Program Archives

ARE THERE PUDDLES ON MARS?
March 30, 2009
Guests: Nilton Renno
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The University of Michigan's Nilton Renno leads a team that last week announced discovery of persistent liquid water on Mars...right on a leg of the Phoenix Mars Lander. He'll tell us what makes...  more »

SIGNS OF LIFE? DISCOVERY OF MARTIAN METHANE PLUMES
February 23, 2009
Guests: Michael Mumma, Bill Nye
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Michael Mumma directs the Goddard Center for Astrobiology. A team he leads recently announced three plumes of methane on Mars. We talk with him about how they were discovered, and what they might...  more »

CELEBRATE THE MARS ROVERS WITH JIM BELL
January 19, 2009
Guests: Jim Bell, Bill Nye
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Planetary Society President Jim Bell leads the PanCam team for the Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity. He came to Pasadena last week to help celebrate five years on Mars. Bill Nye...  more »

LOOKING BACK AT THE PHOENIX MARS POLAR LANDER WITH PETER SMITH
January 5, 2009
Guests: Peter Smith
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The Phoenix Lander is dead - probably - but it lives on in the reams of data it returned from the red planet, including data about the water ice it found. Principal Investigator Peter Smith reviews...  more »

REPORT ON THE ANNUAL MEETING OF THE AMERICAN GEOPHYSICAL UNION
December 22, 2008
Guests: Emily Lakdawalla
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Our own Emily Lakdawalla reports on her visit to the AGU, where she heard the latest news about Mars, two moons of Saturn and our own Moon. Bill Nye is inspired by a couple of house-shaking sonic...  more »

MARTIAN ICE IS EVERYWHERE...ALMOST
December 8, 2008
Guests: Jack Holt
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The new discovery of huge glaciers far from the Martian poles is reviewed by lead author Jack Holt of the University of Texas, Austin. Bill Nye says that, even with a two-year delay, the Mars...  more »

ANDREW CHAIKIN'S PASSION FOR MARS
October 27, 2008
Guests: Andrew Chaikin
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The author of "A Man on the Moon" has just written "A Passion for Mars: Intrepid Explorers of the Red Planet." He talks about this inspiring new work from his Vermont home. Is the Cassini mission to...  more »

WHERE TO LOOK FOR LIFE ON MARS
October 6, 2008
Guests: Roger Buick
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University of Washington Professor Roger Buick has good advice about where a new rover should look for life on the Red Planet. He also looks for the origin of life on this planet. A double helping...  more »

PHOENIX MARS LANDER UPDATE: TASTE THE WATER!
August 4, 2008
Guests: Michael Meyer, Peter Smith, Bill Boynton, Victoria Hipkin, Mark Lemmon
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An exciting update from the Phoenix Mars Lander team, with further insights from Emily Lakdawalla. Bill Nye also celebrates Phoenix.  more »

LANDING ON MARS: HOW HARD CAN IT BE?
June 9, 2008
Guests: Rob Manning
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JPL's Rob Manning explores just a few of the challenges of landing a spacecraft on another planet. We also get a Phoenix mission update from Emily Lakdawalla, who says not everything is going well. ...  more »