We are mere hours away from the House of Representatives voting to advance a bipartisan funding deal that funds NASA and NSF. The bill protects just about everything #SaveNASAScience has been fighting for.

Encourage your representative to vote YES ➡️ planetary.org/voteyes

But this is all for naught if Congress doesn't pass the bill. The House is set to vote Thursday, and Senate soon after. Upon the President's signature, this 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗴𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁 becomes law.

𝗔𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗼𝗹𝗱, 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗯𝘂𝘀 𝗯𝘂𝗱𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗶𝘁𝘂𝘁𝗲𝘀 𝗮 𝗻𝗲𝗮𝗿-𝘁𝗼𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗿𝗲𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗢𝗠𝗕'𝘀 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗰𝘂𝘁𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗡𝗔𝗦𝗔 𝗦𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲.

This huge news is a result of 30,000+ space advocates standing up to Save NASA Science. It's no wonder that this bill has vocal support from both Democratic and Republican Hill leaders.

📝 Instructs NASA to follow the House and Senate reports and the Joint Explanatory Statement when making funding decisions

This is key because the JES only has guidance for a few missions. I pored through these docs and came up with this chart showing programs and missions called out in each report.

Here's what's in the new budget deal for NASA:

🚀 $24.43B for NASA, 1.6% below enacted
🔬 $8.75B for NSF, 2.8% below
🪐 $7.25B for NASA Science, 1.1% cut from enacted
🏫 Flat funding ($143m) for the NASA STEM Office
🏗️ Halts the rapid closure of buildings at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

and...

The surface of Mars, seen Wednesday, 8 January 2025.

Thanksgiving 2024 on Mars.

The rover is giving thanks that at least it's not on the Moon.