Planetary Radio Episodes

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.

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.

Asteroid Day! Earth Plays Defense

We Earthlings are making progress toward defending our planet from near-Earth objects, which is reason enough for the annual Asteroid Day celebration.

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.

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.

Cassini’s Dramatic End: A Planetary Radio Reprise

We were there when the Cassini spacecraft ended 13 years of exploration and revelation at Saturn.

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?

Heavy Metal: An encounter with the Psyche spacecraft

Suit up for an up-close encounter with the Psyche spacecraft that will soon launch toward the asteroid belt.

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.

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.

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.

Space Policy Edition: Why are outer planets missions so expensive?

Casey talks with experts about the 50th anniversary of the Pioneer 10 launch toward Jupiter and beyond, and why most outer planets missions since then have been so costly.

5,000 worlds and counting: the success of TESS

MIT’s Michelle Kunimoto heads the TESS Faint Star Search that has revealed over 1,600 of the more than 5,000 TESS-discovered exoplanet candidates in our galaxy.

The weather on brown dwarfs, and worlds on the eve of destruction

Johanna Vos watches the weather on brown dwarf worlds while her colleague, Sam Grunblatt, finds giant planets spiraling toward their doom.

Space Policy Edition: JWST and the politics of mega-science (with Robert Smith)

Science historian Robert Smith describes how NASA's new flagship space observatory came to be.

Nobel laureate John Mather: The promise of the James Webb Space Telescope

JWST senior project scientist John Mather has been looking forward to the new space telescope’s first light for more than 30 years. He joins us with a fascinating preview.

Curiosity rolls on: Mars Science Laboratory project scientist Ashwin Vasavada

The Curiosity rover’s lead researcher reviews the latest findings and images from Mars’ Gale Crater.

We have touched the Sun: The Parker Solar Probe’s triumph

A spacecraft has penetrated the Sun’s corona for the first time, revealing unprecedented data and capturing a mind-blowing video.

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.

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