Podcasts Science Astronomy Planetary Radio Space Policy Edition #3: Yoking Europa Missions to the SLS, Cost of the Next Mars Rover Rises, and the Long-Awaited Return of Plutonium-238

Space Policy Edition #3: Yoking Europa Missions to the SLS, Cost of the Next Mars Rover Rises, and the Long-Awaited Return of Plutonium-238

Published: Aug. 5, 2016, 5 a.m.

In our third episode, we debate the risks and rewards of tying the future of a Europa mission to the fate of NASA's massive Space Launch System rocket. Also, NASA just announced that the next Mars rover will cost $2.4 billion\u2014$900 million more than initially thought. But the mission is not considered over budget. Why not? Lastly, the U.S. just generated 50 grams of Plutonium-238, the largest amount in nearly thirty years. We celebrate the successful effort to create this critically important, though highly toxic, power source for deep space spacecraft.