Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and Science

We celebrate the second anniversary of the James Webb Space Telescope's (JWST) science operations with Christine Chen, associate astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute.

Newton Campbell Jr., the director of the Australian Remote Operations for Space and Earth (AROSE) Consortium, discusses his career journey, AI in space, and Australia's first lunar rover, the Roo-ver.

Every major NASA center built after the agency’s inception is located in the American South. Why? Dr. Brian Odom, NASA’s chief historian, joins the show to discuss the cultural, political, and historical implications of NASA’s expansion into the South.

We dive into the stunning variety of exoplanets beyond our Solar System with Jessie Christiansen, the project scientist for the NASA Exoplanet Archive.

We observe Asteroid Day with an update on NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission with the Asteroid Foundation’s Markus Payer and JHUAPL’s Terik Daly.

We explore recent solar activity and discoveries from NASA's Parker Solar Probe with Nour Rawafi, the mission's project scientist.

RadioLab's Latif Nasser returns to Planetary Radio with a new public naming contest for a quasi-moon of Earth.

Holy texts and salvation ideology. Saints and martyrs. True believers and apostates. This isn’t a religion — this is human spaceflight, argues Roger Launius, the former Chief Historian of NASA.

We discuss the delightfully unpredictable nature of space discoveries with Chris Lintott, author of the upcoming book Accidental Astronomy.

We share a conversation from the Humans to Mars Summit about integrating NASA and its partners as humanity looks to build a permanent and sustainable human presence on Mars.

Kelly Biderman, the CEO of Havoc Robotics, joins Planetary Radio to share how the National Havoc Robot League helps to prepare the next generation of space engineers. Then we hear from Florence Pouya, the former captain of the Afghan Girls Robotics Team.

This week on Planetary Radio, we'll share what happened during this year's Day of Action and why it matters.

We explore how Doctor Who has influenced the scientific community with Russell T. Davies, the past and present showrunner of the iconic science fiction TV series.

Should policymakers spend more time looking - really looking - at the Moon? Chris Cokinos thinks so. He’s the author of a new book, Still As Bright, which explores the evolving role of the Moon in our culture, our history, and our dreams of spaceflight.

Bob Pappalardo, Europa Clipper's project scientist, visits The Planetary Society headquarters in Pasadena, CA, to share the story of the mission's vault plate, humanity's next collection of messages to another world.

This week on Planetary Radio we take a trip to The Planetary Society’s Eclipse-O-Rama festival in Fredericksburg, Texas, where hundreds gathered to witness the April 8 total solar eclipse.

We explore NASA's first tabletop role-playing game with senior multimedia specialist Christina Mitchell and a new way to find water worlds with Amaury Triaud from the University of Birmingham.

This week on Planetary Radio, Latif Nasser, co-host of Radiolab shares the story behind the naming of Zoozve, a quasi-moon of Venus.

Former NASA Administrator Mike Griffin discusses his claim that there is a tension between the so-called Real reasons that motivate spaceflight and the prosaic, Acceptable reasons used to justify space exploration within the public sphere.

Planetary Radio marks its last show before the Apr. 8 total solar eclipse with a look back at discoveries made during totality.

Ron Benner, the President of the American Optometric Association, and astrophotographer Andrew McCarthy give helpful tips for safely observing the upcoming total solar eclipse in North America.

Dante Lauretta, the principal investigator for NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission, joins Planetary Radio to share stories from his new book, The Asteroid Hunter.

Jim Bell, a professor from the School of Earth and Space Exploration at Arizona State University and former president of The Planetary Society's Board of Directors, shares captivating tales from his global eclipse-chasing journeys.

A team co-led by the Southwest Research Institute has made a groundbreaking discovery, revealing evidence of hydrothermal or metamorphic activity on the icy dwarf planets Eris and Makemake in the Kuiper Belt. The lead author of this research, Chris Glein, joins Planetary Radio to explain.

Science historian Dr. Matt Shindell joins the show to discuss the unique era of commercial lunar exploration, and how planetary exploration has evolved and can continue to evolve on and around the Moon.

Twenty years after a pioneering collaboration between The Planetary Society, NASA, and LEGO, Planetary Radio reflects on the Red Rover Goes to Mars program and the lives it impacted.

Scott Guzewich, deputy project scientist for NASA’s OSIRIS-APEX mission, joins Planetary Radio to discuss the next steps for the mission as we count down to asteroid Apophis’ flyby of Earth in 2029.

This week on Planetary Radio, we take a peak behind the scenes at National Geographic's new documentary, “The Space Race,” which celebrates the triumphs and struggles of the first African-American space pioneers and astronauts.

Ed Krupp, the director of Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, will share insights from the fascinating field of archaeoastronomy.

Space policy expert Laura Delgado López joins the show to break down the new paper, “Clearing the Fog: The Grey Zones of Space Governance” by Jessica West and Jordan Miller.

Matt Golombek, project scientist for the Mars Exploration Rover Project, joins Planetary Radio to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the landing of the Spirit and Opportunity rovers on Mars.

We're celebrating lunar missions and the space advocacy that helps make them happen this week on Planetary Radio.

Sabine Stanley, author of the new book "What's Hidden Inside Planets?", discusses some of the amazing things that lie under the surfaces of the worlds in our Solar System.

Knicole Colón, the deputy project scientist for exoplanet science for JWST, joins Planetary Radio to discuss the detection of methane and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of K2-18 b.

UK-based space writer Gurbir Singh, author of the book The Indian Space Programme: India’s Incredible Journey from the Third World towards the First, joins the show to help us understand India’s growing ambitions and capabilities in space.

Chris Glein, a lead scientist at the Southwest Research Institute, joins Planetary Radio to talk about the discovery of phosphorus in the oceans of Saturn’s moon Enceladus and the implications for the search for life.

Members of The Planetary Society staff revisit some of 2023's most exhilarating moments and groundbreaking discoveries in space this week on Planetary Radio.

Mat Kaplan, Planetary Radio's creator and former host, takes us on an adventure with planetary geologist Kirby Runyon as they tour New Mexico, U.S.'s varied geology and compare it to other worlds.

Benjamin Fernando, a postdoctoral fellow from the University of Oxford, joins Planetary Radio this week to discuss the largest marsquake ever recorded and the international effort it took to pinpoint.

Though the Space Shuttle program lasted 30 years and built the ISS, it fell short of NASA's goals for cost, reusability, and reliability. Can a program be both a worldly success and a policy failure? In this Space Policy Edition, we dissect a classic space policy paper and debate its relevance today.

Hal Levison and Simone Marchi, the principal and deputy principal investigators for NASA’s Lucy mission, join Planetary Radio to discuss the spacecraft’s first asteroid flyby.

Nathaniel Kahn, an Oscar-nominated filmmaker and the director of Deep Sky, joins Planetary Radio this week to discuss the film's decade-long creation process and the magic of JWST images on the big screen.

Steven Smith, an Education Specialist from NASA's Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (or STEM) Program, joins Planetary Radio to share some of the unique opportunities available for students in the lead-up to humanity's return to the Moon.

Kelly and Zach Weinersmith join Planetary Radio this week to discuss their new book, "A City on Mars: Can We Settle Space, Should We Settle Space, and Have We Really Thought This Through?"

NASA's Mars Sample Return mission is both a top priority and seriously troubled. Independent review board chair Orlando Figueroa joins us to talk about the challenges and what must be done.

Jesse Tomlinson and Stephen Watkins from the Eclipse Company join Planetary Radio to talk about their partnership with The Planetary Society and the launch of their new eclipse map for the upcoming 2024 total solar eclipse in North America.

Simone Marchi, co-investigator for NASA’s Psyche mission, joins Planetary Radio to share the creative ways their mission team is working to understand cratering on metallic worlds.

The InSight RISE instrument's principal investigator, Sebastien Le Maistre, from the Royal Observatory of Belgium, joins Planetary Radio to discuss Mars' increased rotation speed

We celebrate NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission’s successful return of samples from asteroid Bennu to Earth on this week’s episode of Planetary Radio.

Join Planetary Radio host Sarah Al-Ahmed on a trip to the 2023 NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) Symposium in Houston, Texas. This episode is part two of two.

Join Planetary Radio host Sarah Al-Ahmed on a trip to the 2023 NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) Symposium in Houston, Texas. This episode is part one of two.

Louis Friedman, one of the three co-founders of The Planetary Society, joins Planetary Radio to discuss his new book, "Alone but Not Lonely: Exploring for Extraterrestrial Life."

Voyager project manager Suzanne Dodd and Voyager project scientist Linda Spilker discuss reestablishing contact with Voyager 2 and Carver Bierson from Arizona State University tells the tale of how Io went from a water-rich moon into a world with lakes of lava.

Lujendra Ojha, assistant professor at Rutgers University, joins Planetary Radio to discuss how subsurface liquid water on exoplanets orbiting red dwarf stars could increase the likelihood of finding habitable worlds beyond our Solar System.

Mario Jurić and Ari Heinze from the University of Washington join Planetary Radio to discuss their team’s next-generation asteroid discovery algorithm, HelioLinc3D.

Kevin Trinh from Arizona State University joins Planetary Radio to discuss his research into Europa's formation history and the consequences for the moon's habitability.

Giulia Perotti and Thomas Henning from the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy join Planetary Radio to discuss their team's detection of water vapor in the inner region of the protoplanetary disc that is already forming worlds.

Amy Williams, assistant professor of geology at the University of Florida, joins Planetary Radio to discuss the proposed Mars Life Explorer mission and the search for extant life on Mars.

Scott Pace, the prior executive secretary of the National Space Council, discusses why Artemis is of strategic value to U.S. national interests — and why the Moon is unique as a destination to drive global space exploration.

Matt Siegler from the Planetary Science Institute shares his team's surprising findings about the granite formation that might lie beneath Compton-Belkovich, a thorium-rich hot spot on the far side of the Moon.

Chris Glein, a lead scientist at the Southwest Research Institute, joins Planetary Radio to talk about the discovery of phosphorus in the oceans of Saturn’s moon Enceladus and the implications for the search for life.

Caltech and Brown University’s Jay Dickson joins Planetary Radio to discuss the mysterious formation of gullies on Mars.

Sam Birch, an assistant professor at Brown University, explores what we know about the alluvial rivers of Earth, Mars, and Saturn's moon Titan.

We check in on the congressional budget process for NASA, Mars Sample Return’s spiraling cost growth, and the impending end of the regulatory holiday for human commercial space launch companies.

Planetary Radio, Mat Kaplan, senior communications adviser at The Planetary Society, takes us to the 2023 Humans to Mars Summit in Washington, D.C. We'll share his conversation with three NASA Associate Administrators, Nicola Fox, James Free, and James Reuter about the international, commercial, and robotic collaboration it will take to put the first humans on the Red Planet.

James Drake from the University of Maryland joins Planetary Radio to talk about the latest results from NASA's Parker Solar Probe as it soars closer to our star than any spacecraft in history.

Richard Durisen and Paul Estrada join Planetary Radio to discuss their research on the surprisingly recent formation of Saturn's rings and why they are disappearing over time.

Justin Spilker joins Planetary Radio to talk about his team’s detection of the oldest organic molecules in the known Universe.

Sarafina El-Badry Nance joins Planetary Radio to discuss her new book, Starstruck: A Memoir of Astrophysics and Finding Light in the Dark.

Would meeting an extraterrestrial civilization be good or bad for humanity? Astronomer Dr. Jacob Haqq Misra argues that knowing the outcome in advance is fundamentally impossible. Should we camouflage Earth's technosignatures or pour money into perhaps the most transformative event in human history? Should we fear the dark or embrace the unknown?

The second round awardees in a Planetary Society grant program will explore extreme life in super-salty lakes, and study how future Martians will grow their own food.

Shubham Kanodia, the lead on a paper about a so-called forbidden planet, TOI 5202 b, joins us to talk about this strange world and why it's upending our understanding of planetary formation.

In this week's episode of Planetary Radio, we're honoring the educators who inspire young, curious minds to explore the marvels of the Cosmos.

Darby Dyar, Deputy Principal Investigator for NASA's VERITAS mission to Venus, joins Planetary Radio to share the human story behind the spacecraft and make a case for saving the mission.

Eric Roesch, an environmental policy expert, joins Planetary Radio to discuss SpaceX's Starship, environmental regulations' role in commercial space travel, and responsible space exploration.

Planetary Radio creator Mat Kaplan shares a look behind the scenes at the 2023 Planetary Defense Conference in Vienna, Austria.

Join us as we celebrate the successful launch of the European Space Agency's Juice mission with project scientist Olivier Witasse.

Phil Plait, the Bad Astronomer, joins Planetary Radio to discuss his new book, “Under Alien Skies: A Sightseer’s Guide to the Galaxy.”

Join us as we delve into the heart of LA's 2023 Yuri's Night party, a celebration commemorating Yuri Gagarin's pioneering 1961 voyage into space.

Join us as we celebrate the accomplishments of a truly inspiring space mission - the United Arab Emirates' Hope probe, which has spent two amazing years orbiting Mars!

Robbie Herrick and Scott Hensley, the minds behind a new paper on recent potential volcanic activity on Venus, join Planetary Radio to discuss their discovery and what it means for the future of Venusian exploration.

Lindy Elkins-Tanton, the principal investigator for NASA’s Psyche mission to explore a metallic asteroid, joins Planetary Radio to share the mission’s status and look forward to the wonders that await when the spacecraft reaches its target.

Kim Arcand from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory joins Planetary Radio to share her team’s new album “Universal Harmonies.”

Planetary Radio’s creator Mat Kaplan guest hosts for this look back at the Jet Propulsion Lab’s celebration of the 45th anniversary of the Voyager mission.

Dr. Erika Nesvold, astrophysicist and author of the new book “Off-Earth: Ethical Questions and Quandaries for Living in Outer Space” explores the ethical challenges facing our species as it dips its toe into living beyond our home planet.

Director of Canadensys West Peter Visscher fills us in on the upcoming Canadian lunar rover. Visscher has been working on the rover for years.

Meenakshi Wadhwa, principal scientist for Mars Sample Return at NASA JPL, updates us on the missions that will bring bits of the red planet back to Earth.

A new volunteer SETI science project to search for alien technosignatures has launched! Two of its creators tell you how to sign up.

Mars expert Tanya Harrison shares the details on some of the newest discoveries about Mars’ history, including potential megatsunamis and the discovery of opals in Gale Crater.

Dr. Matt Daniels of the White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy joins the show to discuss the White House’s new cislunar space strategy, its ambitions, and implications for the future of lunar exploration and development.

We celebrate the James Webb Space Telescope's first confirmed exoplanet discovery this week on Planetary Radio. Jacob Lustig-Yaeger, one of the leads on the team that made the detection, joins us to discuss the details.

Dive into the latest discoveries about Jupiter’s moons, Ganymede, Europa, and Io, with Scott Bolton, the principal investigator for NASA’s Juno mission.

Jason Achilles, a musician who partnered with NASA’s JPL to help put one of the first microphones on Mars, shares his journey and the joy of listening to the sounds of the red planet.

Jeremy Graeber, the assistant launch director at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, joins Planetary Radio to recount his experience on the night of Artemis I’s historic launch.

Jet Propulsion Lab director Laurie Leshin joins the Planetary Society's Casey Dreier for a conversation about challenges faced by the famous lab and the entire aerospace industry.

New host Sarah Al-Ahmed bids a fond farewell to Mat Kaplan, Planetary Radio’s former host, in a special interview as Mat shares stories from his two decades as creator and producer of the show.

For his last episode as host, Mat Kaplan welcomes many of his Planetary Society colleagues for a review of a spectacular year of space exploration.