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 Callas returns with a realistic yet hopeful assessment.  He also tells us what Opportunity will be asked to do after we hear from her.  Planetary Society Senior Editor Emily Lakdawalla returns with a preview of China’s next two missions to the Moon, one of which will make the first-ever farside landing. How close is the nearest black hole?  We’ll get the answer as Bruce and Mat explore the night sky in this week’s What’s Up.  Learn and hear more at: http://www.planetary.org/multimedia/planetary-radio/show/2018/0912-2018-john-callas-opportunity.html Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Opportunity, Phone Home!

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 inside the DC beltway where the future of the US space program hangs in the balance. Visit planetary.org/radio for an episode guide and much more.

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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.

Eclipse-O-Rama

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.

Tabletops and telescopes: NASA’s RPG and the hunt for habitable worlds

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

Radiolab helps name 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.

Space Policy Edition: Real and Acceptable Reasons for Space Exploration

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

Opportunity, Phone Home!

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