Dr. Matthew Tiscareno will receive the 2026 Carl Sagan Center Director’s Award in recognition of his scientific leadership and dedication to advancing planetary science at the SETI Institute. As director of the SETI Institute REU (Research Experience for Undergraduates) internship program and manager of the PDS Ring-Moon Systems Node, he mentors emerging scientists and leads a team working to ensure outer planets data are preserved and accessible worldwide.

Tiscareno’s research has advanced the understanding of solar system orbital dynamics and planetary rings. As a Cassini Imaging Team associate, he planned key observations of Saturn’s rings, identified “propeller” moons embedded in the rings, and observed impact ejecta clouds. His discoveries have reshaped knowledge of ring dynamics and small-body interactions. He also helped demonstrate that Saturn’s moon Enceladus has a global subsurface ocean, a breakthrough for astrobiology.

Tiscareno has also provided significant leadership to the scientific community, including chairing a division of the American Astronomical Society and editing a definitive scholarly work on planetary rings. He continues to apply his expertise to the study of giant planets and ring systems through groundbreaking missions.

This award recognizes both Tiscareno’s scientific achievements and his vital role in mentoring future scientists.

“It’s a great honor to receive this award,” said Tiscareno. “The SETI Institute is a workplace that values both excellence and community, and I love working with my colleagues every day to pursue those ideals.”

Our Solar System is currently passing through the Local Interstellar Cloud, a region of highly diluted gas and dust between the stars. On its path, Earth continuously accumulates iron-60, a rare radioactive isotope of iron produced in stellar explosions. This has now been confirmed by an international research team led by the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) through the analysis of Antarctic ice tens of thousands of years old. From the steady but time-varying influx, the researchers conclude that the radioactive isotope has been stored within the cloud since a long-past stellar explosion. The results have been published in the journal Physical Review Letters (DOI:10.1103/nxjq-jwgp).

The Southwest Research Institute-led Ultraviolet Spectrographs (UVS) instruments aboard ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice) spacecraft and NASA’s Europa Clipper made unique observations of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS in late 2025. SwRI leads the UVS instruments on both spacecraft, simultaneously imaging both hemispheres of the comet and detecting the comet’s ultraviolet emissions.