations through 2026.

This is what the long game looks like.

Looking back on the year, I am immensely proud of The Planetary Society’s response to this crisis, particularly the response of our dedicated members around the world who wrote, called, and showed up to Washington, D.C. to argue for NASA to their elected officials.

This was not a normal year for us. I couldn’t even call it unusual — that’s too weak of a statement. This year represented a breakthrough in the sophistication and effectiveness of our advocacy and policy program. Enabled entirely by our members, who keep us independent and adherent to our values.

It’s hard to capture it all. I’ve assembled highlights in an infographic below. My colleague Jack Kiraly has some reflections as well. Suffice to say, we ran a relentless campaign both in public and behind the scenes, and it’s working.

We deployed novel tools and dashboards to track cuts and share the local economic benefits of NASA science. We placed op-eds in the New York Times, “took over” Star Talk Radio, and reached huge audiences online (just our Instagram reels reached more than 9 million people!). Our data and charts appeared on TV, in print, and were shared by members of Congress themselves in hearings and their official reports, earning us our first ICON Award from SpaceNews. We led two in-person advocacy days on Capitol Hill that smashed our prior attendance records, with the fall event almost certainly representing the single largest advocacy event for space science in U.S. history.

We also established our first physical office in Washington, D.C., expanded the bipartisan Planetary Science Caucus in the House of Representatives, and brought on our first AAAS Policy Fellow, Ari Koeppel, to augment our staffing in the nation’s capital.

And our members showed up, too. We had a factor of 10 increase in advocacy participation this year, with over 84,000 messages sent to members of Congress from every state and congressional district in the country. Our global petition received signatories from more than 100 countries.

All of this — our relentlessness, our increased resources, our rapid responses, and our fearless commitment to our beliefs of space science and exploration as a public good — is a result of our financial independence and the ongoing support of our members and donors. We had no conflicts and no hesitation. We acted. And it’s working.

To this end, please consider a donation to help us support these increased investments and build a foundation for the coming year.

Because, of course, the fight is not over. Despite promising actions, Congress must still finalize its budget for the year. Isaacman must now prove himself nimble in supporting NASA while being part of the Administration that proposed to gut the agency. And a new budget, for 2027, will be released in February, starting a new cycle of outreach and advocacy.

Our commitment is unwavering, and I hope yours is too. This is what the long game looks like.

Until next month,

Casey Dreier
Chief of Space Policy
The Planetary Society

Want to do something?

Donate to The Planetary Society and support our Space Policy & Advocacy program. I don’t often make direct requests here, but we are in the midst of our end-of-the-year fundraising push. We don’t take government funding, nor do we have big corporate backers. We are independent. It was that independence that allowed us to so effectively advocate for space science this year. I believe the results speak for themselves. Please consider a donation, if you can, and help us continue this work in 2026.

You can also sign up for the next Day of Action, April 19 & 20, 2026! Discounts of up to 35% are available for early registration.

Our Save NASA Science Action Hub has the latest actions, resources, and updates.

What I’m reading this month

A Science Strategy for the Human Exploration of Mars
The National Academies released the first comprehensive roadmap for what science humans should prioritize on Mars. Spoiler: it’s the search for life.

ESA Member States commit to largest contributions at Ministerial
Good news from ESA: the latest ministerial secured a record €22.3 billion commitment from its member nations, including full funding for the Rosalind Franklin rover.

SpaceNews ICON Award for Casey Dreier: defending NASA Science in the Face of Sweeping Budget Cuts
Our data-driven advocacy made a real splash, and resulted in official recognition by the industry’s leading media organization. I was proud to accept this on behalf of The Planetary Society’s membership. Much more to come.

House Members Push For Strong NASA Science Budget
Another bipartisan letter from the bipartisan Planetary Science Caucus leadership urges appropriators to use Senate funding levels with special legislative language included in the House funding bill to ensure proper expenditures for key science programs.

Ground Truth

Data visualization and analysis

An infographic highlighting some of the accomplishments of The Planetary Society’s Space Policy & Advocacy program in 2025.