Planetary Radio
Each week, Planetary Radio visits with a scientist, engineer, project manager, astronaut, advocate or writer who provides a unique and exciting perspective on the exploration of our solar system and beyond. We also showcase regular features that raise your space IQ while they put a smile on your face. Host Mat Kaplan is joined by Planetary Society colleagues Bill Nye the Science Guy, Bruce Betts, and Emily Lakdawalla. We hit the road now and then to produce a Planetary Radio Live show in front of an audience. Drop us a line or enter the weekly space trivia contest at planetaryradio@planetary.org.
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Recent Shows
Saving Earth: Asteroid Emergency Tabletop Exercise at the 2013 PDC
05/06/2013 | 41:37
Guests
- Bill Ailor, Director of the Aerospace Corporation's Center for Orbital and Reentry Debris Studies
- Lindley Johnson, NASA
- Debbie Lewis, Director, Axiom
- Edward Lu, Chairman and CEO, B612 Foundation
- Cathy Plesko, Applied Physics Research Scientist, Los Alamos National Laboratory
- Rusty Schweickart, B612 Foundation Chairman and Apollo 9 Astronaut
- Don Yeomans, Manager of NASA's Near Earth Object Program Office
The last installment of our Planetary Defense Conference coverage makes a deep impact as hundreds of attendees participate in an asteroid mitigation exercise. You’ll hear from astronauts Ed Lu and Rusty Schweikart, Near Earth Object expert Don Yeomans, Cathy Plesko of the Los Alamos National Laboratory and many more.
Live at the Planetary Defense Conference!
04/22/2013 | 28:50
Guests
- Brent Barbee, Flight Dynamics Engineer, Goddard space Flight Center
- Amy Mainzer, NEOWISE Principal Investigator, Jet Propulsion Lab
- Bill Nye, Chief Executive Officer
- Cathy Plesko, Applied Physics Research Scientist, Los Alamos National Laboratory
- David Trilling, Assistant Professor of Physics and Astronomy, Northern Arizona University
Planetary Radio host Mat Kaplan joined Bill Nye and four passionate planetary explorers on stage at the Planetary Defense Conference in Flagstaff, Arizona.
Basics of Interplanetary Flight With Dave Doody
04/08/2013 | 28:50
Guests
- Dave Doody, Operations Lead, JPL Cassini Mission Support and Services Office
JPL’s Dave Doody doesn’t just fly around the solar system, he teaches others how it's done. We talk about what students learn in his non-technical class, the Basics of Interplanetary Flight.
Saturn Update from Cassini Project Scientist Linda Spilker
04/01/2013 | 30:14
Guests
- Linda Spilker, Cassini Project Scientist, Jet Propulsion Laboratory
We pay another visit to the queen of planets with Cassini Mission Project Scientist Linda Spilker. She always brings us fascinating news from Saturn, its moons and rings.
More of Our ALMA Adventure in Chile's Atacama Desert
03/25/2013 | 28:50
Guests
- Denis Barkats, Sysem Astronomer, ALMA
- Stuartt Corder, Commissioning and Science Verification Project Scientist, ALMA
- Pierre Cox, Director, ALMA, the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array
Our special coverage of the ALMA Observatory inauguration continues, with the President of Chile, the incoming ALMA Director, and much more from the Atacama Desert.
03/18/2013 | 28:50
Guests
- Ewine van Dishoeck, Radio Astronomer, University of Leiden & Former ALMA Board Member
- Al Wooten, North American Project Scientist and head of the North American ALMA Science Center, National Radio Astronomy Observatory
- Alison Peck, Former ALMA Commissioning Scientists Team Leader, National Radio Astronomy Observatory
- Gianni Marconi, Commissioning Scientist, ALMA
The first of two shows about Mat Kaplan's journey to Chile's Atacama Desert for the inauguration of the Atacama Large Millimeter small millimter Array, the most ambitious, Earth-based astronomy project in history.
Alan Stern's Golden Spike Sets Sights on the Moon
03/04/2013 | 28:50
Guests
- Alan Stern, New Horizons Principal Investigator, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
Alan Stern is back to tell us about Golden Spike, his new company that plans to put human clients on the surface of the moon by the end of this decade.
Chris Lewicki of Planetary Resources: Mining Asteroids For Fun and Profit
02/18/2013 | 31:25
Guests
- Chris Lewicki, President and Chief Asteroid Miner, Planetary Resources
Chris Lewicki is the passionate President of Planetary Resources. He leads the company's mission to find, capture and deliver asteroids to its space-resource hungry clients.
2012 DA14--Coming Soon to a Planet Near You!
02/11/2013 | 28:50
Guests
- Amy Mainzer, NEOWISE Principal Investigator, Jet Propulsion Lab
- Timothy Spahr, Director, Minor Planet Center, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
- Lindley Johnson, NASA
- Edward Beshore, OSIRIS REx Deputy Principal Investigator, University of Arizona, Tucson
The 45-meter Near Earth Asteroid flies by on February 15. NASA brought together asteroid experts to discuss it and others of its threatening kind.
Debra Fischer Hunts for a Second Earth at Alpha Centauri
01/28/2013 | 28:53
Guests
- Debra Fischer, Astronomer
Yale Professor of Astronomy Debra Fischer is one of our planet’s most successful discoverers of exoplanets. She has set her sights on Alpha Centauri, where she hopes to find a Earth-sized world in the habitable zone: not too hot, not too cold for life.
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