Red Planet Live

Dr. Robert Zubrin returns to Red Planet Live with major updates from the Mars Society and unfiltered insight into the future of space exploration. In this wide-ranging conversation, Zubrin shares his candid perspective on incoming NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman and raises serious concerns about what he describes as an ongoing assault on science—examining the implications for cornerstone missions including Hubble, the James Webb Space Telescope, Voyager, and more.
The discussion also explores the state of Mars analog research, with updates on Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station, the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS), and the newly established HOPE analog station in Ladakh, India. Zubrin closes by previewing the 2026 International Mars Society Convention, returning to USC in Los Angeles.
Bold ideas, hard truths, and a relentless focus on the road to Mars. Onto Mars! 🚀

🎙️ Exclusive ESCAPADE Mission Update with Rocket Lab’s Morgan Connaughton
In this episode, we sit down with Morgan Connaughton, Rocket Lab’s Vice President of Communications, for a wide-ranging and inspiring conversation about storytelling in spaceflight—and she brought us an EXCLUSIVE update straight from the ESCAPADE mission to Mars.
Morgan shares the behind-the-scenes excitement as Rocket Lab successfully completed a brand-new 13-second trajectory correction burn on the Blue spacecraft, with Gold scheduled for December 8. She walks us through how her team plans communications years in advance, and how you can be intimately involved in the success of a mission without ever touching a piece of hardware.
We explore Rocket Lab’s famously lean comms team—just seven people creating videos, graphics, mission names, PR, and social content with the same intensity as the engineers designing the rockets. Morgan also talks about the joy and chaos of going public, the challenge of maintaining culture across 3,000+ employees, and the values that guide Rocket Lab’s approach: fierce efficiency and doing the impossible.
She reflects on the art of mission storytelling, the importance of visuals in space history (including why the Moon landing broadcast still matters), and the rise of aspiring rocket photographers in New Zealand capturing Electron’s launches.
We also dive into fan-favorite topics like:
How her team comes up with Rocket Lab’s legendary mission names

The adrenaline of the helicopter catch attempt

ESCAPADE’s twin spacecraft, Blue and Gold, and their journey to study Mars’ magnetosphere

Morgan’s path is a testament to creating opportunity through passion, vision, and storytelling.
This is one of our most inspiring episodes yet—and Rocket Lab’s ESCAPADE exclusive makes it one for the history books.

Morgan Connaughton's LinkedIN:
https://nz.linkedin.com/in/morgan-connaughton-4a211835
Rocket Lab
https://rocketlabcorp.com/
Escapade
https://science.nasa.gov/mission/escapade/

Exploring New Worlds: Dr. Sara Seager on Venus, Exoplanets, and Life Among the Clouds
In this episode of Red Planet Live, MIT astrophysicist Dr. Sara Seager takes us on a breathtaking journey through the frontiers of planetary science—from the acid clouds of Venus to the icy oceans of Enceladus, and even the methane lakes of Titan.
Dr. Seager reveals why Venus, often overlooked, is one of the most thrilling destinations for future missions. She discusses the possibility of life within its sulfuric acid clouds, where stable biomolecules could persist despite the harsh chemistry. Her team’s latest findings continue to show a phosphine signal with 4.8-sigma confidence, renewing excitement about potential biological activity in our neighboring planet’s skies.
We also explore the power of small but mighty missions, including Rocket Lab’s upcoming Venus probe and Asteria, the CubeSat that proved precision astronomy can thrive on a shoestring budget. Dr. Seager shares her insights on TESS, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, which at its peak was discovering up to 100 planet candidates a month—a quiet revolution in the search for other worlds.
From Sub-Neptune exoplanets like K2-18b, showing signs of life with dimethyl sulfide in its hydrogen-rich atmosphere, to her visionary idea of Starshade, a large space telescope, Dr. Seager paints a hopeful picture of humanity’s search for life beyond Earth.
We also touch on her Seager Equation—a parallel to the Drake Equation—and her book The Smallest Lights in the Universe, which reminds us that discovery is as much about human connection as it is about science.
Join us as we uncover why the most “underdog” worlds—and missions—often hold the brightest potential for discovering life in the cosmos.

Dr. Sara Seager's Links:
https://www.saraseager.com/professionalbiography
Venus :  https://www.morningstarmissions.space/

https://www.projectstarshade.com/
Sara's memoir The Smallest Lights in the Universe: A Memoir
https://www.amazon.com/Smallest-Lights-Universe-Memoir/dp/0525576258

🎙 Ashton Zeth sits down with James Burk, Executive Director of the Mars Society, to share updates on the newest analog station HOPE in Ladakh, India (with ISRO as partners), record participation at MDRS, plans for the upcoming 2025 Mars Society Convention at USC, the launch of the new Mars Society Research Journal, and exciting developments from the Mars Technology Institute.
🌍 Highlights:
Massive participation at MDRS this season

Launch of the HOPE Analog in Ladakh

Mars Society Convention 2025 — October 9–11 at USC (don’t miss Rob Manning at the Friday Night Banquet!)

Updates from the Mars Technology Institute and new collaborations like Purdue University

Discussing what's next in Mars exploration

📅 Preliminary Convention Schedule (subject to change): View Here

---Links --
Journal of Space Analog Research
https://jsar.space
HOPE analog Announcement:
https://www.marssociety.org/news/2025/09/16/indias-first-crewed-mars-analog-launches-with-protoplanet-isro-the-mars-society/
The Mars Society Convention 2025
https://www.marssocietyconference.org
Sponsor the upcoming convention in October: https://www.marssocietyconference.org/sponsors
Four Sponsorship Levels:
Gold
Silver 
Bronze
Logo Only!

Flashline Analog in the Arctic
https://fmars.marssociety.org/

In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Bhavya Lal, space policy leader, MIT alum, PhD from George Washington University, and recipient of NASA’s Distinguished Service Medal. After serving in senior leadership at NASA, Dr. Lal returned to RAND: School of Policy to continue shaping the conversation on national space strategy.
Our discussion spans some of the most urgent issues in space today: the growing orbital debris problem, the need for a shared global dataset, and the tension between America’s resources and ambitions in space. She emphasizes why strategic coherence and bipartisan commitment are essential for credibility and long-term success.
We also talk about the power of books to shape perspective, highlighting George R. Stewart’s Earth Abides — a life-changing novel that offers an “anti-history” of collapse and resilience, and what it teaches us about humanity’s fragile place on the cosmic shore.