The Drake Machine

What you've shown here is a pretty solid-sounding space exploration game. I especially like the rotation of the rondel/action picker being implemented in a space game, and the way you organized the actions within this one is pretty cool and thematic.

The following is based on my first read, and I confess that without components in front of me I might not have a complete grasp of how the game goes. I apologize in advance for any misinterpretations. :)

I appreciate what you're doing with the settlement of different planets, but I wonder if it's a bit too convoluted and fiddly than necessary. Here are a few things I suggest you consider to streamline the exploration process without losing much of the evolution function of the different species.

Lose the habitats. Landfall among the habitats seems like a layer of randomness that doesn't add anything to the game. The layout of the planets is already random and unknown until a player chooses to do a SETI action. That should inform them well enough as to whether or not it would be worth settling there, or if they should keep exploring.

Depending on a race's affinity, require they pay more or less to adapt and advance on a given planet type. This will emphasize the race and genome differences. Again, this is something you seem to want.

If you put a max capacity of species on a planet (based on type, or size, or some other variable), you can still force a player to choose how they want to populate the planet: emphasizing resource production or civilization advancement.

Personally, I found the rolling of the dice and the fine-grain details about the habitats to be the only fiddly part of the game. Normally I like dice, but I don't think they add to your experience here. Of course, I feel like I could have a deeper read if I had components sitting in front of me.

In any case, I hope this suggestion is worth considering, since I think it doesn't take anything worthwhile away from the game. Best of success on your project! :)