Possible Clues:

• Alien-seeking pgm
• Space exploration acronym
• Program whose prospects are looking up?
• Alien-seeking agcy
• Inst. with a weekly "Big Picture Science" radio program
• Radio listener grp
• ___ Institute (astronomers' org.)
• "Life on Mars?" org. that anagrams to "ties"
• Org. which still has not detected any signals from outer space
• Astrobiologists' org