Editor’s note: The National Academy’s Committee on Astrobiology and Planetary Sciences Autumn 2026 Meeting is being held 6-8 October Tuesday – Thursday this week. According to the agenda there are a number of NASA presentations open to the public that should shed some light on the direction of Astrobiology research at NASA.
I will try and post updates at @Astrobiology on Twitter and will post the meeting charts and presentation audio on Astrobiology.com within a day or so. The agenda and webcast links are below.
Some background:
Last week Astrobiology.com posted the new Planetary Protection Directives from NASA Administrator Isaacman which should be a topic of discussion. COSPAR issued a related endorsement on a proposed update to Mars Planetary Protection Policy.
In August 2026 NASA Established Mars Forward Operational Risk and Contamination Evaluation (M-FORCE) a Tiger Team to Shape Mars Planetary Protection Protocols.
In 2019 NASA’s Planetary Protection Review Addresses Changing Reality of Space Exploration – a report Friday with recommendations from the Planetary Protection Independent Review Board (PPIRB) the agency established in response to a recent National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine report and a recommendation from the NASA Advisory Council.
In 2025 NASA began to Explore Two Landing Options for Returning Samples from Mars after the JPL -led Mars Sample Return ‘program of record’ collapsed under mounting costs and schedule delays. NASA regrouped and the Mars Sample Return Sample Receiving Project Measurement Definition Team Final Report was published in October 2025. OMB tried to cancel the mission outright in the FY 2026 budget and again for FY 2027 but then some of it was restored.
NASA has yet to reveal what its actual plans are for an actual Mars Sample Return mission but it is clear that NASA really needs to rethink the whole idea from basic principles. Meanwhile, China continues a pace with its Tianwen-3 Mars sample return mission which is expected to launch in late 2028 and return samples in the 2013 time frame. ESA’s Rosalind Franklin ExoMars rover, which will actually search for life signs on Mars, will leave Earth in 2028 and land in 2030. It is not a sample return mission.
So maybe we’ll learn something. Or maybe we will get charts about ‘notional’ and ‘predecisional’ ideas and TBD future plans (that do not annoy OMB) as is often the case.
Tuesday
10:05 AM PDT — NASA Planetary Science Division (PSD) Program Dr. Kathleen Vander Kaaden, Update Director of Planetary Research (30-minute presentation and 30-minute discussion) Programs, NASA-PSD
11:05 AM PDT — NASA Astrobiology Research Program Update Dr. Rebecca McCauley Rench, (30-minute presentation and 30-minute discussion) Program Scientist for the
Astrobiology Program, NASA-PSD
- Part 1: Event page: https://vimeo.com/event/6225712
- Part 2: Event page: https://vimeo.com/event/6225719
Wednesday
10:05 AM PDT — Discussion of Planetary Research Program Dr. Kathleen Vander Kaaden,
(25-minute presentation and 20-minute discussion) Director of Planetary Research
Programs, NASA-PSD
11:05 AM PDT — Update from the Mars Exploration Program Dr. Lindsay Hays
(25-minute presentation and 20-minute discussion) Senior Scientist for
Mars Exploration, NASA-PSD / Ms. Tiffany Morgan, Director, Mars Exploration Program, NASA-PSD
1:00 PM PDT — Feedback Discussion with NASA Leadership (45-minute discussion)
Focus: CAPS Observations and Feedback from Open Session Discussions
Participants
- Dr. Kathleen Vander Kaaden, Director of Planetary Research Programs, NASA-PSD
- Ms. Tiffany Morgan, Director, Mars Exploration Program, NASA-PSD
- Dr. Rebecca McCauley Rench, Program Scientist, Astrobiology Program, NASA-PSD
- Event page: https://vimeo.com/event/6225722
Astrobiology
