M. G. Lords Astro Turf this week on planetary radio.

Hi everyone, welcome back to Public Radio's travel show that takes you to the final frontier.

I'm Matt Kaplan. Author M. G. Lord joins us. Her new book,

Astro Turf, is an intensely personal reflection on the history and culture of rocket science in America, most specifically at the

Jet Propulsion Lab.

Later today on what's up, Bruce Betts will unveil yet another space trivia quiz and hand a planetary radio t-shirt to our latest

winner. Here's a handful of headlines from around the galaxy. Though its sister ship

Mars Express has been a glorious success in orbit around the red planet.

The little British Beagle II Lander was never heard from.

A just unsealed report says the project was so cash-strapped it should have been canceled years ago.

There's a detailed write-up at planetary.org, where you can also get the latest on the Mars Exploration Rovers.

At the moment, Spirit is enjoying the Vista from atop the Cumberland Ridge.

Meanwhile, Opportunity has been putting the pedal to the medal. It set a new Martian land speed record a few days ago when it covered nearly 200 meters or

600 feet in just one day.

Eat red dust, sojener.

Maybe it wasn't a prehistoric deep impact that wiped out the dinosaurs, but a big cloud

of dust, interstellar dust.

That's the subject of two just published research papers.

One hypothesizes a cloud so thick it blocked the sun,

ushering in an ice age.

The other looks at the possibility of a less dense cloud

that was still able to strip away Earth's protective

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