( CNN ) -- Years before Bill Nye became the Science Guy , he was a mechanical engineering student at Cornell University , where he took a course with astronomer Carl Sagan . Sagan , who was instrumental in the planning of NASA missions to other planets and became widely known for his research , writing and public television series , was one of the founders of the Planetary Society . And his student dutifully signed up to become a member . `` I 've been a member for over 30 years . And now I 'm the head guy . It 's quite odd , '' a surprised-sounding Nye told CNN in an interview in March at the TED2012 conference in Long Beach , California . So today , the bow-tied , jauntily professorial Nye has a new role aside from his television work as a popularizer of science : As the society 's chief executive , he 's become a leading voice against the Obama administration 's proposed $ 300 million cut in NASA 's planetary exploration budget . And it 's a subject about which he 's passionate . Remembering retired NASA astronaut , Alan Poindexter . `` This is a deep , deep concern . All the budgets are being cut . We gotcha , budgets are being cut , budgets are being pulled back , yes , yes , all good , '' he says , acknowledging the pressure to cut spending . `` But investment in space stimulates society , it stimulates it economically , it stimulates it intellectually , and it gives us all passion . Everyone , red state , blue state , everyone supports space exploration . So I understand the budget has got to be cut , but something has gone a little bit wrong . '' Nye says the planetary exploration budget , facing a reduction of 21 % from this fiscal year 's budget , is taking a deeper cut than other parts of NASA . `` This would n't matter . except it 's not a faucet . It 's not a spigot you can turn off and on . You stop planetary exploration , those people who do that extraordinary work are going to have to go do something else . '' His worry is that the U.S. is in danger of losing its unmatched scientific expertise to plan and execute missions to other planets . `` To try to really land a spacecraft really on another world is really difficult , and if we lose that ability , it 's going to be heartbreaking , '' says Nye , who adds that it could take decades to recoup . Nye makes another argument for investing in exploring the solar system . He says there are two kinds of natural disasters that can be prevented : One is climate change , and the other is the Earth getting hit by an asteroid . Telescope aims to head off asteroids ' impact on Earth . `` If the Earth gets hit by an asteroid , it 's game over . It 's control-alt-delete for civilization . '' Nye says he figures `` sea jellies , squid , cockroaches will be fine , '' but an asteroid could wipe out humankind . `` So what we want to do is to develop the capability to redirect , to deflect an asteroid , ever so slightly . If you 're going to do that , you 've got to have space exploration . And sooner or later , you 're going to want to send people out there to look around . It 's just our nature , and one day it would be exciting to send people to Mars . '' NASA is in the midst of active exploration of Mars . In August , Curiosity , the Mars Science Laboratory rover , is due to land on the planet 's surface . David Weaver , NASA 's associate administrator for communications , says the rover is the `` Hubble of Mars missions '' and `` the most sophisticated scientific system ever sent to another planet . '' Space junk diplomacy . Its mission is to determine whether the red planet could have ever hosted life . Weaver said in June that the agency is reformulating its Mars strategy in light of budget constraints and scientific priorities and `` the president 's challenge of sending humans to Mars in the 2030s . '' Nye says his concern is n't about current missions but about whether the next series of missions and the ones beyond that will have enough funds to proceed . Taking a larger view , Nye says there are two questions everyone should ask themselves at some time in their lives : `` Where did we come from ? And are we alone ? '' `` To seek the real answers to those questions , you have to explore space , and if you stop exploring , if you say , ' I do n't care ; I 'm not going to look up and out and beyond the horizon , ' what does that say about you ? It 's not good , '' Nye said . `` If we found life on Mars , or evidence of life on Mars , it would change the way everybody thinks about everything . It would change the way you think about your place in space . ''
Bill Nye , the Science Guy on TV , also heads Planetary Society . Comment: Nye says the U.S. has unmatched expertise in landing spacecraft on other planets . If America loses its edge , it could take decades to rebuild , Nye says .