Explore Worlds
Find Life
Defend Earth
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.
Gentry Lee, the subject of the new documentary “Starman,” reflects on nearly five decades at JPL, the missions that defined the Space Age, and the search for life beyond Earth.
A new study explores whether a massive ancient impact briefly triggered cryovolcanism on Uranus’s moon Umbriel. Sarah Al-Ahmed speaks with Adeene Denton about how crater modeling reveals clues to the moon’s hidden interior.
New research suggests the seafloor beneath Europa’s vast ocean may be geologically quiet today, reshaping how scientists think about habitability on one of the Solar System’s most intriguing ocean worlds. Planetary geologist Paul Byrne of Washington University in St. Louis joins Planetary Radio to discuss.
Linda Spilker, project scientist for the Voyager mission, explains what Voyager has revealed about the heliopause and the Solar System’s outer edge.
Thirty years after NASA’s Galileo spacecraft became the first to orbit Jupiter, scientists and engineers gathered to reflect on the mission that transformed how we see the giant planet and its moons.
Michael Roman, assistant professor at the Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez in Chile, joins Sarah Al-Ahmed to discuss new research confirming that Uranus radiates excess heat, finally resolving a decades-long mystery first sparked by Voyager 2.
New Horizons Principal Investigator Alan Stern joins us to celebrate the Pluto flyby’s 10th anniversary, with updates from planetary scientist Adeene Denton and Planetary Society Director of Government Relations Jack Kiraly. Plus, a look at Arrokoth in What’s Up with Bruce Betts.
Join Sarah Al-Ahmed and Casey Dreier for a special live recording of Planetary Radio at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg Center in Washington, D.C., immediately following The Planetary Society’s Day of Action.
How did Pluto meet its largest moon, Charon? Adeene Denton, a research scientist at the University of Arizona, suggests a "kiss-and-capture" may solve this mystery.
We celebrate Ed Stone’s lasting legacy with the unveiling of the Dr. Edward Stone Exploration Trail at JPL.
The Planetary Society team reviews the best space moments of 2024, from the China National Space Administration's return of samples from the far side of the Moon to the triumphant launch of NASA's Europa Clipper mission.
Sarah Al-Ahmed, the host of Planetary Radio, marks her one-hundredth episode with a look back at the defining moments of the past 100 weeks of space exploration.
This week we discuss recent research on the origins of Pluto’s heart and what it can tell us about whether or not the dwarf planet has a subsurface ocean with Adeene Denton from the University of Arizona.
Bob Pappalardo, Europa Clipper project scientist, recounts the mission team's dramatic encounter with Hurricane Milton before their triumphant launch.
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.
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.
We explore recent solar activity and discoveries from NASA's Parker Solar Probe with Nour Rawafi, the mission's project scientist.
Bob Pappalardo, Europa Clipper's project scientist, visits The Planetary Society headquarters in Pasadena, CA, to share the story of the mission's vault plate, humanity's next collection of messages to another world.
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.
NASA's Dragonfly mission to Saturn's moon Titan has been authorized to proceed with work on final mission design and fabrication. This week on Planetary Radio, we get an update on the mission's progress and new timeline.