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 ScienceSpaceX Builds a Big Falcon Rocket
A mostly SpaceX episode as the ambitious company provides updated details regarding its huge new rocket and introduces its first astronauts. Mat Kaplan shares…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceReturn to Fiery Mercury With BepiColombo
Elsa Montagnon is Spacecraft Operations Manager for the European/Japanese mission leaving for our solar system’s innermost planet very soon. She joins us to…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceOpportunity, Phone Home!
The dust is settling on the Red Planet. Is the remaining Mars Exploration Rover about to rise and shine after three months of slumber? MER Project Manager John…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceSpace Policy Edition: Did NASA Ace its Midterms? With Special Guest Louise Prockter
We talk with planetary scientist and Lunar and Planetary Institute Director Louise Prockter, who co-led creation of a new report evaluating the performance of…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceBig Science, Big Rocket at the Marshall Space Flight Center
Mat Kaplan’s Huntsville, Alabama trip wraps up with a tour of the historic and history-making Marshall Space Flight Center. Join him at the control center for…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceSpace, Rockets, and a Senatorial Encounter in Huntsville, Alabama
Host Mat Kaplan begins a two-episode visit to Huntsville and the Marshall Space Flight Center, recorded this week at the US Space and Rocket Center with…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and SciencePluto Occults! Join Us on the Mountain
Pluto passed in front of a star on the evening of August 14. Mat Kaplan joined pro and amateur astronomers on a mountain to observe this rare event. It may…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceGiving Mysterious Venus the Love (and Science) She Deserves
We have so much to learn about Venus, says JPL scientist Sue Smrekar. What we learn will help us understand our own world and Mars. Sue joins us this week to…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceDark Energy’s Co-Discoverer and the Leader of Chinese Space Science
It has been 20 years since we learned the expansion of the universe is accelerating due to the mysterious force called dark energy. Saul Perlmutter shared the…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceSpace Policy Edition: Destination…Mars? Contradictions and Principles
The Senate just held a hearing on NASA's efforts to send humans to...Mars? A week later, the same committee advanced legislation to extend the life of the…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceDiving Into That Lake on Mars
Our world was rocked by last week’s announcement of good radar evidence for a liquid water “lake” under the Red Planet’s south pole. Senior Editor Emily…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceHayabusa2 Reaches a Dark Diamond in Space
Japan’s Hayabusa2 is just 6 kilometers from asteroid Ryugu as it prepares to snatch samples of the space rock for return to Earth. ISAS/JAXA Director General…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceAn African Observatory Hunts Killer Asteroids
One of the Planetary Society’s 2018 Shoemaker Near-Earth Object grants has gone to astronomers searching the sky from a mountaintop in the North African nation…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceSomething Old and Something New: Exciting Research on the International Space Station
Sextants have helped sailors find their way across oceans for centuries. Now one is onboard the International Space Station so that astronauts can learn to…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceSpace Policy Edition: Space Force! With Special Guest Brian Weeden
The President recently ordered the creation of Space Force—but what does that mean? What are the implications for militarization of space? National security…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceDwarf Planet Ceres Thrills as a Dying Visitor Closes In
Ceres is the queen of the asteroid belt. Her first Earthly visitor is nearing its last days in spectacular style. Dawn Mission Director and Chief Engineer Marc…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceIt’s Asteroid Week with NASA’s Planetary Defense Officer
The dinosaurs regret their lack of a space program. 200 million years later, humans are gearing up to defend themselves from a species-ending rock. The many…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceKathryn Sullivan, Space Dentistry and More at the International Space Development Conference
Freeman Dyson wasn’t the only space star at the ISDC. Mat talks with former astronaut and NOAA Administrator Kathryn Sullivan, leaders of the Cassini mission…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceA Conversation with Freeman Dyson
There’s so much more to Freeman Dyson than the Dyson Sphere. The mathematician, physicist, futurist and author is one of the greatest and most original minds…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceIt’s Rocket Science: Testing PlanetVac in the Mojave Desert
Join Mat Kaplan in California’s Mojave Desert for special coverage of not one but two rocket flights and a real world test of PlanetVac, the innovative…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceSpace Policy Edition: Space Policy Directive 2—This Time it's Commercial
President Trump just signed a new space policy directive targeting the regulations surrounding commercial spaceflight. Casey Dreier, Jason Davis and Mat Kaplan…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceA Sacred Place: The National Air and Space Museum with Ellen Stofan
Planetary geologist Ellen Stofan has just become Director of the most popular museum in the United States. The NASM protects and shares the greatest collection…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceChasing New Horizons to Pluto with Alan Stern and David Grinspoon
The New Horizons mission was a triumph, revealing Pluto as an utterly unique and beautiful world. But the mission first had to survive challenge after…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceWhy Mars? We’ve Got the Answers
The great adventure awaits! Mat Kaplan hosts an entertaining panel discussion at the 2018 Humans to Mars Summit in Washington DC. Eight guests provide their…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceAmy Mainzer: Asteroid Hunter
After taking over 10 million images of more than 30,000 solar system objects, the NEOWISE mission is finally in its last months. Principal Investigator Amy…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceSpace Policy Edition: A Commercial Future for the Space Station?
After announcing it intends to divest from the International Space Station in 2025, NASA quietly released a new report on its transition plans, laying out a…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceAll Shook Up: The InSight Mission to Mars
No mission to Mars has done what InSight will do. The lander’s spectacularly sensitive instruments will use the Red Planet’s heat and marsquakes to reveal its…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and SciencePlanetary Radio Live! – Celebrating Curiosity on Mars
Join us for an utterly fascinating live conversation with Emily Lakdawalla about her brand new book, The Design and Engineering of Curiosity: How the Mars…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceYuri’s Night 2018!
Host Mat Kaplan once again attends the worldwide party for space. Join him at the Los Angeles celebration under Space Shuttle Endeavour. You’ll hear…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceVisiting the Earth-Like Worlds of TRAPPIST-1
We have begun to understand the composition of worlds that are hundreds of trillions of kilometers from Earth. Astronomer Nikole Lewis is co-leader of a team…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceSpace Policy Edition: Lori Garver on what a NASA Administrator (and Deputy) actually does
Lori Garver, former Deputy Administrator of NASA, talks with Casey about what the Deputy and Administrator jobs are like day-to-day, how decisions actually get…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceAI, Space, and Humanity’s Future—A Conversation with David Brin
The multi-award winning science fiction author, futurist and speaker returns to Planetary Radio for a wide-ranging conversation about robots and humans in…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceA Space Station Crashes to Earth
By the time you hear this week’s episode, China’s Tiangong-1 may have spectacularly re-entered our planet’s atmosphere, raining metal on an unpredictable…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceStephen Hawking: Spaceflight Pioneer!
He is known for his breakthrough physics and popularizing of science, but Dr. Hawking also wanted to fly in space. Erik Viirre led the medical team that helped…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceAmateur Astronomers Work To Save Earth From Asteroids!
Seven astronomers have been selected to receive Shoemaker NEO (Near Earth Object) grants from the Planetary Society. They and their observatories span the…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceVisiting the Birthplace of PlanetVac
Space is hard. Sample collection and return is harder still. That’s why the radically-simplified PlanetVac system from Honeybee Robotics is so intriguing. Join…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceSpace Policy Edition #23 - Blitzing Congress: Planetary Society volunteers visit Capitol Hill
Society members from 21 states descended on the U.S. capitol for a "blitz" of 178 meetings in two days. Casey and special guest Matt Renninger explain why that…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceExperience A Message From Earth - Inspired by the Voyager Golden Record
It has been 40 years since Carl Sagan and others shared the best of humanity with the stars. A new online multimedia project has been created as a 21st century…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceThe Eyes of a New Mars Rover: Mastcam-Z
Mat Kaplan attended a meeting of the science team for the zoom lens camera that will be atop the Mars 2020 rover mast. Planetary Scientist Jim Bell tells us…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceSpace Policy Edition Special: The 2019 President’s Budget Request Unveiled
As promised, Casey Dreier and Jason Callahan are back with a special review of the just-released FY 2019 President’s Budget Request (PBR) for NASA. It contains…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceA New Congressional Caucus Backs Planetary Science
Republican Randy Hultgren and Democrat Derek Kilmer celebrate formation of the new bipartisan, bicameral caucus of US representatives and senators. They have…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceSpace, SETI, the Singularity and Shostak
Where is everybody? That was the question physicist Enrico Fermi asked when he wondered why we hadn’t yet met ET. What will happen if we do? Will humans lose…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceSpace Policy Edition #21: Bill Nye and the State of the Union
Planetary Society CEO Bill Nye attended the State of the Union address on January 30th, he also spent the day meeting with sixteen different members of…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceGoing to Sea to Sail Through Space: Orion Ocean Recovery Testing
Join Mat Kaplan on a visit to Naval Base San Diego and the USS Anchorage, the amphibious ship that has just completed a round of Orion spacecraft recovery…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceLiving in Space!
Mat Kaplan talks with participants in the National Space Society’s recent Space Settlement Summit about human destiny in space.Learn more about your ad…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceIt’s a Hard Rain on Titan
A computer model based on our best data about Saturn’s cloud-shrouded moon says that torrential liquid methane pounds the surface far more frequently than…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceMysterious Tabby’s Star, With Tabby Herself
It may not host an alien “megastructure” but Tabby’s Star still guards many mysteries of science. Astronomer and astrophysicist Tabetha “Tabby” Boyajian leads…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceSpace Policy Edition #20: Looking back on the year in space policy. Also, your questions!
It’s the space policy guys’ turn to look back at a year that saw great achievements in space. Were they matched by events in Washington DC?Learn more about…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceLooking Back, Looking Forward with the Planetary Society All-Stars
Mat’s first-ever four-way conversation with Jason Davis, Casey Dreier and Emily Lakdawalla reviews the biggest 2017 events in space exploration and provides…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceFlowing Water on Mars? Not So Much
Mars scientists dubbed them recurring slope lineae or RSLs. They sure looked like evidence of liquid water flowing down hillsides and ridges on the Red Planet…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceExploring the Latest Planetary Science Discoveries With Emily Lakdawalla
A holiday edition of Planetary Radio welcomes the Planetary Society’s Senior Editor back from the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union. Emily…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and SciencePresident Trump Sets Course for the Moon
On December 11th President Donald Trump signed a memorandum that firmly points the US space effort toward the Moon, but without providing many details…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceA Visitor From the Stars: ‘Oumuamua
The first confirmed interstellar visitor to our solar system is a needle-shaped asteroid given the Hawaiian name ‘Oumuamua. Karen Meech leads the team that is…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceSpace Policy Edition #19: When did the private space age begin? Much earlier than you think.
Elon Musk. Jeff Bezos. Richard Branson. These are the names we tend to associate with the current era of private space exploration. But what about John Quincy…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceBob Richards of Moon Express
Moon Express Founder and CEO Bob Richards shares an inspiring vision for a return to the Moon. It includes introduction of a sophisticated line of robotic…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceCanada Rises…And So Does the Sun
Canada has a new Space Advisory Board, and The Planetary Society’s Kate Howells is a member.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceThe Honorable Adam Schiff: Another Congressional Space Enthusiast
Congressman Adam Schiff’s California district includes the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He is as enthusiastic a fan of the final frontier as you are likely to…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceAndy Weir’s New Novel Puts a City on the Moon
The author of #1 bestseller "The Martian" is back with "Artemis," a superbly-researched, rollicking adventure in the first city on the Moon. Learn more about…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceSpace Policy Edition #18: Jim Bridenstine vs. the Senate and First Meeting of the National Space Council
The likely next Administrator of NASA, Jim Bridenstine, appeared before a somewhat skeptical Senate committee to defend his nomination. Casey and Jason recap…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceAndré Bormanis and Emily Lakdawalla on Life, the Universe and Everything
Join us for a wide-ranging, salon-style conversation about space exploration, science, art and more. Mat’s guests are astronomer, television producer/writer…