Shows / Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and Science
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and Science
Planetary Radio brings you the human adventure across our Solar System and beyond. We visit each week with the scientists, engineers, leaders, advocates, and astronauts who are taking us across the final frontier. Regular features raise your space IQ while they put a smile on your face. Join host Sarah Al-Ahmed and Planetary Society colleagues including Bill Nye the Science Guy and Bruce Betts as they dive deep into space science and exploration. The monthly Space Policy Edition takes you…
Episodes
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceSpace Policy Edition: Whose JPL is it? A historian on the lab’s 90-year search for itself
Ninety years ago this Halloween, a group of Caltech graduate students hauled a small rocket motor into the Arroyo Seco near Pasadena and tried to fire it up…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceThe night the Universe got bigger: An event to honor Hubble’s discovery
On the night of Oct. 5, 1923, Edwin Hubble spotted a variable star in Andromeda from Mt. Wilson Observatory above Pasadena, California, proving that our galaxy…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceHow Perseverance drove itself into the record books
NASA’s Perseverance rover has driven farther than any other vehicle on another world. On Oct. 11, 2026, its odometer reached 45.22 kilometers (28.10…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceMeet the Winners of The Planetary Society’s 2026 STEP Grants
Every two years, The Planetary Society funds research through our STEP Grants (Science and Technology Empowered by the Public). This year, all three winning…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceBook Club Edition: Dinner With an Astronaut by Leroy Chiao
Leroy Chiao was one of the youngest astronauts ever selected. He would spend 229 days in low-Earth orbit, command the International Space Station, and perform…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceFrom the Mojave to Phobos: PlanetVac rides with MMX
Japan’s Martian Moons eXploration mission, MMX, is about to set out for Phobos and Deimos, the two small moons of Mars. If all goes well, it will bring…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceSpace Policy Edition: What does “science as a service” really mean?
Can you buy science the way you buy a rocket launch? NASA is exploring the idea of “science as a service,” asking industry how commercial companies…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and Science2026 NASA's Innovative Advanced Concepts Symposium: Part 2 — Solar sails and breathing beyond Earth
In this second of two episodes from the 2026 NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) Symposium at Wichita State University, Sarah Al-Ahmed talks with…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and Science2026 NASA's Innovative Advanced Concepts Symposium: Part 1 — Nuclear sensors and cave explorers
Some of the most exciting science in our Solar System is hidden in places we've never been able to reach. In this episode, Sarah Al-Ahmed shares three…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceHayabusa2 flies by asteroid Torifune
JAXA's Hayabusa2 flew within 400 meters (1,300 feet) of asteroid Torifune on July 5 and confirmed that it's a contact binary, two lobes stuck together. Paul…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceBook Club Edition: Alien Oceans by Kevin Hand
Where are we most likely to find evidence of life, past or living, in the Solar System? Planetary scientist and author Kevin Hand looks to warm, salty ocean…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceStar Trek at 60: What Vulcans and Klingons can teach us about being human (Part 2)
This is part two of our Star Trek 60th anniversary series. Robert Picardo, the Emergency Medical Hologram on Star Trek: Voyager and a member of The Planetary…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceStar Trek at 60: What do we value the most? (Part 1)
Star Trek turned 60 on Sept. 8, 2026, and to celebrate, we're kicking off a special two-part series exploring the franchise's deep and lasting connection to…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceSpace Policy Edition: The Long Space Age with Alex MacDonald
We tend to think of private space exploration as a recent phenomenon. But as Alex MacDonald, former Chief Economist at NASA, argues in his book "The Long Space…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceWorld Space Week and farewell to Swift
Dennis Stone, president and co-founder of the World Space Week Association, takes us behind the scenes of the largest annual space event on Earth. From its…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceThe Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is ready to launch
After decades of development, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is preparing to launch. Once in orbit, Roman will conduct the widest surveys of the…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceBook Club Edition: Becoming Martian by Scott Solomon
Will we change or terraform Mars to better suit humans? Or are we more likely to change ourselves to better fit the red planet? How far can evolution take us…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceThe SpaceX Falcon 9 that crashed into the Moon
A SpaceX Falcon 9 upper stage slammed into the moon on August 5 after spending over a year and a half drifting through the Earth-Moon system. Jared Head…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceTotal solar eclipse 2026: Astrophotography and birdsong
On August 12th, 2026, the Moon’s shadow will sweep across Iceland, Greenland, and Spain, bringing the first total solar eclipse visible from Europe since…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceSpace Policy Edition: “Science: A New Golden Age” - Reimagining U.S. science policy
The White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy recently released "Science: A New Golden Age", a sweeping report that calls for a fundamental…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceLHS 1140b: The first atmosphere detected on a rocky habitable-zone exoplanet
For the first time, scientists have confirmed an atmosphere on a rocky exoplanet in the habitable zone of another star. Sarah Al-Ahmed is joined by Collin…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceTERP RAPTOR: A student-built mission to asteroid Apophis
On Friday, April 13, 2029, asteroid Apophis will pass closer to Earth than our geostationary satellites. While NASA, ESA, and JAXA are all sending missions, a…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceHot Jupiters: The ‘Roasted Planet’ and the wrong-way hotspot
Two hot Jupiters presented at the 248th American Astronomical Society meeting push our understanding of exoplanet atmospheres to the extreme. Research…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceBook Club Edition: “The Edge of Space-Time” by Chanda Prescod-Weinstein
It may be the best book subtitle we’ve encountered in the Planetary Society book club: “Particles, Poetry and the Cosmic Dream Boogie.&rdquo…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceSian Proctor and John Read on teaching babies to love the Cosmos
“Baby's Guide to the Night Sky” introduces the youngest kids — down to newborns — to constellations and the wonders of the Cosmos. It…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceSmall Town Universe: Inside Green Bank's Radio Quiet Zone
Green Bank, West Virginia is home to the world's largest fully steerable radio telescope. It's also the only town in the U.S. where cell phones and Wi-Fi are…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceSpace Policy Edition: What's going on with commercial space stations?
NASA's plan for what comes after the International Space Station (ISS) has been anything but stable. Since 2019, the agency's commercial space station strategy…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceRosalind Franklin and the search for life on Mars
After more than two decades, the European Space Agency's Rosalind Franklin rover finally has a path to the launchpad. This week, ExoMars Project Scientist…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceTianwen-2: China closes in on Kamoʻoalewa
China’s Tianwen-2 spacecraft has successfully arrived at Kamoʻoalewa—a tiny, enigmatic "quasi-satellite" that dances along with Earth on its trek…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceBook Club Edition: “To Be Taught, If Fortunate” with Becky Chambers
This outstanding novella, “To Be Taught, If Fortunate” by award-winning science fiction author Becky Chambers, is a passionate argument for the…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceFlying on Titan: The engineering of Dragonfly
Saturn's moon Titan is one of the most Earth-like worlds in our Solar System, with a dense nitrogen atmosphere, weather cycles, methane rivers, and vast…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceU.S. space science in flux: Grant rules, rockets, and reorganization
Between budget battles, proposed grant rule changes, and an exploding Blue Origin rocket, there's a lot to cover in U.S. space policy right now. Jack Kiraly…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceSpace Policy Edition: A proposal to stifle American science
The White House's Office of Management and Budget has released a sweeping 400-page proposed rule change that would fundamentally alter how the U.S. federal…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceSpacewoman with Eileen Collins
Colonel Eileen Collins was the first woman to pilot and command a Space Shuttle, and the person NASA trusted to lead the program back into space after the loss…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceLos Angeles Astronomical Society celebrates 100 years of looking up
The Los Angeles Astronomical Society (LAAS) is one of the oldest and largest amateur astronomy clubs in the United States, and this year, it’s turning…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceTwenty organic molecules found in an ancient Martian rock
NASA's Curiosity rover has been exploring Mars' Gale Crater for over a decade. A new analysis of samples collected there reveals something remarkable: more…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceBook Club Edition: Diane Ackerman and “The Planets: A Cosmic Pastoral”
Author, poet, and science communicator Diane Ackerman is our guest. Her wonderful collection of poems, with one devoted to each of the worlds in our Solar…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceIgniting Discovery: A showcase of NASA-funded research
The Planetary Society's 2026 Day of Action brought something new this year. For the very first time, the advocacy day was followed by a showcase of NASA funded…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceDay of Action 2026: Rejoining the fight to save NASA science
Every year, members of The Planetary Society travel to Washington, D.C., to make their voices heard on Capitol Hill. This year, just days after the Artemis II…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceSpace Policy Edition: Why humans matter — The philosophy of Artemis II
When Artemis II returned its crew safely to Earth, millions of people found themselves unexpectedly moved. The mission was a test flight, a proof-of-concept…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceYuri's Night 2026: Celebrating 65 years of human spaceflight
On April 12th, 1961, Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space. Sixty-five years later, we celebrated that milestone at Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceProject Hail Mary hits the big screen
“Project Hail Mary” is finally in theaters, and the science is just as thrilling as the story. This week on Planetary Radio, Sarah Al-Ahmed and…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceBook Club Edition: Founder and CEO Peter Beck on The Launch of Rocket Lab
He built a rocket-powered bike when he was a kid. Now he leads the company that has made New Zealand number three among nations that launch big rockets…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceTriumph and turmoil: Artemis II and the renewed fight to save NASA science
The Artemis II crew has returned home safely after a historic 10-day journey around the Moon, the first crewed lunar mission in over 50 years. In this episode…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceArtemis II launches to the Moon
Four astronauts — Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, Mission Specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen — are on their way around the…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceSpace Policy Edition: Return to Launch — Cape Canaveral's unlikely history
What makes Cape Canaveral the center of U.S. spaceflight? The answer is a fascinating mix of geography, military strategy, Cold War politics, and a fair amount…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceArtemis II’s AVATAR and a sungrazing comet
Artemis II is the first crewed lunar mission since Apollo 17, and riding alongside the crew is one of the most ambitious biology experiments ever sent to…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceThe astronaut health experiments of Artemis II
Artemis II is about more than getting four humans to the Moon and back. It's an opportunity to gather data on human health in deep space that we haven’t…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceBook Club Edition: The Giant Leap: Why Space is the Next Frontier in the Evolution of Life
Join us for an awe-inspiring conversation with astrobiologist and astronomer Caleb Scharf as he eloquently makes the case for "dispersal," the nearly…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceThe 18th European Space Conference: Dreaming of European boots on the Moon
Humanity is going back to the Moon, and Europe is already playing a critical role in making it happen. This week, Planetary Radio brings you voices straight…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceStarman: Looking back on a life exploring the Solar System
Gentry Lee spent nearly five decades at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and in that time he helped shape some of the most ambitious missions in the history…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceSpace Policy Edition: Is there really a space race between the US and China?
Is the United States really in a new space race with China? Or is that framing missing the bigger picture? In this Space Policy Edition of Planetary Radio…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceArtemis update: NASA reshapes the road back to the Moon
NASA has announced a major restructuring of the Artemis program, reshaping the roadmap for returning humans to the Moon. At a February 27 press conference…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceDid an impact trigger cryovolcanism on Umbriel?
Could a single ancient impact have briefly transformed one of the Solar System’s darkest moons into a cryovolcanic world? When Voyager 2 flew past Uranus…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceBook Club Edition: Planetary Society Chief Scientist Bruce Betts’ latest for kids
They informed and entertained together throughout the first 20 years of Planetary Radio. Listen in as the Society’s chief scientist and book club edition…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceA new chapter at The Planetary Society: Jennifer Vaughn becomes CEO
This week on Planetary Radio, we mark a major leadership transition at The Planetary Society. Host Sarah Al-Ahmed sits down with Bill Nye, outgoing chief…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceWhere did Earth’s water come from? Clues hidden in Apollo Moon dust
Where did Earth’s water come from? In this episode of Planetary Radio, we explore how scientists are answering that question by studying a remarkably…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceSpace Policy Edition: What a NASA Authorization bill actually does
What does a NASA authorization bill actually do, and why does it matter? In this episode of Space Policy Edition, we dig into one of the most misunderstood but…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceEuropa’s quiet seafloor
What if Europa’s seafloor isn’t alive with activity after all? This week on Planetary Radio, host and producer Sarah Al-Ahmed explores new research…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceArtemis II and III: The science that brings us back to the Moon
Humans are preparing to return to the Moon. On this episode of Planetary Radio, host Sarah Al-Ahmed is joined by Kelsey Young and Noah Petro, two of the…