Rep. John Culberson (R-Texas) and Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.). Credit: SpaceNews/Kate Patterson (left), Adam Schiff

Riding on a wave of voter discontent, the Republican Party swept the U.S. midterm elections and recaptured control of the Senate, likely creating a new arena of political conflict between Congress and the White House. But buried within this landscape of conflict lies a wellspring of bipartisan potential. The Obama administration has merely to take the first step, but if it does, the fiscal year 2016 budget request could ignite a new bipartisan era of planetary exploration.

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Casey Dreier is director of advocacy for the Planetary Society.