Rosalind Franklin and the search for life on Mars

After more than two decades, the European Space Agency's Rosalind Franklin rover finally has a path to the launchpad. This week, ExoMars Project Scientist Jorge Vago joins Planetary Radio to talk about what makes this mission like nothing we've sent to Mars before: a drill capable of reaching 2 meters beneath the surface, where organic molecules may have been shielded from radiation for billions of years. We dig into how the rover will scout its drilling sites, how its onboard laboratory will analyze samples for signs of life, and why the chirality of any organic molecules it finds could be one of the most telling clues of all.  Then stick around for What's Up with Bruce Betts, our chief scientist, where we talk about the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter, the spacecraft already at Mars that will serve as Rosalind Franklin's lifeline back to Earth. Discover more at: https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/2026-rosalind-franklinSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

China’s Tianwen-2 spacecraft has successfully arrived at Kamoʻoalewa—a tiny, enigmatic "quasi-satellite" that dances along with Earth on its trek around the Sun. A fascinating scientific debate is heating up over this object's true identity: is it a standard, heavily space-weathered asteroid, or is it a long-lost chunk of our own Moon, violently blasted into space by an ancient impact? Tianwen-2 is on a mission to solve this cosmic identity crisis, and it is happening right now. This week, we sit down with Andrew Jones, a contributing editor for The Planetary Society and a freelance space journalist covering China's rapidly accelerating lunar and planetary exploration programs. He takes us inside the mission to reveal how Tianwen-2 will attempt to hover and snatch samples from this mysterious world, what those pieces could teach us about our Solar System's history, and where China’s planetary ambitions are targeting next. Then, Chief Scientist Bruce Betts joins us for What’s Up to look ahead at asteroid missions and moments on the horizon through the end of this decade, from a Hayabusa2 flyby of asteroid Torifune next month to the 2029 close approach of asteroid Apophis. Discover more at: https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/2026-tianwen-2See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This outstanding novella, “To Be Taught, If Fortunate” by award-winning science fiction author Becky Chambers, is a passionate argument for the human exploration of space and the wonders we will find there. Kirkus Reviews calls it, “An extraordinary picture of humanity among the stars.” Join host Mat Kaplan for a conversation with Becky in which her personal enthusiasm for space science matches that of her four wandering explorers. The very alien lifeforms they discover amplify their own, very human failings and triumphs. Questions submitted by The Planetary Society’s members were a valuable contribution to this live event presented in our member community. Discover more at: https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/book-club-becky-chambersSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Saturn's moon Titan is one of the most Earth-like worlds in our Solar System, with a dense nitrogen atmosphere, weather cycles, methane rivers, and vast organic dune fields. It also happens to be the perfect place to fly a drone. NASA's Dragonfly mission is doing exactly that, sending a car-sized, nuclear-powered rotorcraft to explore Titan's surface starting in 2034. With just two years until launch, the team is deep in the work of making it happen. This week, we're joined by two members of the Dragonfly team from the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory. Felipe Ruiz is the mission's lead rotor engineer and mechanical implementation lead, responsible for designing the eight-rotor system that will carry Dragonfly across Titan's skies. Zibi Turtle is the mission's principal investigator, a planetary scientist whose career has spanned missions from Galileo to Cassini to Europa Clipper. Together, they walk us through the engineering challenges of flying a thousand-kilogram rotorcraft in an alien atmosphere, how the team is testing and validating the design here on Earth, and what the spacecraft's instruments will look for on Titan's surface. Then Bruce Betts, our chief scientist, joins us for What's Up, where we pay tribute to the Ingenuity Mars helicopter and the legacy of the first powered, controlled flight on another world. Discover more at: https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/2026-engineering-of-dragonflySee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Between budget battles, proposed grant rule changes, and an exploding Blue Origin rocket, there's a lot to cover in U.S. space policy right now. Jack Kiraly, The Planetary Society's director of government relations, joins host Sarah Al-Ahmed to walk through a cascade of developments affecting NASA and the broader U.S. science community, including a proposed rule change at the Office of Management and Budget that would hand control of federal research grant decisions to political appointees, bypassing the peer review process that has underpinned U.S. science for decades. Kiraly also discusses a major reorganization at NASA, a new competition for the management of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the fallout from the New Glenn explosion, and what it means for the future of Artemis. Plus, in What's Up, the names of the Artemis III crew are revealed. Discover more at: https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/2026-us-space-science-in-fluxSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The White House's Office of Management and Budget has released a sweeping 400-page proposed rule change that would fundamentally alter how the U.S. federal government manages grants, affecting everything from NASA research to biomedical science and community programs. In this episode, Casey Dreier is joined by Liz Ginexi, a former Program Officer at the U.S. National Institutes of Health, to break down what these changes would mean for American science. Among the most significant proposals: replacing merit-based peer review with partisan political review, allowing grants to be terminated at any time without justification, and restricting scientists' ability to publish their work and attend conferences. Together, Casey and Liz explain how a document dressed up in procedural language could centralize unprecedented control over U.S. scientific funding under a single White House office. Discover more at: https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/political-control-over-scientific-grantsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Colonel Eileen Collins was the first woman to pilot and command a Space Shuttle, and the person NASA trusted to lead the program back into space after the loss of Columbia. But her story is about so much more than the milestones. In this episode, Sarah Al-Ahmed sits down with Eileen Collins to discuss “Spacewoman,” a new documentary written and directed by Hannah Berryman, based on Collins' book “Through the Glass Ceiling to the Stars: The Story of the First American Woman to Command a Space Mission.” They talk about what drove her to keep pushing forward, the personal cost of pursuing an extraordinary career, and what it means to break barriers, not just for yourself, but for everyone who comes after you. Then, Bruce Betts, our Chief Scientist, joins us for What's Up to explore what distinguished pilots and commanders from mission specialists in the space shuttle era, and why that distinction was so critical to Eileen's path to the commander's seat. Discover more at: https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/2026-spacewomanSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Los Angeles Astronomical Society (LAAS) is one of the oldest and largest amateur astronomy clubs in the United States, and this year, it’s turning 100. To mark the occasion, the LAAS threw a centennial star party on the lawn of Griffith Observatory, featuring 100 telescopes, a dedication ceremony, and a community of passionate skywatchers who showed up rain and all. In this episode, we sit down with Laura-May Abron, vice president of the Los Angeles Astronomical Society and chair of its Centennial Committee, to discuss what it took to put together the event. We drop into the centennial dedication ceremony to hear from LAAS President Keith Armstrong and Griffith Observatory Director Ed Krupp. We also spend time with some of the remarkable members who make this community what it is, including LAAS historian Louis Chilton, who has been a member for over 60 years, research scientist and LAAS member Bryce Bolin, self-taught optician and telescope builder Jeff Schroeder, and Geo Somoza, volunteer at The Planetary Society and one of the people who has dedicated his life to showing others the sky. Plus, Bruce Betts joins us for What's Up and a look at what you can spot in the night sky in June. Discover more at: https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/2026-laas-centennial See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

NASA's Curiosity rover has been exploring Mars' Gale Crater for over a decade. A new analysis of samples collected there reveals something remarkable: more than 20 different organic molecules preserved in ancient rock, including the first detection of a nitrogen-bearing heterocycle on Mars, a type of molecule that's a precursor to compounds essential for life as we know it. While these molecules aren't evidence of life, they tell us that the chemical building blocks for life were present in ancient Martian environments. In this episode, we talk with Amy Williams, an astrobiologist and associate professor at the University of Florida, about what this discovery means for our understanding of Mars' habitability. Then, Planetary Society Chief Scientist Bruce Betts joins us for What's Up, where we compare the results to samples collected from asteroid Bennu. Discover more at: https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/2026-diverse-organics-gale-crater-marsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Author, poet, and science communicator Diane Ackerman is our guest. Her wonderful collection of poems, with one devoted to each of the worlds in our Solar System, was first published in 1976. Carl Sagan said she had produced, “...a stunning book of poetry in The Planets. The work is scientifically accurate and even a convenient introduction to modern ideas on the planets, but much more important, it is spectacularly good poetry, clear, lyrical, and soaring. . . One of the triumphs of Ackerman’s pastoral is the demonstration of how closely compatible planetary exploration and poetry, science and art really are.” “The Planets” is now available in a brand new edition, and is as sublime, entertaining, and enlightening as it was half a century ago. Discover more at: https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/book-club-diane-ackermanSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.