NASA’s Perseverance rover has driven farther than any other vehicle on another world. On Oct. 11, 2026, its odometer reached 45.22 kilometers (28.10 miles), passing the record Opportunity spent about 15 years setting. Perseverance did it in about five and a half years. To celebrate, we’re revisiting previous Planetary Radio host Mat Kaplan’s 2021 conversation with Vandi Verma, chief engineer of robotic operations for Perseverance at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. She explains AutoNav, the self-driving system that has carried the rover more than 90% of the way, and the careful work of collecting rock samples on Mars. Host Sarah Al-Ahmed catches us up on what’s happened since and marks 25 years of Mars Odyssey. Then stick around for a vintage What’s Up with Mat and Chief Scientist Bruce Betts.

Discover more at: https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/2026-perseverance-distance-record

NASA&rsquo;s Perseverance rover has driven farther than any other vehicle on another world. On Oct. 11, 2026, its odometer reached 45.22 kilometers (28.10 miles), passing the record Opportunity spent about 15 years setting. Perseverance did it in about five and a half years. To celebrate, we&rsquo;re revisiting previous Planetary Radio host Mat Kaplan&rsquo;s 2021 conversation with Vandi Verma, chief engineer of robotic operations for Perseverance at NASA&rsquo;s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. She explains AutoNav, the self-driving system that has carried the rover more than 90% of the way, and the careful work of collecting rock samples on Mars. Host Sarah Al-Ahmed catches us up on what&rsquo;s happened since and marks 25 years of Mars Odyssey. Then stick around for a vintage What&rsquo;s Up with Mat and Chief Scientist Bruce Betts.
Discover more at:<a href="https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/2026-perseverance-distance-record"> https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/2026-perseverance-distance-record</a>

Planetary Radio brings you the human adventure across our Solar System and beyond. We visit each week with the scientists, engineers, leaders, advocates, and astronauts who are taking us across the final frontier. Regular features raise your space IQ while they put a smile on your face. Join host Sarah Al-Ahmed and Planetary Society colleagues including Bill Nye the Science Guy and Bruce Betts as they dive deep into space science and exploration. The monthly Space Policy Edition takes you inside the DC beltway where the future of the US space program hangs in the balance. Visit planetary.org/radio for an episode guide and much more.

Planetary Radio brings you the human adventure across our Solar System and beyond. We visit each week with the scientists, engineers, leaders, advocates, and astronauts who are taking us across the final frontier. Regular features raise your space IQ while they put a smile on your face. Join host Sarah Al-Ahmed and Planetary Society colleagues including Bill Nye the Science Guy and Bruce Betts as they dive deep into space science and exploration. The monthly Space Policy Edition takes you inside the DC beltway where the future of the US space program hangs in the balance. Visit planetary.org/radio for an episode guide and much more.

Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and Science

Planetary Radio brings you the human adventure across our solar system and beyond. We visit each week with the scientists, engineers, leaders, advocates, and astronauts taking us across the final frontier. Regular features raise your space IQ while they put a smile on your face. Join host Sarah Al-Ahmed and Planetary Society colleagues including Bill Nye, the Science Guy, and Bruce Betts, chief scientist for The Planetary Society, as they dive deep into the latest space news. The monthly Space Policy Edition takes you inside the DC beltway with Casey Dreier and Jack Kiraly to discuss the politics of space exploration in the US and advocacy actions you can take to support the missions that matter. Visit planetary.org/radio for the space trivia contest, an episode guide, and much more.

Planetary Radio brings you the human adventure across our solar system and beyond. We visit each week with the scientists, engineers, leaders, advocates, and astronauts taking us across the final frontier. Regular features raise your space IQ while they put a smile on your face. Join host Sarah Al-Ahmed and Planetary Society colleagues including Bill Nye, the Science Guy, and Bruce Betts, chief scientist for The Planetary Society, as they dive deep into the latest space news. The monthly Space Policy Edition takes you inside the DC beltway with Casey Dreier and Jack Kiraly to discuss the politics of space exploration in the US and advocacy actions you can take to support the missions that matter. Visit planetary.org/radio for the space trivia contest, an episode guide, and much more.

Perseverance just set the record for the most distance driven on another world. We revisit Mat Kaplan’s 2021 conversation with Vandi Verma, JPL principal engineer and chief engineer of robotic operations for Perseverance, about how the rover drives itself across Mars. 

How Perseverance drove itself into the record books

Every two years, The Planetary Society funds research through our STEP Grants (Science and Technology Empowered by the Public). This year, all three winning projects focus on small bodies in our Solar System, like asteroids and trans-Neptunian objects. Each one tackles a different piece of the same challenge: As we discover more and more small bodies, how do we characterize them, and how do we make sure the whole community can build on what we learn? Nick Moskovitz and his team at Lowell Observatory, including instrumentation lead Ryan Hamilton and instrument designer Katie Breeland-Newcomb, are building a low-cost, replicable polarimeter to break through the size ambiguity that makes it hard to tell a small, bright asteroid from a large, dark one. Miguel Alarcón of Light Bridges is expanding AsteroidDB, a database of over 15 million photometric measurements, so researchers and citizen scientists can pool their data. And Mike Kretlow of the German Center for Astrophysics is scaling up CORA, his stellar occultation prediction and archive platform, to handle the tens of thousands of new discoveries expected from the Vera Rubin Observatory. Plus, Bruce Betts joins for What’s Up and to look at the origins of the STEP Grant program. 

Discover more at: https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/2026-step-grant-winners

Every two years, The Planetary Society funds research through our STEP Grants (Science and Technology Empowered by the Public). This year, all three winning projects focus on small bodies in our Solar System, like asteroids and trans-Neptunian objects. Each one tackles a different piece of the same challenge: As we discover more and more small bodies, how do we characterize them, and how do we make sure the whole community can build on what we learn? Nick Moskovitz and his team at Lowell Observatory, including instrumentation lead Ryan Hamilton and instrument designer Katie Breeland-Newcomb, are building a low-cost, replicable polarimeter to break through the size ambiguity that makes it hard to tell a small, bright asteroid from a large, dark one. Miguel Alarc&oacute;n of Light Bridges is expanding AsteroidDB, a database of over 15 million photometric measurements, so researchers and citizen scientists can pool their data. And Mike Kretlow of the German Center for Astrophysics is scaling up CORA, his stellar occultation prediction and archive platform, to handle the tens of thousands of new discoveries expected from the Vera Rubin Observatory. Plus, Bruce Betts joins for What&rsquo;s Up and to look at the origins of the STEP Grant program.&nbsp;
Discover more at:<a href="https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/2026-step-grant-winners"> https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/2026-step-grant-winners</a>

The Planetary Society’s 2026 STEP Grant winners are building tools to characterize asteroids and trans-Neptunian objects: a replicable polarimeter, a public photometry database, and an occultation prediction platform scaled for the Rubin era. 

Meet the Winners of The Planetary Society’s 2026 STEP Grants

Leroy Chiao was one of the youngest astronauts ever selected. He would spend 229 days in low-Earth orbit, command the International Space Station, and perform three spacewalks. His book, “Dinner with an Astronaut,” chronicles his journey from Chinese American kid born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to the literal heights of space achievement. Leroy also shares his thoughts about topics as diverse as engineering, Chinese food, and UFOs/UAPs in this entertaining conversation with The Planetary Society’s Mat Kaplan.

Discover more at: https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/book-club-leroy-chiao

Leroy Chiao was one of the youngest astronauts ever selected. He would spend 229 days in low-Earth orbit, command the International Space Station, and perform three spacewalks. His book, &ldquo;Dinner with an Astronaut,&rdquo; chronicles his journey from Chinese American kid born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to the literal heights of space achievement. Leroy also shares his thoughts about topics as diverse as engineering, Chinese food, and UFOs/UAPs in this entertaining conversation with The Planetary Society&rsquo;s Mat Kaplan.
Discover more at:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/book-club-leroy-chiao">https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/book-club-leroy-chiao</a>

Former astronaut Leroy Chiao is our guest for a conversation about his book, “Dinner With an Astronaut,” and a lifetime of accomplishments on and off the planet.

Book Club Edition: Dinner With an Astronaut by Leroy Chiao

Japan’s Martian Moons eXploration mission, MMX, is about to set out for Phobos and Deimos, the two small moons of Mars. If all goes well, it will bring the first-ever sample from the Martian system back to Earth. Asa Stahl, public outreach astronomer at The Planetary Society, explains why these strange little moons are still such a mystery and what a piece of Phobos could reveal. Then Kris Zacny, vice president and senior research scientist at Honeybee Robotics, tells the story of PlanetVac, a sampler that Planetary Society members helped get off the ground more than a decade ago. From its first tests in a vacuum chamber to the surface of the Moon aboard Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost lander, PlanetVac has come a long way, and its descendant is now headed for Phobos. Plus, Bruce Betts, chief scientist at The Planetary Society, joins us in What’s Up.

Discover more at: https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/2026-mmx-planetvac

Japan&rsquo;s Martian Moons eXploration mission, MMX, is about to set out for Phobos and Deimos, the two small moons of Mars. If all goes well, it will bring the first-ever sample from the Martian system back to Earth. Asa Stahl, public outreach astronomer at The Planetary Society, explains why these strange little moons are still such a mystery and what a piece of Phobos could reveal. Then Kris Zacny, vice president and senior research scientist at Honeybee Robotics, tells the story of PlanetVac, a sampler that Planetary Society members helped get off the ground more than a decade ago. From its first tests in a vacuum chamber to the surface of the Moon aboard Firefly Aerospace&rsquo;s Blue Ghost lander, PlanetVac has come a long way, and its descendant is now headed for Phobos. Plus, Bruce Betts, chief scientist at The Planetary Society, joins us in What&rsquo;s Up.
Discover more at: <a href="https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/2026-mmx-planetvac">https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/2026-mmx-planetvac</a>

Japan’s MMX mission is about to launch for the moons of Mars, carrying a sampler with deep Planetary Society roots. Asa Stahl, public outreach astronomer at The Planetary Society, and Kris Zacny, vice president and senior research scientist at Honeybee Robotics, tell the story.

How Perseverance drove itself into the record books

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