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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Europa Clipper blasts off: How the mission team weathered Hurricane Milton

Bob Pappalardo, Europa Clipper project scientist, recounts the mission team's dramatic encounter with Hurricane Milton before their triumphant launch.

Internships, conferences, and grad school: A space student's guide

This week, Planetary Radio offers advice for students pursuing higher education in space-related fields. From internship insights to conference strategies and grad school survival tips, we've got you covered.

Clipper’s champions: Space advocates and the fight for a mission to Europa

The Planetary Society and space advocates around the world fought to make Europa Clipper a reality. This week, we learn more about the tumultuous history of the mission with Casey Dreier, The Planetary Society’s chief of space policy.

Space Policy Edition: The space policies of a Harris Administration

Space expert Lori Garver joins the show to explore Kamala Harris’ space policy priorities, the major issues facing NASA in the next four years, and Garver’s thoughts on the evolution of Elon Musk and NASA’s increasing reliance on the commercial space industry.

Return to Dimorphos: Looking forward to the Hera launch

We look forward to the Oct. 7 launch of the European Space Agency's Hera spacecraft with Michael Küppers, project scientist for the mission.

2024 NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts Symposium: Part 1 - Human hibernation and swarming Proxima Centauri

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.

Chasing auroras with the Aurora Guy

Vince Ledvina, also known as the Aurora Guy, joins Planetary Radio to discuss the science behind the northern and southern lights and what they can tell us about our Sun, our planet, and worlds across our galaxy.

Europa in reflection: A compilation of two decades

With less than two months to go until the highly anticipated launch of NASA's Europa Clipper mission, we take a look back at over twenty years of Planetary Radio episodes about Jupiter's most intriguing moon.

Possible biomarkers: Perseverance rocks the Tenth International Conference on Mars

NASA's Perseverance rover has made a groundbreaking discovery on Mars: a sample that may hold evidence of ancient microbial life. We visit the Tenth International Conference on Mars to get the details.

Victory for VERITAS

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.

The penguin, the egg, and the asteroid collision in Beta Pictoris

We celebrate the second anniversary of the James Webb Space Telescope's (JWST) science operations with Christine Chen, associate astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute.

Meet Roo-ver and The Planetary Society’s new board member

Newton Campbell Jr., the director of the Australian Remote Operations for Space and Earth (AROSE) Consortium, discusses his career journey, AI in space, and Australia's first lunar rover, the Roo-ver.

Space Policy Edition: NASA and the American South

Every major NASA center built after the agency’s inception is located in the American South. Why? Dr. Brian Odom, NASA’s chief historian, joins the show to discuss the cultural, political, and historical implications of NASA’s expansion into the South.

Fifty-five hundred worlds and counting: The astonishing diversity of exoplanets

We dive into the stunning variety of exoplanets beyond our Solar System with Jessie Christiansen, the project scientist for the NASA Exoplanet Archive.

An asteroid bash and an asteroid smash

We observe Asteroid Day with an update on NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission with the Asteroid Foundation’s Markus Payer and JHUAPL’s Terik Daly.

A big year for heliophysics and Parker Solar Probe

We explore recent solar activity and discoveries from NASA's Parker Solar Probe with Nour Rawafi, the mission's project scientist.

The nova and the naming contest

RadioLab's Latif Nasser returns to Planetary Radio with a new public naming contest for a quasi-moon of Earth.

Accidental astronomy

We discuss the delightfully unpredictable nature of space discoveries with Chris Lintott, author of the upcoming book Accidental Astronomy.

International integration: The path from the Moon to Mars

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.

Bot battles and space dreams

Kelly Biderman, the CEO of Havoc Robotics, joins Planetary Radio to share how the National Havoc Robot League helps to prepare the next generation of space engineers. Then we hear from Florence Pouya, the former captain of the Afghan Girls Robotics Team.

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