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.

Io and Voyager 2: Lost oceans and found signals

Voyager project manager Suzanne Dodd and Voyager project scientist Linda Spilker discuss reestablishing contact with Voyager 2 and Carver Bierson from Arizona State University tells the tale of how Io went from a water-rich moon into a world with lakes of lava.

Subsurface oceans: The hidden potential of Earth-like exoplanets

Lujendra Ojha, assistant professor at Rutgers University, joins Planetary Radio to discuss how subsurface liquid water on exoplanets orbiting red dwarf stars could increase the likelihood of finding habitable worlds beyond our Solar System.

A new algorithm finds its first potentially hazardous asteroid

Mario Jurić and Ari Heinze from the University of Washington join Planetary Radio to discuss their team’s next-generation asteroid discovery algorithm, HelioLinc3D.

The slow evolution of Europa

Kevin Trinh from Arizona State University joins Planetary Radio to discuss his research into Europa's formation history and the consequences for the moon's habitability.

JWST detects water vapor in a planet-forming disk

Giulia Perotti and Thomas Henning from the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy join Planetary Radio to discuss their team's detection of water vapor in the inner region of a protoplanetary disc that is already forming worlds.

Mars Life Explorer: The search for extant life on the red planet

Amy Williams, assistant professor of geology at the University of Florida, joins Planetary Radio to discuss the proposed Mars Life Explorer mission and the search for extant life on Mars.

Subsurface granite on the Moon? The anatomy of a lunar hot spot

Matt Siegler from the Planetary Science Institute shares his team's surprising findings about the granite formation that might lie beneath Compton-Belkovich, a thorium-rich hot spot on the far side of the Moon.

An essential ingredient for life in the oceans of Enceladus

Chris Glein, a lead scientist at the Southwest Research Institute, joins Planetary Radio to talk about the discovery of phosphorus in the oceans of Saturn’s moon Enceladus and the implications for the search for life.

Mars' Axial Tilt: A Key to Gully Formation

Caltech and Brown University’s Jay Dickson joins Planetary Radio to discuss the mysterious formation of gullies on Mars.

Comparing the rivers of Earth, Mars, and Titan

Sam Birch, an assistant professor at Brown University, explores what we know about the alluvial rivers of Earth, Mars, and Saturn's moon Titan.

Humans to Mars by the 2030s? NASA Associate Administrators weigh in

Planetary Radio, Mat Kaplan, senior communications adviser at The Planetary Society, takes us to the 2023 Humans to Mars Summit in Washington, D.C. We'll share his conversation with three NASA Associate Administrators, Nicola Fox, James Free, and James Reuter about the international, commercial, and robotic collaboration it will take to put the first humans on the Red Planet.

2Fast 2Curious: Finding the source of the fast solar wind

James Drake from the University of Maryland joins Planetary Radio to talk about the latest results from NASA's Parker Solar Probe as it soars closer to our star than any spacecraft in history.

The disappearing act of Saturn's young rings

Richard Durisen and Paul Estrada join Planetary Radio to discuss their research on the surprisingly recent formation of Saturn's rings and why they are disappearing over time.

The oldest organic molecules in the known Universe

Justin Spilker joins Planetary Radio to talk about his team’s detection of the oldest organic molecules in the known Universe.

Starstruck with Sarafina El-Badry Nance

Sarafina El-Badry Nance joins Planetary Radio to discuss her new book, Starstruck: A Memoir of Astrophysics and Finding Light in the Dark.

The Science You’ve Enabled

The second round awardees in a Planetary Society grant program will explore extreme life in super-salty lakes, and study how future Martians will grow their own food.

Exoplanet enigma: Unpacking the discovery of a "forbidden" planet

Shubham Kanodia, the lead on a paper about a so-called forbidden planet, TOI 5202 b, joins us to talk about this strange world and why it's upending our understanding of planetary formation.

Inspiring the next generation through space education

In this week's episode of Planetary Radio, we're honoring the educators who inspire young, curious minds to explore the marvels of the Cosmos.

The case for saving VERITAS

Darby Dyar, Deputy Principal Investigator for NASA's VERITAS mission to Venus, joins Planetary Radio to share the human story behind the spacecraft and make a case for saving the mission.

Adventures at the 2023 Planetary Defense Conference

Planetary Radio creator Mat Kaplan shares a look behind the scenes at the 2023 Planetary Defense Conference in Vienna, Austria.

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