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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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If the United States is indeed in a space race with China, why are we abandoning space science programs across the Solar System? This question, posed by guest Maxwell Zhu in a recent op-ed co-authored by The Planetary Society’s chief of space policy, reveals the current myopia around human spaceflight and the missing focus on a growing and ambitious new entrant into space science in the 21st century.
Atlantic writer Franklin Foer joins the show to discuss how NASA enabled the rise of Elon Musk, and, in doing so, sowed the seeds of its own decline.
Erin Flynn-Evans, director of the Fatigue Countermeasures Laboratory at NASA Ames Research Center, shares how sleep science is helping astronauts stay healthy in space and prepare for future missions to Mars.
Highlights from the 2025 Humans to the Moon and Mars Summit explore why space science is a vital national interest for the United States and how the Artemis Accords are shaping international collaboration in deep space.
Former NASA chief economist Akhil Rao explains why NASA needs economic expertise to navigate the complex — and often misunderstood — market forces that will determine the success or failure of its private partnerships.
The Fiscal Year 2026 congressional budget justification for NASA could mark the beginning of a dark age for NASA science. We examine what’s at stake and how you can help advocate for NASA’s future.
The space sector is data-rich but insight-poor. Jack Kuhr of Payload talks about how he turns raw numbers into real narratives.
Joanne Higgins joins Planetary Radio to share the untold stories of Black engineers who helped make the Apollo program possible. We explore their legacy, the challenges they faced, and how their stories can inspire a more inclusive future in space.
Emily Calandrelli, also known as “the Space Gal,” shares her experience becoming the hundredth woman in space after blasting off on a Blue Origin suborbital rocket.
Marcia Smith, founder of Space Policy Online, joins the show to discuss the motivations and risks of pursuing change at NASA - and how much change can ultimately happen with Congress holding the purse strings.
Join us for part one of our journey to the 2024 NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) Symposium. We'll hear from the teams behind two of this year's NIAC projects that could help us study distant planets and potentially reach them ourselves.
Get up to speed on the latest in commercial space news and look forward to the European Space Agency’s Ramses mission to Apophis with members of The Planetary Society team.
Darby Dyar, the deputy principal investigator for NASA’s VERITAS mission to Venus, returns triumphantly to Planetary Radio to share the story of how space advocates helped save this mission.
RadioLab's Latif Nasser returns to Planetary Radio with a new public naming contest for a quasi-moon of Earth.
We share a conversation from the Humans to Mars Summit about integrating NASA and its partners as humanity looks to build a permanent and sustainable human presence on Mars.
Sabine Stanley, author of the new book "What's Hidden Inside Planets?", discusses some of the amazing things that lie under the surfaces of the worlds in our Solar System.
Though the Space Shuttle program lasted 30 years and built the ISS, it fell short of NASA's goals for cost, reusability, and reliability. Can a program be both a worldly success and a policy failure? In this Space Policy Edition, we dissect a classic space policy paper and debate its relevance today.
Steven Smith, an Education Specialist from NASA's Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (or STEM) Program, joins Planetary Radio to share some of the unique opportunities available for students in the lead-up to humanity's return to the Moon.
Kelly and Zach Weinersmith join Planetary Radio this week to discuss their new book, A City on Mars: Can We Settle Space, Should We Settle Space, and Have We Really Thought This Through?
Join Planetary Radio host Sarah Al-Ahmed on a trip to the 2023 NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) Symposium in Houston, Texas. This episode is part two of two.