Take action to support science and exploration at NASA!

A NASA funding bill is coming to a vote in the Senate. The Senate may consider an amendment by Senators Barbara Mikulski (D-Maryland) and Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) to add $1 billion to NASA's budget, allowing for full support of missions of science and exploration. We have a system set up for U.S. residents to send emails to your senators in support of (or, I suppose, if you must, to denounce, it's a free country after all) the increased funding for NASA. Write your senators right away to support NASA funding!

Whenever I write about one of these drives I get a few emails from foreign nationals who want to know how to add their voices. Sorry, when it comes to the NASA budget, it is (appropriately) American voters only who will be listened to by American senators. I would ask you instead to write letters to your own representatives in the countries in which you pay taxes to advocate that your tax dollars go to space exploration. If you happen to know of a critical budget decision or international meeting taking place in a country other than the U.S., please do send me an email and I will post a message here alerting your countrymen and -women to write their representatives.

In addition to this new political action campaign, there's a variety of other new stuff on the website. There's a new Mars trivia question, for starters. This week's Planetary Radio features an interview with Homer Hickam, the author of Rocket Boys. And A. J. S. Rayl has checked in with her monthly Mars Exploration Rover update, detailing Spirit's exploration of Home Plate and Opportunity's long-awaited entry into Victoria crater.