Sending repurposed Mars rover to the moon could cost more than $1 billion Converting an engineering model of a Mars rover into an actual lunar rover could cost NASA more than $1 billion, an estimate strongly rejected by the agency’s administrator....

Sending repurposed Mars rover to the moon could cost more than $1 billion

Converting an engineering model of a Mars rover into an actual lunar rover could cost NASA more than $1 billion, an estimate strongly rejected by the agency’s administrator.

spacenews.com

This is all well and good, but the big question remains: what is NASA trying to accomplish with PROMISE beyond getting a "win"? What is it trying to accomplish, and is it worth drawing down limited stockpiles of Pu-238 and using our spare RTG to do so?

David Burbach 🇺🇸@dburbach.bsky.social · 5d ago

NASA administrator Isaacman's response to @planetarysociety.bsky.social @caseydreier.bsky.social report that flying the earthbound Mars test rover to the moon will likely cost a billion. Isaacman doesn't actually disagree or cite any inaccuracies, one notes

NASA administrator Isaacman's response to @planetarysociety.bsky.social @caseydreier.bsky.social report that flying the earthbound Mars test rover to the moon will likely cost a billion. Isaacman doesn't actually disagree or cite any inaccuracies, one notes

I attempted to put upper and lower bounds on what it would cost to repurpose Perseverance's testbed twin and send it to the Moon. It's not the cheap and fast mission people hope it is. www.planetary.org/articles/the...

The Cost of a PROMISE

NASA may send an engineering test of the Perseverance rover to the Moon, but at what price?

planetary.org

Some new cost charts for Viking's 50th anniversary!

The comment period for the proposed OMB rule that would shift U.S. science from scientists to politicians is now closed. Now what? We break down what to expect ⬇️  www.planetary.org/articles/omb...

What happens now that comments have been submitted on the devastating…

Nearly 500,000 comments were submitted in response to a rule change proposed by the White House Office of Management and Budget that would fundamentally…

planetary.org

The Planetary Society has submitted its official response to the OMB's proposed rules change to federal grantmaking. We believe the changes would result in concrete harms to The Planetary Society and to the public. We recommended that the fully OMB withdraw this proposal.

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...

Space Policy Edition: A proposal to stifle American science

Casey Dreier is joined by Liz Ginexi, a former Program Officer at the U.S. National Institutes of Health, to break down a 400-page proposed rule change…

planetary.org

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...

Our Future on Mars?

Explore the challenges and potential scientific rewards of human exploration on the Red Planet.

airandspace.si.edu

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...

Major science groups and former astronauts urge Congress to reject Trump's proposed cuts to NASA

The White House’s budget proposal for the 2027 fiscal year would cut NASA’s budget by 23% and force the cancellation of dozens of missions.

nbcnews.com

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.

Angela Marusiak@planetaryquakes.bsky.social · 3mo ago

www.science.org/content/arti... House budget is out. 17% cut to NASA science 😭 🧪 🪐

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...

The Space Advocate Newsletter, April 2026

Artemis II and the return of lunar spaceflight

planetary.org

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

NASA selects Falcon Heavy to launch ESA Mars rover mission despite budget threat

NASA has selected SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy to launch a European Mars rover, support for which the agency is once again proposing to cancel.

spacenews.com

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?

NASA has given approval for the Rosalind Franklin Support and Augmentation (ROSA) project to begin implementation. This is the addl support NASA is providing to ESA to get the ExoMars Rosalind Franklin rover w/drill to Mars. science.nasa.gov/blogs/mars-r...

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

Put science back in the driver’s seat

Put science back in the driver’s seat

spacenews.com

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

NASA science faces 'very serious threat' from new White House budget, experts say

"This is the least transparent NASA budget request I've ever seen — and I've literally looked through every single one since 1960."

space.com

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...

Save NASA Science Action Hub

Updates and actions on the proposed cuts to NASA science in FY 2027.

planetary.org

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...

President’s Budget

Access the official and previous years’ budgets of the U.S. Government, including the President’s budget proposals and other related publications.

whitehouse.gov

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

More than 100 members of Congress call for renewed investment in NASA…

Bipartisan House letter led by the Planetary Science Caucus reinforces the breadth of congressional support for NASA's Science Mission Directorate

planetary.org

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

Going back to the moon | The TechTank Podcast | Brookings

On this episode of TechTank, co-host Darrell West is joined by Casey Dreier to discuss the upcoming Artemis II mission and previous efforts to return to the moon.

brookings.edu