Mars vs. Moon: Transportation and Propulsion

Massive “No Kings” protests swept across the country this weekend — peaceful, organized, and impossible to ignore. Chuck Todd breaks down what the demonstrations say about growing frustration with Trump’s leadership as his administration faces a government shutdown, soaring insurance costs, and a controversial new military campaign in the Caribbean. As Trump retweets crude AI videos and governs for only half the country, Congress remains silent on legally dubious strikes against Venezuela, an operation critics say has more to do with ousting Maduro than fighting drugs. Todd examines how America’s history of self-interest in Latin America and declining democratic norms at home have converged to create a moment of moral and political reckoning — and why ignoring it might come at a cost.

Then, Ars Technica space journalist Eric Berger joins Chuck Todd to unpack the new global race to the moon — and why it’s about power as much as science. With China poised to beat the U.S. back to the lunar surface, NASA’s Artemis program faces both technological and geopolitical pressure. Berger and Todd explore how space has become the next great stage for competition, where the first shots of a future war could be fired — not on Earth, but in orbit. From SpaceX’s dominance and Elon Musk’s influence, to Blue Origin’s lagging efforts and Boeing’s uncertain role, the conversation digs into who will actually shape humanity’s future beyond Earth.

They also discuss the growing role of private companies in both space exploration and weather forecasting, how AI is reshaping meteorology, and whether we’ll ever see space-based energy or asteroid mining become viable. It’s a sweeping look at how politics, technology, and ambition are colliding — in a sky that’s getting more crowded by the day.

Finally, Chuck Todd hops in the ToddCast Time Machine to recap the history of the Teapot Dome scandal and how it closely mirrors the corruption of the Trump administration, answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment, and recaps the weekend in college football.

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Timeline:

(Timestamps may vary based on advertisements)

00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction

01:30 No Kings protests held around the country

02:15 Protests were timed deliberately in advance of elections

04:30 Huge turnout numbers at the protests

08:30 No incidents at protests that led to confrontations with police

09:45 Trump retweets AI video of himself flying plane and dropping poop

10:45 Trump has the mentality of a 13 year old boy

12:00 Trump has no lifelong friends

13:15 Trump isn’t traveling the country to sell his agenda, unlike first term

14:15 Remarkable that so many people are willing to protest on a Saturday

16:00 Republicans would be wise not to dismiss the protests

16:30 Controversy grows around Trump’s military strikes in Caribbean

17:45 Congress is failing to provide any oversight of the executive

19:00 Insurance notices indicating massive premium spikes coming soon

20:00 Shocking there’s less outrage Trump governs for only half the country

20:45 Government shutdown has turned into a giant mess

22:15 Trump’s administration hints they aren’t sure boat strikes are legal

23:45 Venezuela story would get more attention if it was anywhere else

24:30 Administration refuses to call the strikes “war”

25:15 Repatriating captives helps administration avoid legal questions

26:45 Legality of strikes will be eventually be determined in US courts

28:00 Claiming cartels are “terrorists” doesn’t meet legal definition

28:45 Venezuela isn’t part of the fentanyl drug trade

29:30 Trump & Rubio’s obsession is actually about getting rid of Nicolas Maduro

31:00 The U.S. military has never gone after narcoterrorists before

32:00 Congress has not authorized use of military force in Caribbean

33:30 Members of congress not convinced by rationale for strikes

35:00 Trump is greenlighting killings without making case for it

37:30 If overdose deaths are the rationale, the problem is with Mexico

39:00 Trump hasn’t ruled out striking the Venezuelan mainland

41:00 The US had never designated a cartel as terrorists until this year

44:30 America’s history in Latin America is atrocious and self-interested

48:15 Eric Berger joins the Chuck ToddCast 

49:15 China is on track to beat the U.S. back to the moon 

50:45 NASA is still pursuing the Artemis program 

52:00 Both the U.S. and China are targeting the moon's south pole 

54:15 If you want to be a superpower, needs a presence on the moon 

54:45 SpaceX's Starship is best equipped for Mars mission 

55:30 Best methods of propulsion for long distance space missions 

56:45 The biggest reason for lunar landing is geopolitics/flexing 

57:30 Treaty says that no country can claim ownership of the moon 

58:30 How would a private company stake a resource claim on the moon? 

1:00:00 Has low earth orbit gotten too crowded with man made satellites? 

1:01:00 In the next big war, the first shots will likely be fired into space 

1:02:45 Cooperation in space has diminished, become more nationalistic 

1:04:45 Most countries forced to rely on US, Russia and China for space launches 

1:05:45 UAE is developing space capabilities with NASA's help 

1:06:30 NASA can't get to space without private contractors/SpaceX 

1:07:00 Elon Musk is the most important person to spacefight globally 

1:08:30 Blue Origin is far behind SpaceX in capabilities for lunar lander 

1:09:15 Will Boeing's space program ever deliver? 

1:10:15 Will the first space hotel be in orbit or on the moon? 

1:11:15 There's very little demand for orbital tourism, very expensive 

1:12:45 Mars missions are incredibly different, will likely be one-way to start 

1:14:15 There are no resources on Mars worth the cost of mining and shipping back 

1:15:00 The only reason to go to Mars is to make humans a space-faring species 

1:16:00 Robots are far superior to humans for scientific research missions 

1:17:15 There's more water on Europa than Earth, life could be there 

1:18:45 Best places in solar system for humans to possibly create bases 

1:20:30 Is Bezos's idea of heavy manufacturing on the moon a pipe dream? 

1:21:45 Mining asteroids could provide all the metals we'd ever need 

1:22:30 SpaceX's Falcon9 rocket made cost of accessing space far lower 

1:23:45 Are energy production advances the best way to sell space costs to taxpayers? 

1:25:30 Space based energy production is far from being commercially viable 

1:26:45 The Europeans surpassed the U.S. at meteorology 

1:27:45 Can AI tools help fill the gaps after U.S. cut funding for NOAA? 

1:28:30 AI hurricane modeling seems to be just as good as physics based models 

1:29:30 Private sector still relies on the government for weather forecasting 

1:30:45 We need better data collection for our weather forecasting 

1:33:00 Private companies are hiring their own meteorologists 

1:35:45 Microforecasting has gotten much better due to the internet 

1:36:53 What does Ars Technica cover and what is its mission? 

1:39:00 Do we know more about the solar system or the oceans?

1:43:15 Chuck's thoughts on the interview with Eric Berger 

1:43:30 ToddCast Time Machine 

1:43:45 October 25th, 1929 - Jury convicts the first cabinet secretary to prison 

1:45:15 Teapot Dome scandal 

1:46:30 Harding signed executive order transferring oil fields, leased to oil barons 

1:47:45 Fall received $7 million dollars in exchange for oil leases 

1:49:15 Harding's death spawned conspiracy theories about corruption 

1:49:45 Albert Fall convicted of bribery 

1:50:30 Comparing teapot dome to Trump's modern day corruption 

1:51:45 The "out" party should always be the one in charge of oversight 

1:53:00 Watergate isn't the parallel to Trump's corruption, Teapot Dome is 

1:53:15 Ask Chuck 

1:53:30 Will the No Kings protests have any real effect on politics? 

1:56:00 How can Democrats regain control of the political narrative? 

2:01:00 College football update

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