Casey Dreier

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...

Save NASA Science coalition issues statement following bipartisan… Members of the Save NASA Science campaign — a national coalition of academic, commercial, nonprofit, labor, and professional space science organizations —…

Statement on the passage of HR 6938, which includes funding for NASA in FY 2026:

www.planetary.org/press-releas...

Yes, those taking the DRP were still considered employed through Jan 1st (usually), some later. I believe the March update should include the majority of the DRP departures.

Space Policy Edition: Change for the Sake of Disruption at NASA Podcast Episode · Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and Science · 02/01/2026 · 1h 11m

Or listen on Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/lv/podcast/s...

Space Policy Edition: Change for the Sake of Disruption at NASA After DOGE cuts, mass staff departures, and a blink-and-you-missed-it pivot to Mars, how much did NASA actually change in 2025? Space Policy Online…

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...

Planetary Society Statement on the Senate's Confirmation of Jared… The Planetary Society, the world’s largest independent space interest organization, issued a statement following the U.S. Senate vote to confirm Jared…

www.planetary.org/press-releas...

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/

NASA Cancellations Tracking Dashboard Interactive dashboard tracking NASA grants and contracts terminated by the second Trump Administration. View impacted districts, recipients, and contract details.

It inspired me to refresh the UI of the cancellations dashboard, still maintained with weekly data updates: dashboards.planetary.org/cancellations/

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...

Statement on the re-nomination of Jared Isaacman for NASA… Members of the Save NASA Science campaign extend sincere congratulations to Jared Isaacman on his nomination to be NASA Administrator.

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

Space Policy Edition: Should a (potential) biosignature revive Mars… In 1996, a controversial claim of fossilized life in a Martian meteorite ignited a golden age of Mars exploration. Nearly 30 years later, a potential…

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...

YouTube video by StarTalk Bill Nye Takes Over the Show!

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?...

GitHub - planetary-society/usaspending-orm: An object-relational mapper library to simplify access to the USASpending API An object-relational mapper library to simplify access to the USASpending API - planetary-society/usaspending-orm

Here is the link to the GitHub repository: github.com/planetary-so...

We've been using this library internally at The Planetary Society for our budgetary data analysis, NASA contracts tracking, spending charts, and economic impact modeling for months now. I'm excited pleased to share it more widely, hoping it will inspire others to engage with this unique dataset.

This library provides a straightforward interface inspired by ActiveRecord/SQLAlchemy, built-in caching and rate limiting, proper data typing, and a bevy of helper methods to reduce friction and facilitate rapid development and data acquisition.

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:

YouTube video by Nayeema Raza Wasting BILLIONS on Space? Nope says this Science Geek

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...

How to Save NASA Science: A retrospective on the second 2025 Day of… The October 2025 Save NASA Science Day of Action was our largest-ever advocacy event. Here's why it mattered.

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...

300 space advocates rally in D.C. to Save NASA Science The Save NASA Science Day of Action drew nearly 300 people from across the United States to Washington, D.C., to promote space science and exploration.

An initial recap of a wildly successful joint Day of Action:

www.planetary.org/articles/sav...

You can help: planetary.org/dayofaction

Got to talk about our joint efforts to #SaveNASAScience during today’s Day of Action on ABC News:

The Day of Action to Save NASA Science Take action with us to help reject cuts that threaten NASA's science and exploration programs.

Today is our Save NASA Science Day of Action! You can take actions online to support the nearly 300 registered participants on the ground with me here in the D.C.

planetary.org/dayofaction

The government may be shut down, but that won't stop our Save NASA Science Day of Action. Nearly 300 advocates are joining me here in D.C. on Monday to #SaveNASAScience

More: planetary.org/dayofaction