Since 2002, Planetary Radio has visited with a scientist, engineer, project manager, advocate, or writer who provides a unique perspective on the quest for knowledge about our Solar System and beyond. The full show archive is available for free.

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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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

Water, water everywhere with Bethany Ehlmann

Water may have flowed on Mars for a billion more years than was previously thought, giving possible life an extra billion years to thrive.

Astrobiologist David Grinspoon on life, the universe and everything

Astrobiologist and author David Grinspoon shares his thoughts about the search for life, where we might find it and how science works.

Space Policy Edition: What We're Watching in 2022

Planetary Society chief of D.C. operations Brendan Curry returns for a look ahead at what to expect in 2022.

Return to the Moon: Spacesuits and preparing for splashdown in the Pacific

Building the next spacesuit for Moon walkers, and a shipboard update on how the Artemis 1 Orion capsule will be recovered from the Pacific Ocean.

A conversation with the director of “Don’t Look Up”

Director Adam McKay and planetary defense expert Amy Mainzer join us for a conversation about the film and the science behind it.

Discovering life elsewhere: How can we be sure?

NASA’s Jim Green and Mary Voytek want the science community to develop tools that will help us evaluate potential evidence of life beyond Earth.

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