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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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Twenty years after a pioneering collaboration between The Planetary Society, NASA, and LEGO, Planetary Radio reflects on the Red Rover Goes to Mars program and the lives it impacted.
Astrophysicist, former astronaut and NASA associate administrator John Grunsfeld on human exploration of space and the science we will do there.
The Mars Exploration Rover mission was declared complete on February 13, 2019. On the very next day, MER Project Manager John Callas and Deputy Project Scientist Abigail Fraeman came to Planetary Society headquarters for an extended and emotional conversation with Mat Kaplan and Emily Lakdawalla.
Our celebration of the Mars rovers continues from Southern California Public Radio’s Crawford Family Forum, this week featuring planetary scientist and author Jim Bell, Curiosity Project Scientist John Grotzinger, JPL Mars Engineering Manager Rob Manning and Planetary Society CEO Bill Nye. Emily takes us to Curiosity’s latest find on the red planet, and Bruce Betts joins Mat to gaze at the night sky and give away ISS-Above, the little device that tells you when the International Space Station is overhead.
Opportunity has been rolling across Mars for 10 years! We celebrate the Mars Exploration Rovers and their sisters on the red planet at Planetary Radio Live, this week featuring MER Principal Investigator Steve Squyres. Emily Lakdawalla and Bill Nye join Mat in front of a capacity crowd at Southern California Public Radio’s Crawford Family Forum. Bruce Betts closes the show with a live Random Space Fact and rover trivia contest.
What a long, wonderful trip it has been for Spirit and Opportunity, the Mars Exploration Rovers. Planetary Society reporter A.J.S. Rayl has been writing about their adventure every month for ten years. She looks back on this week’s show.
A Planetary Radio double header includes a visit with CosmoQuest’s Pamela Gay. She and colleagues are working to replace vital federal funds for science education and citizen science programs. We also go to the dark side with David Carnahan of NanoLab, developer of carbon nanotubes that may help us discover Earth-like planets.
John Callas tells us why an end to Spirit's roving does not mean the end of her work on the red planet. Emily Lakdawalla looks to the other side of Mars where Opportunity is rolling up to a baby crater, and Bill Nye is head over heels for the highest ever skydive.
John Callas reports on Spirit and Opportunity, Bill Nye debates the future of humans on the Moon, and Bruce Betts looks to the Perseid meteor shower in his What's Up review of the night sky.
Bruce Banerdt provides a status report on Spirit and Opportunity. Bill Nye has something old and something new to talk about, and Bruce Betts returns from the Planetary Defense Conference in Spain with news of Near Earth Objects and other things in the night sky.
Jim Bell and Bill Nye talk Spirit and Opportunity in celebration of 5 years on Mars. Emily Lakdawalla's Q&A looks forward to a Mars flyby by the Dawn spacecraft.
Steve Squyres gives us a status report on Spirit and Opportunity, and Bill Nye comments on the rings that appear to surround one of Saturn's small moons. Last week Emily Lakdawalla told us why objects in space are round, but this time her Q&A explains why they're not.
John Callas provides a status report on Spirit and Opportunity. Emily Lakdawalla is looking at brilliant Comet Holmes in her Q&A report, and Bruce Betts also makes room for Holmes in his What's Up! review of the night sky.
As the incredibly successful Mars Exploration Rover mission continues, Planetary Radio talks with Spirit's manager about what is being accomplished. We also hear from the second pair of Student Astronauts.
We celebrate one (Earth) year of Mars Exploration Rovers on the red planet with Principal Investigator Steve Squyres and Project Manager Jim Erickson; Emily Lakdawalla goes where no spacecraft has gone before.
This week we hear about the strategically located magnets on the Mars Exploration Rovers and how are telling us more about the red planet.
With lots to celebrate, The Planetary Society threw a party for the scientists and engineers who have made Spirit and Opportunity such amazing successes, and you're invited!
Planetary Radio talks with the developer of the Pancam on the Mars Exploration Rovers, Jim Bell. We also feature the last pair of Student Astronauts, and another visit with Astrobots Biff Starling and Sandy Moondust.
After a long hiatus, Biff Starling and Sandy Moondust return to the air. You'll also hear from Mars Exploration Rover Entry, Descent and Landing Chief Engineer Wayne Lee, and from two more of the Student Astronauts.
Opportunity is on a roll and Spirit is almost back to full health as we visit with the young Flight Director for the mission. We also hear from two more of the Student Astronauts.