Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and Science

We are approaching the 10th anniversary of Curiosity’s arrival in the Red Planet’s Gale crater. The rolling laboratory is still making profound discoveries as it reveals beautiful vistas and closeups. Project scientist Ashwin Vasavada shares some of the most significant finds in the last year. We’re deep into winter in the northern hemisphere, making Orion, Mat Kaplan’s fav...

The Parker Solar Probe dipped within the corona on its eighth encounter with our star. It found phenomena that have surprised and delighted heliophysicists, and it captured a movie that is one of the greatest space videos ever. We’ll talk about these and more with Nicola “Nicky” Fox, director of NASA’s Heliophysics Division, and Nour Raouafi, the mission’s project sci...

New rockets, new legislation, and a new direction for planetary exploration are just some of the major events happening in space in the coming year. D.C. Operations Chief Brendan Curry returns to the show to explore these and other issues that will shape the next decade of space exploration and occupy The Planetary Society's advocacy and policy team in 2022. Discover more here: https://www.planeta...

NASA’s Artemis program aims to return humans to the Moon for the first time since 1972. We visit Naval Base San Diego to board the USS John P. Murtha, the ship that may recover the uncrewed Artemis 1 Orion capsule when it returns from the Moon this year. Next, Daniel Kopp of ILC Dover tells us about work underway to create the next moonsuit. Every Apollo moonwalker wore an ILC Dover spacesui...

Mat Kaplan and six Planetary Society colleagues review a year full of accomplishments, firsts and exciting discoveries. Society CEO Bill Nye opens the show with a celebration of the James Webb Space Telescope’s launch. Next is a round robin discussion with Jason Davis, Casey Dreier, Kate Howells, and Rae Paoletta. We close with Bruce Betts’ recap of the LightSail 2 mission right after...

Space historian William Sheehan and planetary scientist Jim Bell have written a fascinating history of humankind’s at least 5,000-year relationship with the Red Planet. “Discovering Mars” is filled with anecdotes about the people who have revealed Mars. The chronicle includes Mars helicopter Ingenuity’s flights and then looks to the future of exploration. Someone will win t...

The James Webb Space Telescope will begin its mission of discovery as soon as Dec. 24. René Doyon, Heidi Hammel and Mike McElwain join us for a conversation about what it may reveal from our solar system to the edge of the universe. Doyon is principal investigator for the telescope’s NIRISS imaging spectrograph, Hammel is vice president for science at the Association of University for...

The plot of the great new movie “Don’t Look Up” is driven by a giant comet speeding toward Earth and the scientists who want to divert it. Adam McKay directed this dark comedy. He and real-life planetary defense expert Amy Mainzer talk with Mat Kaplan about the science, the scientists, and much more. Then a group of Planetary Society colleagues share their thoughts about the film...

The search for biosignatures on hundreds of exoplanets is the top goal for U.S. astronomers. That's the conclusion from the new, once-per-decade report from the National Academy of Sciences: Pathways to Discovery. In it, the field of astrophysics is analyzed and prioritized: establishing the major scientific questions, the tools to answer them, and how to best engage the human talent necessary to...

Is it life? NASA chief scientist Jim Green and Mary Voytek, leader of the agency’s astrobiology program, are two authors of a paper that calls for a system or scale that will allow scientists and others to evaluate the validity and importance of evidence that points to life elsewhere in the solar system or across the galaxy. Planetary Society communications strategy adviser Kate Howells shar...

Ariel Ekblaw and her Space Exploration Initiative colleagues believe we are at the cusp of interplanetary civilization. They are building the tools, environments and knowledge that will speed the transition and solve problems on Earth. Ariel has published Into the Anthropocosmos, a beautiful celebration of SEI’s fifth anniversary that presents many of its innovative projects. Someone will wi...

DART coordination lead Nancy Chabot and the rest of the Double Asteroid Redirection Test team will see their spacecraft rocket toward asteroids Didymos and Dimorphos in a few days. She returns to Planetary Radio with a preview of the mission and its difficult challenge. Planetary Society editor Rae Paoletta takes us on a brief tour of the solar system’s volcanoes, and a special guest joins B...

Badri Younes says that a spacecraft that can’t communicate or find its way is worthless. He leads SCaN, NASA’s Space Communications and Navigation program, which manages resources like the agency’s Deep Space Network. SCaN is also preparing for a future that relies on optical communication and possibly even quantum computing. Younes takes us on an audio tour of SCaN’s work...

The first in-space test of asteroid deflection technology, DART, launches this month. Lindley Johnson, NASA's planetary defense coordination officer, joins the show to talk about how this mission represents a new era for the agency's Planetary Defense program, and how it took nearly 25 years to convince policymakers, international partners, and even NASA that asteroid detection and deflection is a...

The chair of the United Arab Emirates space agency returns with news of an ambitious mission to explore seven asteroids. Sarah also shares the latest science from the Emirates Mars Mission Hope orbiter. The Planetary Society’s Kate Howells invites you to vote for the best space images and more from 2021. And we’ve got two space trivia contest winners to announce in the new What’s...

Host Mat Kaplan has wanted to reshare his first conversation with the great Sally Ride for years. Sally talks about women in space, the loss of space shuttle Challenger, and her devotion to sharing the wonders of science with young girls through Sally Ride Science. Planetary Society editor Rae Paoletta takes us to Jupiter’s Great Red Spot. Is it shrinking? We also celebrate the return of the...

Planetary Radio host Mat Kaplan interviewed NIAC Fellows about their revolutionary projects as part of the 2021 virtual symposium. You’ll hear highlights including how we might grow structures on the Moon and Mars from fungi, and solar sails that will pass excruciatingly close to the Sun before they zoom out of our solar system. We’ll also check in with Society chief scientist Bruce Be...

A delightful, exclusive conversation with principal investigator Hal Levison, deputy principal investigator Cathy Olkin and deputy project systems engineer Mike Sekerak on the eve of Lucy’s launch toward the asteroids that share Jupiter’s orbit. Don’t miss the cameo appearance by Ringo Starr! Bruce Betts offers another What’s Up space trivia contest with an extended deadlin...

It started with a question from a listener. The answer comes from Dawn mission chief engineer and mission director Marc Rayman. Marc also tells us about his new job as chief engineer for mission operations and science at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and shares his love of space exploration with Mat. LightSail 2 is still going strong! Program manager Bruce Betts opens this week’s W...

A polarized U.S. Congress is juggling nearly half a dozen pieces of major legislation, several of which face time-sensitive deadlines that, if missed, could create significant disruption for major NASA programs. Brendan Curry, The Planetary Society's Chief of D.C. Operations, reports on the view from inside the beltway, and helps us understand how the current logjam of legislation could impact or...

Mars all-stars gathered online for September’s annual Humans to Mars summit produced by Explore Mars. Planetary Radio host Mat Kaplan moderated three intriguing panels with participants including leaders from space agencies throughout the world. Then we hear about the 19th century’s biggest telescope in this week’s What’s Up segment with Bruce Betts.  Learn more at htt...

Clare Lewins has created a film that takes us inside the lives of people who have lived and worked on the International Space Station. Cady Coleman is one of the featured astronauts in this beautiful, intimate and very affecting documentary. Planetary Society contributor Jatan Mehta tells us about South Korea’s plans for a lunar orbiter with an amazing camera. Bruce Betts returns with yet an...

Morgan Cable of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory is lead author of a paper that makes a compelling argument for a mission to Saturn’s small but dynamic moon Enceladus. She and her stellar co-authors believe it is among the best and easiest places in our solar system to look for evidence of life. Morgan has also been involved with the synthesis of organic crystals that could exist on Ti...

NASA hopes to radically reduce the price tag for exploring Mars with a mission called ESCAPADE. Principal investigator Rob Lillis and his team will send two small probes to the Red Planet in 2024 for less than $80 million. They will work with orbiters already circling Mars to answer deep questions about the evolution of that world’s formerly thick atmosphere and the effects of solar radiatio...

Communication is culture, says Dr. Linda Billings, an expert in social science and space outreach. So what culture is summed by the types of space advocacy that call for pioneering, colonization and conquest of nature? Linda talks about the importance of language and context when advocating for space, and how we should consider other cultural values and frameworks for effective public engagement....