We're welcoming a new generation of ground-based telescopes, this week on Planetary Radio.

I'm Sarah al-Ahmed of the Planetary Society, with more of the human adventure across our solar system and beyond.

This week, we're exploring the upcoming Giant Magellan Telescope. I speak with Rebecca Bernstein,

chief scientist for the Giant Magellan Telescope Organization, about how this cutting-edge

observatory could revolutionize our ability to study the universe around us and the search

for life beyond Earth. Then Casey Dreyer, our chief of space policy, returns to discuss his new

op-ed in space news. He'll give us an update on the White House's Mars plans and why political

sustainability may matter more than rocket science in this case. And as always, we'll close out the show with Bruce Betts, our chief scientist for what's up.

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Before we get into our discussion of the upcoming giant Magellan telescope,

I want to send a huge congratulations to the team at the Vera C. Ruben Observatory.

Just a few days ago, the observatory released its first images, and I tell you, they are nothing short of breathtaking.

Ruben is just beginning its 10-year legacy survey of space and time.

And fittingly, it's located in Chile, not far from where the giant Magellan telescope is being built.

I'll leave a link to those images from the Ruben Telescope on the page for this episode

of Planetary Radio. You can find that at planetary.org slash radio. And really, though,

you're going to want to check these out. They are gorgeous. But our main topic for today is the

giant Magellan telescope, or GMT. It's part of the United States' extremely large telescope program,

which originally aimed to provide astronomers' access to both the northern and southern skies

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