Gravity Assist

By National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

What's Gravity Assist about?

NASA’s interplanetary talk show, hosted by former Chief Scientist Jim Green, introduces you to space professionals working to take exploration into the future.

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Gravity Assist episodes:

08.12.2022
Season 5, Episode 32: Finale: Thanks for All the Gravity Assists
On the Gravity Assist podcast we have interviewed dozens of scientists, engineers, and others dedicated to the mission of NASA space exploration. After five years, the show is coming to a close. Here are some final thoughts and episode highlights...
08.12.2022
Gravity Assist Finale: Thanks for All the Gravity Assists
On the Gravity Assist podcast we have interviewed dozens of scientists, engineers, and others dedicated to the mission of NASA space exploration. After five years, the show is coming to a close. Here are some final thoughts and episode highlights...
07.29.2022
Season 5, Episode 31: Meet a Webb Scientist Who Looks Back in Time
The James Webb Space Telescope awed the world on July 12 with its first images and data. And it’s just getting started with its exploration of the cosmos. Dr. John Mather, the observatory’s senior project scientist, has been working toward...
07.29.2022
Gravity Assist: Meet a Webb Scientist Who Looks Back in Time
The James Webb Space Telescope awed the world on July 12 with its first images and data. And it’s just getting started with its exploration of the cosmos. Dr. John Mather, the observatory’s senior project scientist, has been working toward...
07.08.2022
Season 5, Ep. 30: Gravity Assist: How We Make Webb (and Hubble) Images
The world will get a first glimpse of the universe as never before when the first images from the James Webb Space Telescope come out on July 12. And this is only the beginning — the telescope will deliver all...
07.08.2022
Gravity Assist: How We Make Webb (and Hubble) Images
The world will get a first glimpse of the universe as never before when the first images from the James Webb Space Telescope come out on July 12. And this is only the beginning — the telescope will deliver all...
07.01.2022
Gravity Assist: It’s Raining Diamonds on These Planets
Uranus and Neptune are two of the many exciting and mysterious objects in our universe that the James Webb Space Telescope will soon begin to explore. Learn more about these planets and the Webb telescope’s upcoming observations from astrophysicist Naomi...
06.17.2022
Season 5, Episode 28: This is What Mars Sounds Like, with Nina Lanza
With two microphones aboard the Perseverance rover, we can listen to Mars from its surface like never before. In addition to hearing how wind sounds on Mars, we can also listen to Perseverance driving on the surface, the Ingenuity helicopter...
06.17.2022
Gravity Assist: This is What Mars Sounds Like, with Nina Lanza
With two microphones aboard the Perseverance rover, we can listen to Mars from its surface like never before. In addition to hearing how wind sounds on Mars, we can also listen to Perseverance driving on the surface, the Ingenuity helicopter...
05.20.2022
Season 5, Episode 27: What Will We Eat on Mars?
Astronauts on the International Space Station have been conducting experiments to grow food, including peppers and radishes. Christina Johnson, a NASA postdoc fellow at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, has been working on a variety of techniques to grow...
05.13.2022
Season 5, Episode 26: How to Grow Food on the Moon
Space botanists are working on strategies to grow crops on the lunar surface, as NASA makes strides toward sending astronauts to the Moon through the Artemis program.
05.13.2022
Gravity Assist: How to Grow Food on the Moon
Space botanists are working on strategies to grow crops on the lunar surface, as NASA makes strides toward sending astronauts to the Moon through the Artemis program.
04.22.2022
Season 5,Episode 25: Walking on Broken Ice, with Catherine Walker
An ice shelf collapsed in East Antarctica in March 2022, concerning scientists who track melting glaciers, sea level rise, and other effects of climate change.
04.08.2022
Season 5, Episode 24: Do Other Planets Make Pollution?
On a quest to find out if we are not alone in the universe, Ravi Kopparapu at NASA Goddard studies how we could use telescopes to detect signs of life beyond our solar system.
04.08.2022
Gravity Assist: Do Other Planets Make Pollution? With Ravi Kopparapu
On a quest to find out if we are not alone in the universe, Ravi Kopparapu at NASA Goddard studies how we could use telescopes to detect signs of life beyond our solar system.
03.18.2022
Season 5, Episode 23: These Space Rocks Have Seen It All
How do we know if a rock came from the Moon, Mars, or an asteroid? Planetary scientist Neyda Abreu has looked inside all kinds of meteorites to understand where they came from and what’s inside them. She also traveled to...
03.18.2022
Gravity Assist: These Space Rocks Have Seen It All, with Neyda Abreu
How do we know if a rock came from the Moon, Mars, or an asteroid? Planetary scientist Neyda Abreu has looked inside all kinds of meteorites to understand where they came from and what’s inside them. She also traveled to...
03.04.2022
Season 5, Episode 22: Using Webb to Trace Galactic Histories
The James Webb Space Telescope, which launched Dec. 25, will allow us to see the farthest galaxies and better understand the origins of the Milky Way. Aaron Yung at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center is preparing for these historic observations...
03.04.2022
Gravity Assist: Using Webb to Trace Galactic Histories, with Aaron Yung
The James Webb Space Telescope, which launched Dec. 25, will allow us to see the farthest galaxies and better understand the origins of the Milky Way. Aaron Yung at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center is preparing for these historic observations...
02.18.2022
Season 5, Episode 21: In Case of Space Station Emergency
In space, we have to expect the unexpected. Sunny Panjwani of NASA’s Johnson Space Center shares how he got thrown into an emergency situation on his first day as a flight controller. His team makes sure that astronauts have a...
02.18.2022
Gravity Assist: In Case of Space Station Emergency, with Sunny Panjwani
In space, we have to expect the unexpected. Sunny Panjwani of NASA’s Johnson Space Center shares how he got thrown into an emergency situation on his first day as a flight controller. His team makes sure that astronauts have a...
01.28.2022
Gravity Assist: Meet NASA’s New Chief Scientist, Kate Calvin
Climate change is one of the most important issues facing our planet, and NASA has lots of space missions and programs in the works to monitor and understand its drivers and effects. Kate Calvin, NASA’s new chief scientist, is also...
01.28.2022
Gravity Assist: Meet NASA’s New Chief Scientist and Senior Climate Advisor, with Kate Calvin
Climate change is one of the most important issues facing our planet, and NASA has lots of space missions and programs in the works to monitor and understand its drivers and effects. Kate Calvin, NASA’s new chief scientist, is also...
12.03.2021
Season 5, Episode 19: A New Set of X-Ray Eyes is Launching
NASA is about to launch a new spacecraft to look at the universe in X-ray light. The Imaging X-Ray Polarimetry Explorer, IXPE, will look at extreme objects such as black holes, neutron stars, and supernovae, asking fundamental questions about how...
12.03.2021
Gravity Assist: A New Set of X-Ray Eyes is Launching, with Martin Weisskopf
NASA is about to launch a new spacecraft to look at the universe in X-ray light. The Imaging X-Ray Polarimetry Explorer, IXPE, will look at extreme objects such as black holes, neutron stars, and supernovae, asking fundamental questions about how...
11.19.2021
Season 5, Episode 18: How to Move an Asteroid, with Nancy Chabot
NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test Mission, or DART, will deliberately impact a small asteroid called Dimorphos to deflect its orbit around a bigger object, Didymos. Nancy Chabot, planetary scientist at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, has the details.
11.19.2021
Gravity Assist: How to Move an Asteroid, with Nancy Chabot
NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test Mission, or DART, will deliberately impact a small asteroid called Dimorphos to deflect its orbit around a bigger object, Didymos. Nancy Chabot, planetary scientist at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, has the details.
10.29.2021
Season 5, Episode 17: Solar Power for the Moon
As NASA prepares to send astronauts to the Moon through the Artemis program, engineers are working on technologies that will give these explorers power – solar power, that is. In space, the harsh radiation and huge temperature changes make for...
10.29.2021
Gravity Assist: Solar Power for the Moon, with Lyndsey McMillon-Brown
As NASA prepares to send astronauts to the Moon through the Artemis program, engineers are working on technologies that will give these explorers power – solar power, that is. In space, the harsh radiation and huge temperature changes make for...
10.22.2021
Season 5, Episode 16:Meet a Space Weather Scientist
Yaireska Collado-Vega leads a team at NASA’s Goddard Spacecraft Center that is studying the solar weather environment so that robots and people exploring space can be protected. In this episode of Gravity Assist, she describes the excitement and challenges of...
10.22.2021
Gravity Assist: Meet a Space Weather Scientist, with Yaireska Collado-Vega
Yaireska Collado-Vega leads a team at NASA’s Goddard Spacecraft Center that is studying the solar weather environment so that robots and people exploring space can be protected. In this episode of Gravity Assist, she describes the excitement and challenges of...
10.08.2021
Season 5, Episode 15: Lucy and the Space Fossils, with Hal Levison
To get a more complete understanding of the full history of our solar system, NASA is sending a spacecraft called Lucy to investigate the Trojans, mysterious small objects that share an orbit of the Sun with Jupiter. Principal investigator Hal...
10.08.2021
Gravity Assist: Lucy and the Space Fossils, with Hal Levison
To get a more complete understanding of the full history of our solar system, NASA is sending a spacecraft called Lucy to investigate the Trojans, mysterious small objects that share an orbit of the Sun with Jupiter. Principal investigator Hal...
08.27.2021
Season 5, Episode 14: Goodbye Saturn, Hello Earth
Janelle Wellons likes to say that she operates “fancy space cameras.” At NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, she creates commands that allow spacecraft to take valuable scientific data in our solar system and here at planet Earth.
08.27.2021
Gravity Assist: Goodbye Saturn, Hello Earth, with Janelle Wellons
Janelle Wellons likes to say that she operates “fancy space cameras.” At NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, she creates commands that allow spacecraft to take valuable scientific data in our solar system and here at planet Earth.
08.06.2021
Season 5, Episode 13: Freaky Physics on the Space Station
The laws of physics get very, very weird in the realm of particles too small for the eye to see. Aboard the International Space Station, an experiment called the Cold Atom Laboratory (CAL) is exploring how the universe works .
08.06.2021
Gravity Assist: Freaky Physics on the Space Station, with Ethan Elliott
The laws of physics get very, very weird in the realm of particles too small for the eye to see. Aboard the International Space Station, an experiment called the Cold Atom Laboratory (CAL) is exploring how the universe works .
07.30.2021
Season 5, Episode 12: Diving Into NASA History
In honor of National Intern Day, Gravity Assist features Felicia Ragucci, an undergraduate at Dartmouth College who recently completed an internship with NASA’s History Office and the Office of the Chief Scientist. During her time at NASA, Felicia researched the...
07.30.2021
Gravity Assist: Diving Into NASA History, with NASA Intern Felicia Ragucci
In honor of National Intern Day, Gravity Assist features Felicia Ragucci, an undergraduate at Dartmouth College who recently completed an internship with NASA’s History Office and the Office of the Chief Scientist. During her time at NASA, Felicia researched the...
07.23.2021
Season 5, Episode 11: Onward to Venus, with Lori Glaze
NASA is sending two missions to Venus this decade and participating in a European Space Agency mission there, too. Lori Glaze, director of planetary science at NASA, discusses these missions and why she’s so excited about what we’re about to...
07.23.2021
Gravity Assist: Onward to Venus, with Lori Glaze
NASA is sending two missions to Venus this decade and participating in a European Space Agency mission there, too. Lori Glaze, director of planetary science at NASA, discusses these missions and why she’s so excited about what we’re about to...
07.09.2021
Season 5, Episode 10: A Chance to Fly on Mars, with MiMi Aung
The idea for NASA’s Mars Ingenuity helicopter began at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory with a team of dedicated engineers who believed in something seemingly impossible. MiMi Aung served as the project manager on the helicopter, which has now achieved nine...
07.02.2021
Season 5, Episode 9: This Asteroid Is Metal
Scientists will soon have the opportunity to visit a unique object in the asteroid belt called Psyche, which may be the exposed metallic core of a planetary body that stopped growing before it became a big planet like Earth. Dr....
07.02.2021
Gravity Assist: This Asteroid Is Metal, With Lindy Elkins-Tanton
Scientists will soon have the opportunity to visit a unique object in the asteroid belt called Psyche, which may be the exposed metallic core of a planetary body that stopped growing before it became a big planet like Earth. Dr....
06.18.2021
Season 5, Episode 8: Let’s Talk About Climate Change
What’s the difference between climate and weather? How does NASA monitor changing sea levels, melting glaciers, and other effects of climate change? Gavin Schmidt, NASA’s acting senior climate advisor, explains how rising temperatures lead to many complex changes both in...
06.18.2021
Gravity Assist: Let’s Talk About Climate Change, with Gavin Schmidt
What’s the difference between climate and weather? How does NASA monitor changing sea levels, melting glaciers, and other effects of climate change? Gavin Schmidt, NASA’s acting senior climate advisor, explains how rising temperatures lead to many complex changes both in...
06.11.2021
Season 5, Episode 7: From Space Camp to Mission Control
How do astronauts exercise on the International Space Station? How do they train underwater? Tara Ruttley, associate chief scientist for microgravity research at NASA Headquarters, has worked on a lot of fascinating projects to support the human spaceflight program.
06.11.2021
Gravity Assist: From Space Camp to Mission Control, with Tara Ruttley
How do astronauts exercise on the International Space Station? How do they train underwater? Tara Ruttley, associate chief scientist for microgravity research at NASA Headquarters, has worked on a lot of fascinating projects to support the human spaceflight program.
06.04.2021
Season 5, Episode 6: Before You Launch: Practice, Practice, Practice
When future astronauts explore the surfaces of the Moon, Mars, or beyond, they’ll have big challenges communicating with Mission Control back on Earth.
06.04.2021
Gravity Assist: Before You Launch: Practice, Practice, Practice
When future astronauts explore the surfaces of the Moon, Mars, or beyond, they’ll have big challenges communicating with Mission Control back on Earth.

What's Gravity Assist about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Gravity Assist episodes:

Season 5, Episode 32: Finale: Thanks for All the Gravity Assists

Gravity Assist Finale: Thanks for All the Gravity Assists

Season 5, Episode 31: Meet a Webb Scientist Who Looks Back in Time

Gravity Assist: Meet a Webb Scientist Who Looks Back in Time

Season 5, Ep. 30: Gravity Assist: How We Make Webb (and Hubble) Images

Gravity Assist: How We Make Webb (and Hubble) Images

Gravity Assist: It’s Raining Diamonds on These Planets

Season 5, Episode 28: This is What Mars Sounds Like, with Nina Lanza

Gravity Assist: This is What Mars Sounds Like, with Nina Lanza

Season 5, Episode 27: What Will We Eat on Mars?

Season 5, Episode 26: How to Grow Food on the Moon

Gravity Assist: How to Grow Food on the Moon

Season 5,Episode 25: Walking on Broken Ice, with Catherine Walker

Season 5, Episode 24: Do Other Planets Make Pollution?

Gravity Assist: Do Other Planets Make Pollution? With Ravi Kopparapu

Season 5, Episode 23: These Space Rocks Have Seen It All

Gravity Assist: These Space Rocks Have Seen It All, with Neyda Abreu

Season 5, Episode 22: Using Webb to Trace Galactic Histories

Gravity Assist: Using Webb to Trace Galactic Histories, with Aaron Yung

Season 5, Episode 21: In Case of Space Station Emergency

Gravity Assist: In Case of Space Station Emergency, with Sunny Panjwani

Gravity Assist: Meet NASA’s New Chief Scientist, Kate Calvin

Gravity Assist: Meet NASA’s New Chief Scientist and Senior Climate Advisor, with Kate Calvin

Season 5, Episode 19: A New Set of X-Ray Eyes is Launching

Gravity Assist: A New Set of X-Ray Eyes is Launching, with Martin Weisskopf

Season 5, Episode 18: How to Move an Asteroid, with Nancy Chabot

Gravity Assist: How to Move an Asteroid, with Nancy Chabot

Season 5, Episode 17: Solar Power for the Moon

Gravity Assist: Solar Power for the Moon, with Lyndsey McMillon-Brown

Season 5, Episode 16:Meet a Space Weather Scientist

Gravity Assist: Meet a Space Weather Scientist, with Yaireska Collado-Vega

Season 5, Episode 15: Lucy and the Space Fossils, with Hal Levison

Gravity Assist: Lucy and the Space Fossils, with Hal Levison

Season 5, Episode 14: Goodbye Saturn, Hello Earth

Gravity Assist: Goodbye Saturn, Hello Earth, with Janelle Wellons

Season 5, Episode 13: Freaky Physics on the Space Station

Gravity Assist: Freaky Physics on the Space Station, with Ethan Elliott

Season 5, Episode 12: Diving Into NASA History

Gravity Assist: Diving Into NASA History, with NASA Intern Felicia Ragucci

Season 5, Episode 11: Onward to Venus, with Lori Glaze

Gravity Assist: Onward to Venus, with Lori Glaze

Season 5, Episode 10: A Chance to Fly on Mars, with MiMi Aung

Season 5, Episode 9: This Asteroid Is Metal

Gravity Assist: This Asteroid Is Metal, With Lindy Elkins-Tanton

Season 5, Episode 8: Let’s Talk About Climate Change

Gravity Assist: Let’s Talk About Climate Change, with Gavin Schmidt

Season 5, Episode 7: From Space Camp to Mission Control

Gravity Assist: From Space Camp to Mission Control, with Tara Ruttley

Season 5, Episode 6: Before You Launch: Practice, Practice, Practice

Gravity Assist: Before You Launch: Practice, Practice, Practice