NASA’s Perseverance rover landed on Mars earlier this year, continuing decades of research and fascination with the Red Planet. What can we learn from the rocks and soil the rover is tasked with collecting — and why should we care? What fuels the need to explore? In this conversation, Perseverance Flight Director Diana Trujillo sits down with Marina Koren, who covers space for The Atlantic, to share details about the Mars: 2020 mission, her inspiring life trajectory to becoming an aerospace engineer, and why she feels a special calling to help bring more women into science and engineering.