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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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The Giant Magellan Telescope advances toward construction with support from the National Science Foundation. Dr. Rebecca Bernstein joins us to explore how this groundbreaking observatory will transform our view of the universe.
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.
Explore the atmosphere of TOI-270 d with planetary geochemist Chris Glein as he unravels the secrets of this distant sub-Neptune using JWST data and geochemical modeling.
Astrokobi joins Sarah Al-Ahmed to explore the rise of a new generation of space communicators. Plus, updates on NASA’s science budget and the confirmation process for the next NASA administrator.
Why is Mars red? A new study led by Brown University’s Adomas Valantinas points to ferrihydrite, not hematite, revealing a wetter past and new clues about the Red Planet’s potential to support life.
We explore bold ideas from the Mars Innovation Workshop and uncover why NASA’s decision to dissolve key advisory offices is raising concerns across the space community.
Scott Sandford, co-investigator on OSIRIS-REx and a research scientist at NASA’s Ames Research Center, discusses the first published analyses of the Bennu sample, revealing insights into the early Solar System and the origins of life.
Amy Jurewicz, former project scientist for NASA’s Genesis mission, shares how the spacecraft survived a crash-landing and still reshaped our understanding of the solar wind and space weather.
Asteroid 2024 YR4 has captured global attention, but is it really a threat? Kate Howells breaks it down. Then, Casey Dreier and Jack Kiraly analyze how the new Trump administration is shaping NASA’s future.
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.
Knicole Colón, the deputy project scientist for exoplanet science for JWST, joins Planetary Radio to discuss the detection of methane and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of K2-18 b.
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.
Lauren Mc Keown, a postdoctoral fellow at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, discusses her experiences recreating Martian araneiform terrain, also called Mars spiders, in the lab.
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.
Mohsen Al Awadhi and Hoor Al Hazmi, the director and science team lead for the Emirates Mission to the Asteroid Belt, join Planetary Radio for an update on the mission’s progress.
Morgan Cable and Hiro Ono from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory join Planetary Radio to discuss the Exobiology Extant Life Surveyor (EELS) robot concept.
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.
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.
We look forward to the Oct. 7 launch of the European Space Agency's Hera spacecraft with Michael Küppers, project scientist for the mission.
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.