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 ScienceNASA science saved: Inside the 2026 budget victory
After months of uncertainty, NASA science has been spared from the largest proposed budget cuts in the agency’s history. In this episode of Planetary…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceBook Club Edition: The Little Book of Aliens by Adam Frank
Famed astrophysicist and science communicator Adam Frank shares his sense of wonder and humor in a live conversation about his excellent new book, “The…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceIMAP and the shape of the heliosphere
Our Solar System is wrapped in a vast, invisible bubble created by the Sun, a protective region that shields Earth and the planets from much of the radiation…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceVoyager and the heliopause: Exploring where the Sun gives way to the stars
What does it really mean to enter interstellar space, and what have we learned since humanity first crossed the invisible boundary between our Sun and the…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceSpace Policy Edition: Change for the Sake of Disruption at NASA
Marcia Smith, the founder and editor of Space Policy Online, joins the show and revisits a conversation we had one year ago, recorded just weeks before the…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceLooking back: Space exploration in 2025
As 2025 comes to a close, Planetary Radio looks back on a year that reshaped space exploration, through stunning discoveries, major milestones, unexpected…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceLooking back: Space policy and advocacy in 2025
2025 was one of the most consequential years for space policy in modern U.S. history. In this special year-in-review episode, Planetary Radio takes a deep dive…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceBook Club Edition: MOONS: The Mysteries and Marvels of our Solar System by Kate Howells
It was such a delight to feature work by our own Kate Howells in The Planetary Society’s member book club. We keep Kate busy as our public education…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceGalileo at 30: How a mission transformed our understanding of Jupiter
Thirty years ago, NASA’s Galileo spacecraft became the first mission to orbit Jupiter, opening a new chapter in our exploration of the outer Solar…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceSpace Policy Edition: The Moral Case for Space Science
Why do we explore space, and why does science matter in the first place? In this Space Policy Edition rerun, Planetary Society Chief of Space Policy Casey…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceInside the 2025 Mars Society Convention
The 2025 International Mars Society Convention convened at the University of Southern California this October for three days of passionate discussion about…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceESCAPADE begins its journey to Mars
NASA’s twin ESCAPADE spacecraft have finally launched on their journey to Mars. Designed to study how the solar wind interacts with Mars’ patchy…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceSmart Girl Dumb Questions: Casey Dreier answers why space is worth it
This week on Planetary Radio, we’re sharing a special conversation from our friends at the Smart Girl Dumb Questions podcast. Host Nayeema Raza sits down…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceBook Club Edition: The Martians: The True Story of an Alien Craze that Captured Turn-of-the-Century America by David Baron
There was a time when almost everyone, from Alexander Graham Bell to the Wall Street Journal, believed there was a supremely intelligent civilization on Mars…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceEpic Spaceman: Making cosmic scale human
When his filmmaking career stalled during the pandemic, Toby Lockerbie turned to the one place that had never stopped inspiring him: the Universe. With no…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceThe Planetary Society goes to TwitchCon 2025
The Planetary Society heads to TwitchCon 2025 to explore how scientists and educators use livestreaming to share the excitement of discovery. We begin with…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceSpace Policy Edition: Should a (potential) biosignature revive Mars Sample Return?
In 1996, a controversial claim of fossilized life in a Martian meteorite ignited a golden age of Mars exploration. Nearly 30 years later, a potential…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceDo Aliens Speak Physics?
If we ever meet intelligent extraterrestrials, will we even be able to talk about physics? Physicist Daniel Whiteson of UC Irvine and cartoonist Andy Warner…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceRipples on the Cosmic Ocean
What happens in space doesn’t stay in space. Historian Dagomar Degroot joins Planetary Radio host Sarah Al-Ahmed to explore how shifting solar cycles…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and Science2025 NASA’s Innovative Advanced Concepts Symposium: Part 2 — Hopping robots and the search for exoplanet magnetospheres
In this second installment of Planetary Radio’s coverage from the 2025 NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts Symposium in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, host…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceBook Club Edition: Space Craze by Margaret Weitekamp
The American fascination with spaceflight and what we might find out there began long before any human left Earth. It’s Dr. Margaret Weitekamp’s…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and Science2025 NASA’s Innovative Advanced Concepts Symposium: Part 1 — Lunar glass and starshades
Each year, NASA’s Innovative Advanced Concepts program (NIAC) funds visionary ideas that could shape the future of space exploration. In this first of…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceA Day of Action to save NASA science
On October 6, 2025, hundreds of space advocates from across the United States joined The Planetary Society and 20 partner organizations on Capitol Hill to…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceSpace Policy Edition: China’s growing space science ambitions
If the United States is indeed in a space race with China, then we cannot abandon space science. That’s the claim made by Maxwell Zhu and The Planetary…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and SciencePerseverance finds potential biosignatures in Jezero Crater
NASA’s Perseverance rover has made one of its most intriguing discoveries yet in Jezero Crater. A rock sample called Sapphire Canyon, drilled from the…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceBill Nye: A star in Hollywood, a voice for NASA
Bill Nye, CEO of The Planetary Society, has officially joined the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In this episode, we speak with Bill about what this rare honor means…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceBook Club Edition: Cosmos Award–winning author Dava Sobel
Only six people have received The Planetary Society’s Cosmos Award for Outstanding Public Presentation of Science. We were honored to present it to…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceA cosmic travel guide: 111 Places in Space That You Must Not Miss
Pack your cosmic suitcase. This week on Planetary Radio, host Sarah Al-Ahmed is joined by Mark McCaughrean, astronomer, science communicator, and former Senior…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceInternational Observe the Moon Night 2025
This week on Planetary Radio, we look forward to International Observe the Moon Night on October 4, 2025. Host Sarah Al-Ahmed speaks with Staci Horvath…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceSpace Policy Edition: Does the rise of Elon mean the decline of NASA?
NASA, the crown jewel of 20th-century technocratic liberalism, was the first to land humans on the Moon but now depends on SpaceX for its access to space…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceUranus revealed: Solving the ice giant’s heat mystery
For decades, Uranus has puzzled scientists. Unlike the other giant planets, Voyager 2’s 1986 flyby suggested the ice giant emitted no excess heat. Now…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceEsports and space: BASILISK’s quest for “Science Victory”
BASILISK, the first esports organization dedicated to promoting science, has teamed up with The Planetary Society and Caltech’s Institute for Quantum…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceSilicate clouds and a dusty ring: JWST looks at YSES-1
In 2020, the YSES-1 system became the first directly imaged multiplanetary system around a Sun-like star. It features two giant exoplanets orbiting a star just…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceBook Club Edition: Exploring the Overview Effect with Frank White
Author Frank White has interviewed well over 100 astronauts. Almost all of them report the sense of awe they experienced as they looked down or back at Earth…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceA “Star Trek” future: Your place in space
What do “Star Trek,” space advocacy, and the fight to save NASA science have in common? In this episode of Planetary Radio, we share a special…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and Science3I/ATLAS: The third interstellar object ever found
Just three interstellar objects have ever been detected in our Solar System, each arriving from the depths of interstellar space. In this episode, we explore…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceSpace Policy Edition: Is this the moment for in-space nuclear power?
The 2020s will be a decisive decade for in-space nuclear power. So argues Dr. Bhavya Lal, whose new report reframes the conversation around a simple idea…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceThe science of sleep in space
How do astronauts get quality sleep in space? Erin Flynn-Evans, director of the Fatigue Countermeasures Laboratory at NASA Ames Research Center, joins…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceNew Horizons: Celebrating a decade since the Pluto flyby
On July 14, 2015, NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft made its historic flyby of Pluto, transforming our understanding of this distant world. Ten years later…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceBook Club Edition: Andy Weir and Project Hail Mary
Author Andy Weir was as shocked as anyone when The Martian became a top bestseller novel in the US. He repeated that achievement with his equally mind-blowing…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceMat Kaplan’s first flight in zero-G
What happens when scientists, students, space communicators, and refugee engineers float together in zero gravity? Former Planetary Radio host Mat Kaplan joins…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceFirst images from the Vera C. Rubin Observatory
The Vera C. Rubin Observatory has shared its first public images, revealing millions of galaxies, stars, and asteroids in stunning detail. Stephanie Deppe…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceSpace Policy Edition: Are Democrats falling behind on space policy?
Have Democrats ceded leadership in space policy? That’s what Mary Guenther believes. She’s the Director of Space Policy at the Progressive Policy…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceSpace science and the Artemis Accords: Highlights from the 2025 H2M2 Summit
Recorded at the 2025 Humans to the Moon and Mars Summit (H2M2) in Washington, D.C., this episode features two powerful conversations about the future of human…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceSpace Policy Edition: NASA’s 2026 budget
Alicia Brown from the Commercial Space Federation and Brittany Webster from the American Geophysical Union join the show to discuss NASA’s fiscal year…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceThe Giant Magellan Telescope takes its next big step
The Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) is poised to become one of the most powerful ground-based observatories ever built. On June 12, 2025, the U.S. National…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceThe human stories behind the science: Dava Sobel receives the Cosmos Award
Few writers have captured the wonder of science through storytelling as powerfully as Dava Sobel. In this episode, we celebrate her remarkable career and her…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceMaking space matter: A space journalist’s journey
What does it take to turn a love of space into a global career in science journalism? Sarah Cruddas has done just that. With a background in astrophysics and a…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceSpace Policy Edition: What does NASA need with an economist?
Former NASA Chief Economist Akhil Rao explains why NASA needs economic expertise to navigate the complex—and often misunderstood—market forces that…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceThe dark age of NASA science? Analyzing the FY 2026 budget proposal
The White House has released its Fiscal Year 2026 congressional budget justification for NASA, and the implications are staggering. If enacted, this proposal…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceVolcanic worlds across the Solar System
Volcanoes aren’t just an earthly phenomenon. They’re found all across the Solar System. In this compilation episode of Planetary Radio, we explore…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceSpace science under fire: Your questions answered
As debates over NASA's future heat up, questions about the value of space exploration are popping up everywhere. This week on Planetary Radio, we're tackling…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceKosmos 482: The Soviet-era Venus probe that fell to Earth
This week on Planetary Radio, we explore the decades-long journey of Kosmos 482, a Soviet-era Venus probe that spent 53 years orbiting Earth before its…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceTOI-270 d: Unveiling the secrets of a sub-Neptune
TOI-270 d is revealing secrets about the most common type of planet in our galaxy, sub-Neptunes. Sarah Al-Ahmed is joined by planetary geochemist Chris Glein…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceSpace Policy Edition: How NASA remembers—and forgets
No one person knows how to build a spaceship. Dr. Janet Vertesi has seen this firsthand. She’s spent years embedded in NASA science teams, not as a…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceFrom backyard telescopes to global reach: AstroKobi and the power of short-form space videos
How does someone go from stargazing in a rural Australian backyard to inspiring millions around the world about space science? This week, Sarah Al-Ahmed sits…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceCelebrating 45 years of The Planetary Society at the Cosmic Shores Gala
Join us aboard the historic RMS Queen Mary for a celebration of The Planetary Society’s 45th anniversary. In this special episode of Planetary Radio, we…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and SciencePassback budget breakdown: A 47% cut to NASA science
NASA’s science programs are facing the largest proposed budget cut in more than 40 years. This staggering 47%reduction could cancel missions, waste…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceWhy is Mars red? A new clue to the history of habitability in Martian dust
For decades, scientists hypothesized that Mars’ reddish color came from hematite, an iron oxide thought to have formed through dry oxidation after Mars…
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and ScienceSpace Policy Edition: Lies, Damned Lies, and Space Data
The space sector is data-rich but insight-poor. Jack Kuhr, head of research at Payload Space, joins the show to unpack how business, budgeting, and performance…