January marks 20 years since NASA’s twin Mars rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, touched down on the surface of the red planet. Matt Golombek, project scientist for the Mars Exploration Rover Project, joins Planetary Radio to celebrate. But first, the countdown to the next great American total solar eclipse continues. Kate Howells, The Planetary Society’s public education specialist and Canadian space policy adviser, explains why this periodic alignment of our Earth, Moon, and Sun is more rare on the scale of the Universe than you might think. Stick around for What’s Up with Bruce Betts, our chief scientist, as we honor the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter and the Mars missions that made it possible.
Discover more at: https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/2024-20th-anniversary-spirit-and-opportunity
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The Space Race: Honoring the first African-American space explorers
Exploring solar eclipses through time
Space Policy Edition: Space isn’t black — it’s grey
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Dragonfly soars to final design phase
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The mystery of the largest marsquake ever recorded
Space Policy Edition: Was the Space Shuttle a policy failure?
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Deep Sky: A JWST IMAX experience
NASA’s STEM program looks to the Moon
A City on Mars
Space Policy Edition: What went wrong with Mars Sample Return
Psyche and Eclipse Company blast off
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