Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and Science

By The Planetary Society

Technology

What's Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and Science about?

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 Mat Kaplan and Planetary Society colleagues including Bill Nye the Science Guy, Bruce Betts, and Emily Lakdawalla as they dive deep into the latest space news. 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 the space trivia contest, an episode guide, and much more.

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LAST EPISODE

Scientist and Hubble Repair...

12.07.2022

Astrophysicist, former astronaut and NASA associate administrator John Grunsfeld on human exploration of space and the science we will do there.

Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and Science episodes:

12.07.2022 Scientist and Hubble Repairman John Grunsfeld Astrophysicist, former astronaut and NASA associate administrator John Grunsfeld on human exploration of space and the science we will do there.
12.02.2022 Space Policy Edition: NASA's Economic Impact with Alex MacDonald and Joshua Drucker What is NASA’s return on investment? NASA chief economist Alex MacDonald and University of Illinois Chicago professor Joshua Drucker provide revealing answers from a new economic impact report.
11.30.2022 A Happy 20th Anniversary for Planetary Radio Join the Planetary Society’s CEO, its co-founder Louis Friedman and others as we mark Planetary Radio’s entry into its third decade.
11.23.2022 Giving the University of Arizona Mirror Lab a spin Join us for a tour of the University of Arizona’s Mirror Lab where they use a giant, spinning oven filled with molten glass to create the primary mirrors for the Giant Magellan Telescope.
11.16.2022 Voyager Mission Project Scientist Linda Spilker Cassini Mission Project Scientist Linda Spilker has now taken on the same job for the Voyager Interstellar Mission.
11.11.2022 Space Policy Edition: What the Congressional Midterms Means for Space Science Bethany Johns of the American Astronomical Society talks with Planetary Society Chief Advocate Casey Dreier about how changes in Washington after the midterm elections may affect support for science.
11.09.2022 Ann Druyan wishes you a happy Sagan Day Celebrate Carl Sagan’s birthday with his longtime collaborator and life partner Ann Druyan.
11.04.2022 Space Policy Edition Bonus: Q&A with Casey Dreier and Bill Nye A special Space Policy Edition featuring a recent policy and advocacy webcast that gave Planetary Society members the opportunity to query Chief Advocate Casey Dreier and Society CEO Bill Nye.
11.02.2022 DART smacked an asteroid! So what’s next in planetary defense? The Double Asteroid Redirection Test was a brilliant success. The leaders of NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office tell us what’s next in the quest to protect Earth.
10.26.2022 Meet the new Planetary Radio host! (and enjoy a beer with a cosmologist) 20 years after its creation, Mat Kaplan is ready to introduce the great new host of Planetary Radio. We also join an assembly of astrophysicists as they toast each other and the cosmos.
10.19.2022 Eyes on the Sky: Spacewatch and the Catalina Sky Survey Meet leaders of two of the most successful Earth-based searches for asteroids, including many that could threaten Earth.
10.12.2022 Innovate! NASA’s leading-edge fellows share their amazing projects Join us at the 2022 NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) Symposium for a taste of projects that just might change the world.
10.07.2022 Space Policy Edition: The Geopolitics of a Successful SETI Detection How will nations react if (when?) humanity detects the presence of an alien intelligence or civilization? That’s the topic Planetary Society Chief Advocate Casey Dreier takes up with his guest, astrophysicist Jason Wright.
10.05.2022 Grounded: The director of the SOFIA flying observatory looks back Director of SOFIA Science Mission Operations Margaret Meixner joins us to lament the end of the giant flying observatory and to celebrate its tremendous successes.
09.28.2022 Bull’s-eye! DART impacts Dimorphos, and we meet space image artist and processor Judy Schmidt Listen as the Double Asteroid Redirection Test spacecraft closes in on asteroid Dimorphos, followed by a triumphant conversation with DART Coordination Lead Nancy Chabot, and a visit with space image processor Judy Schmidt.
09.21.2022 Countdown to DART: Will We Move an Asteroid? The DART spacecraft’s impact on asteroid moonlet Dimorphos is days away, so we’ll check in with Mission Coordination Lead Nancy Chabot as well as Simone Pirrotta, program manager for the LICIACube probe that will be watching the smackdown.
09.14.2022 It’s Not Just NASA: Space Agency Leaders at the Artemis 1 Launch Attempt Leaders of several major, international space agencies talked with host Mat Kaplan during the first attempt to launch the Artemis 1 Moon mission.
09.07.2022 Countdown to Artemis, The Return to the Moon Join Mat Kaplan and Planetary Society colleagues in Florida for the first attempt to launch the Space Launch System rocket on a mission to the Moon.
09.02.2022 Space Policy Edition: Mike Gold on Crafting the Artemis Accords Former NASA Associate Administrator Mike Gold shepherded the Artemis Accords, a set of bilateral agreements for collaboration in human space exploration. Casey Dreier spoke with him in Florida as we awaited the launch of Artemis 1.
08.31.2022 The Voyager Mission: A 45th Anniversary Celebration It’s a party for Voyager and the team of scientists, engineers and others who have followed it across our solar system. Then we’ll visit with Ann Druyan, creative director for the Voyager Golden Record.
08.24.2022 Pieces of Mars: How We’ll Get Them to Earth Getting precious Mars rocks into Earthbound labs is an unprecedented challenge. We’ll hear how a lander, a rocket, a big solar-powered transfer vehicle and two helicopters will take on this challenge.
08.17.2022 A Venus Phosphine Scoop! The Return of Jane Greaves Delightful astronomer Jane Greaves is back with the latest evidence for phosphine gas in the atmosphere of Venus.
08.10.2022 Comets Stink! The Chemical Zoo Found at Comet Chury Scientists have found a menagerie of complex organic compounds on the comet visited by the Rosetta spacecraft that connect it with the birth of our solar system.
08.05.2022 Space Policy Edition: Lori Garver on Bringing Change to NASA Former NASA deputy administrator Lori Garver returns for a deep conversation with Casey Dreier about her fight to turn the agency toward commercial partnerships and away from the expensive Constellation program.
08.03.2022 Citizen Science: Join the search for Martian clouds Scientists need your help identifying clouds high above the surface of the red planet. The goal is figuring out where Mars’ water went.
07.27.2022 New Jet Propulsion Lab Director Laurie Leshin Laurie Leshin has just become the tenth director of JPL and the first woman to run the fabled center for space science and robotic exploration.
07.20.2022 Science from the Moon, and former NASA chief scientist Jim Green looks back The former director of NASA’s Planetary Science division, Jim Green, retired as the agency’s chief scientist in January. This episode opens with a special announcement from host Mat Kaplan.
07.13.2022 The JWST: An Awesome New Window on the Universe Opens Wide NASA and its partners have revealed the first stunning images from the new space telescope. We’ll talk about them with Bill Nye and members of the JWST team.
07.06.2022 A Hero of the New Space Age: Lori Garver and Escaping Gravity Lori Garver went up against powerful forces inside and outside NASA to create the hugely successful commercial cargo and crew programs.
07.01.2022 Space Policy Edition: Pathfinder and the Birth of the Discovery Program Space exploration historian Michael Neufeld traces the fascinating history of one of NASA’s most successful programs of planetary exploration.
06.29.2022 Asteroid Day! Earth Plays Defense A co-founder of the annual, worldwide event, and the leader of the European Space Agency’s planetary defense program mark the 114th anniversary of the Tunguska near-Earth asteroid disaster and the progress we’ve made toward avoiding another impact.
06.22.2022 Sail on! Bill Nye and others celebrate LightSail 2’s three years in space Celebrate the third anniversary of LightSail 2’s launch with Bill Nye and other leaders of The Planetary Society.
06.15.2022 Portrait of a Scientist: A Conversation with Psyche mission leader Lindy Elkins-Tanton Psyche asteroid mission principal investigator Lindy Elkins-Tanton returns with her excellent new memoir, “A Portrait of the Scientist as a Young Woman.”
06.08.2022 Planetary Radio at the Humans to Mars Summit Mat Kaplan helped host the Humans to Mars Summit in Washington D.C., where much of the community that is working to get us to Mars gathered.
06.03.2022 Space Policy Edition: Inside the Planetary Science Decadal Survey Process with Bethany Ehlmann Professor Bethany Ehlmann served on the steering committee for the new planetary science and astrobiology decadal survey that will steer future exploration of the solar system.
06.01.2022 Planetary Radio Live in London: The Moons Symphony Join us for Planetary Radio Live at Imperial College London!
05.25.2022 Cassini’s Dramatic End: A Planetary Radio Reprise We were there when the spacecraft ended 13 years of exploration and revelation at Saturn.
05.18.2022 Life, the Universe and Britney Schmidt Britney Schmidt is preparing us for the day when a submarine will slip into the seas of an ocean world like Europa to search for life.
05.11.2022 Perseverance Perseveres: A Mars rover update from Ken Farley The Mars 2020 rover has rolled into an ancient river delta on the Red Planet. Will we find evidence of past life there?
05.06.2022 Space Policy Edition: How Russia's Invasion of Ukraine Has Changed Space, with Mariel Borowitz International space policy and sustainability expert Mariel Borowitz explores with Casey Dreier how the war in Ukraine reaches beyond Earth in ways that are chilling and surprising.
05.04.2022 Heavy Metal: An encounter with the Psyche spacecraft Suit up for a clean room encounter with the Psyche spacecraft that will soon launch toward the asteroid belt.
04.27.2022 The End of Astronauts? Britain’s Astronomer Royal Martin Rees and science writer Don Goldsmith question the value of putting astronauts in harm’s way at great expense in their new book.
04.20.2022 Yuri’s Night: Join the party! Thousands celebrated the 61st anniversary of the first human voyage into space. We’ll take you to the Los Angeles party under the Space Shuttle Endeavour.
04.13.2022 Apollo 13 astronaut Fred Haise Fred Haise takes us on board the mission that almost didn’t make it home from the Moon and shares many other stories.
04.08.2022 Space Policy Edition: NASA's 2023 Budget Request A healthy $26 billion has been proposed for NASA next year, but there are at least a couple of troubling factors we’ll discuss as Congress begins its review.
04.06.2022 Neptune Odyssey: why we need to visit an ice giant Leaders of the Neptune Odyssey study for the next planetary science and astrobiology decadal survey share their team’s exciting approach for an ice giant-orbiting spacecraft.
03.30.2022 X-raying the universe with Martin Weisskopf X-ray astronomy is vital to solving some of the universe’s biggest mysteries. Martin Weisskopf’s brand new space telescope has joined the effort.
03.23.2022 Legendary Space Physics Pioneer Margaret Kivelson A fascinating conversation with a space science and policy leader who is still hard at work in her 10th decade.
03.18.2022 Planetary Radio Special Edition: The Voyager Golden Record by Twenty Thousand Hertz A special Planetary Radio presentation of the Voyager Golden Record produced by our friends at Twenty Thousand Hertz.
03.16.2022 Meet the first STEP Grant awardees The Planetary Society’s new Science and Technology Empowered by the Public (STEP) grant program will let citizens join the search for ET and enable astronomers to discover the nature of hundreds of near-Earth asteroids.

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