The Moon, AI, and the High-Stakes Decisions Shaping Space’s Future

In this special episode of Space Minds, our show is split into two segments from the recent SpaceNews annual Icon Awards.In our first segment, SpaceNews correspondent Debra Werner sits down with Jason Kim, CEO of Firefly Aerospace, to discuss the company’s Blue Ghost Mission 1—an award-winning lunar landing that delivered multiple NASA payloads to the Moon and marked a major milestone for commercial lunar explorationIn the second segment, senior staff writer Jeff Foust moderates a panel discussion with several other award recipients, bringing together leaders from policy, science, and technology. The conversation features Casey Dreier of The Planetary Society, JPL Fellow Steve Chien, Ubotica Technologies co-founder Aubrey Dunne, and NASA’s Roger Hunter, exploring themes ranging from artificial intelligence in space operations to the evolving policy landscape shaping the future of exploration.