NASA's InSight mission landed in 2018 and completed its primary mission two years later. From there it pursued an extended mission, gathering as much scientific data as it could before ultimately ending late last year as dust on the solar panels starved it of energy. Dr. Bruce Banerdt, the Principal Investigator for the mission, joins Jake to talk …

After seven years of exploring the solar system, Jake is ready to move on to new projects. Hear his final thoughts on WeMartians. Stay in Touch Patreon (https://www.wemartians.com/support) WeMartians Shop (shop.wemartians.com) Mailing List (https://wemartians.com/signup) Twitter (@we_martians) Jake’s Twitter (@JakeOnOrbit) Off-Nominal YouTube Marst…

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory has a storied history of exploration, but if you go back far enough the stories get pretty wild. Its early days feature a gutsy team of rocket engineers blowing up engines in the hills around Pasadena while moonlighting as communists and occultists. This "Suicide Squad" is featured in a new podcast series by MG Lord…

Last year saw a successful Artemis 1 flight, the launch of multiple lunar robotic missions, and the continued development of the CLPS program. What's ahead for 2023? Will it continue this string of exciting progress in lunar exploration? Friends of the show and space reporters Brendan Byrne and Emilee Speck join Jake to talk it through. Follow Bren…

The Artemis I Orion capsule splashed down in the Pacific this week, a triumphant finale to a mission that faced so many challenges getting to launch. With Artemis I behind us, what's ahead for the Artemis program and the road to a lunar landing? Ars Technica journalist Eric Berger joins Jake to talk about the future of the program and the challenge…

Juno has been exploring the Jupiter system since 2016, and has taught us a lot about the clouds, the magnetosphere, and the origin of the largest planet in our solar system. Now in its extended mission, it's exploring the Jovian moons in a series of flybys, including a recent pass by Europa. The mission's PI Scott Bolton joins Jake to talk about th…

Voyagers 1 and 2 have been exploring our solar system for over 45 years now. Despite the age of their instruments and computers and power source, they continue to deliver scientific data and contribute to present day discovery. Dr. Linda Spilker, who worked on Voyager since its launch, joins Jake to talk about its value today and its legacy tomorro…

The clouds of Venus have long been a dream of humans to explore, and at last a mission concept called Phantom could be here to do it! But the road ahead for this idea is neither straight nor easy. Paul Byrne joins Jake to talk about how it will help us understand the solar system, and why it might not even get the chance to compete for a spot. We t…

NASA's SLS rocket has been in development for over a decade and at last was ready to take off from the Space Coast. But leaks and other technical problems thwarted it on its first attempts. Jake travelled to Florida to see it and reports on how it went, and how weaknesses in the program's architecture don't end at lift off. We talk the Space Launch…

The Commercial Lunar Payload Services Program (CLPS) began in 2018 with the promise of bootstrapping a new, inexpensive lunar delivery economy; it was to be a pathway for lunar science to the Moon's surface. Since then, a handful of companies have been racing to get the first launches off, but it hasn't all been smooth sailing. Main Engine Cut Off'…

Curiosity landed on Mars ten years ago and has been exploring Gale Crater ever since. After achieving its primary mission, it's embarked on a series of extended missions to continue to unravel mysteries in the rocks. Deputy Project Scientist for the mission Abigail Fraeman joins Jake to talk about her favourite moments and to discuss what comes nex…

BepiColombo, a joint mission between ESA and JAXA, is on a long meandering journey to Mercury. Last month, it made its 2nd of six flybys of the innermost planet, spiralling its trajectory down to a place where it can enter orbit. Lina Hadid, a space plasma physicist from the Laboratoire de Physique des Plasma in Paris, joins Jake to talk about the …

For two decades, the modern Mars program has been sending spacecraft almost every launch window to Mars, and we have Scott Hubbard to thank for much of that. As the first director of the Mars Program, he instituted much of the paradigm we have today. But with Mars Sample Return on the horizon, Scott joins Jake to talk about how things are changing …