U.S. space science in flux: Grant rules, rockets, and reorganization

Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and Science

The Planetary Society

Technology, Science

4.8 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 10 June 2026

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | Apple Podcasts | RSS

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Summary

Jack Kiraly, The Planetary Society's director of government relations, joins Sarah Al-Ahmed to discuss proposed grant rule changes that could upend U.S. science funding, a major NASA reorganization, and the fallout from the destruction of Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Big decisions could be reshaping science funding in the United States.
0:07.0	This week on Planetary Radio.
0:13.7	I'm Sarah al-Ahmid of the Planetary Society, with more of the human adventure across our solar system and beyond.
0:20.5	Space policy is moving fast, and the choices that are being made right now could reshape the future of U.S. science and exploration for generations to come.
0:29.6	This week I sit down with Jack Corelli, our Director of Government Relations, for an update on everything that's shaking up NASA right now.
0:36.6	And in What's Up with our chief scientist, Bruce Betts,
0:39.3	we'll be revealing the long-awaited names of the Artemis 3 astronauts.
0:43.5	If you love Planetary Radio, I want to stay informed with the latest space discoveries,
0:47.6	make sure you hit that subscribe button on your favorite podcasting platform.
0:51.2	By subscribing, you'll never miss an episode filled with new and awe-inspiring ways to
0:55.4	know the cosmos and our place within it. This week, we're covering a lot of ground. Jack Corelli,
1:03.3	our Director of Government Relations, joins me to walk through some of the biggest developments in
1:07.5	U.S. space policy right now. We will be talking about the ongoing fight over
1:11.7	NASA's science budget, but there's an even more pressing matter right now, a proposed rule
1:16.6	change at the Office of Management and Budget that would hand control of federal research
1:21.0	grant decisions to political appointees. This is a proposal that would bypass the peer review
1:26.7	process that's underpinned U.S. science for decades.
1:30.8	We're also going to be discussing a proposed major reorganization at NASA and a new competition for the management of the Jet Propulsion Lab.
1:38.5	We're going to go out with a bang discussing the fallout from the rapid unscheduled disassembly, less technically described as a giant
1:45.9	explosion of Blue Origins New Glenn rocket on May 28th, and what that means for the future of Artemis.
1:52.6	Before we get into this grab bag of topics, I want to say something. The things we're going to be
1:57.7	discussing today might feel really heavy, and for good reason.
	...

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