Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and Science
Episodes
Project Hail Mary hits the big screen
22 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
“Project Hail Mary” is finally in theaters, and the science is just as thrilling as the story. This week on Planetary Radio, Sarah Al-Ahme...
Book Club Edition: Founder and CEO Peter Beck on The Launch of Rocket Lab
17 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
He built a rocket-powered bike when he was a kid. Now he leads the company that has made New Zealand number three among nations that launch big rocket...
Triumph and turmoil: Artemis II and the renewed fight to save NASA science
15 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The Artemis II crew has returned home safely after a historic 10-day journey around the Moon, the first crewed lunar mission in over 50 years. In this...
Artemis II launches to the Moon
08 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Four astronauts — Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, Mission Specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen — are on their way aro...
Space Policy Edition: Return to Launch — Cape Canaveral's unlikely history
03 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
What makes Cape Canaveral the center of U.S. spaceflight? The answer is a fascinating mix of geography, military strategy, Cold War politics, and a fa...
Artemis II’s AVATAR and a sungrazing comet
01 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Artemis II is the first crewed lunar mission since Apollo 17, and riding alongside the crew is one of the most ambitious biology experiments ever sent...
The astronaut health experiments of Artemis II
25 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Artemis II is about more than getting four humans to the Moon and back. It's an opportunity to gather data on human health in deep space that we haven...
Book Club Edition: The Giant Leap: Why Space is the Next Frontier in the Evolution of Life
20 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Join us for an awe-inspiring conversation with astrobiologist and astronomer Caleb Scharf as he eloquently makes the case for "dispersal," the nearly ...
The 18th European Space Conference: Dreaming of European boots on the Moon
18 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Humanity is going back to the Moon, and Europe is already playing a critical role in making it happen. This week, Planetary Radio brings you voices st...
Starman: Looking back on a life exploring the Solar System
11 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Gentry Lee spent nearly five decades at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and in that time he helped shape some of the most ambitious missions in the ...
Space Policy Edition: Is there really a space race between the US and China?
06 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Is the United States really in a new space race with China? Or is that framing missing the bigger picture? In this Space Policy Edition of Planetary R...
Artemis update: NASA reshapes the road back to the Moon
04 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
NASA has announced a major restructuring of the Artemis program, reshaping the roadmap for returning humans to the Moon. At a February 27 press confer...
Did an impact trigger cryovolcanism on Umbriel?
25 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Could a single ancient impact have briefly transformed one of the Solar System’s darkest moons into a cryovolcanic world? When Voyager 2 flew pa...
Book Club Edition: Planetary Society Chief Scientist Bruce Betts’ latest for kids
20 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
They informed and entertained together throughout the first 20 years of Planetary Radio. Listen in as the Society’s chief scientist and book clu...
A new chapter at The Planetary Society: Jennifer Vaughn becomes CEO
18 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
This week on Planetary Radio, we mark a major leadership transition at The Planetary Society. Host Sarah Al-Ahmed sits down with Bill Nye, outgoing ch...
Where did Earth’s water come from? Clues hidden in Apollo Moon dust
11 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Where did Earth’s water come from? In this episode of Planetary Radio, we explore how scientists are answering that question by studying a remar...
Space Policy Edition: What a NASA Authorization bill actually does
06 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
What does a NASA authorization bill actually do, and why does it matter? In this episode of Space Policy Edition, we dig into one of the most misunder...
Europa’s quiet seafloor
04 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
What if Europa’s seafloor isn’t alive with activity after all? This week on Planetary Radio, host and producer Sarah Al-Ahmed explores new...
Artemis II and III: The science that brings us back to the Moon
28 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Humans are preparing to return to the Moon. On this episode of Planetary Radio, host Sarah Al-Ahmed is joined by Kelsey Young and Noah Petro, two of t...
NASA science saved: Inside the 2026 budget victory
21 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
After months of uncertainty, NASA science has been spared from the largest proposed budget cuts in the agency’s history. In this episode of Plan...
Book Club Edition: The Little Book of Aliens by Adam Frank
16 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Famed astrophysicist and science communicator Adam Frank shares his sense of wonder and humor in a live conversation about his excellent new book, &ld...
IMAP and the shape of the heliosphere
14 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Our Solar System is wrapped in a vast, invisible bubble created by the Sun, a protective region that shields Earth and the planets from much of the ra...
Voyager and the heliopause: Exploring where the Sun gives way to the stars
07 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
What does it really mean to enter interstellar space, and what have we learned since humanity first crossed the invisible boundary between our Sun and...
Space Policy Edition: Change for the Sake of Disruption at NASA
02 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Marcia Smith, the founder and editor of Space Policy Online, joins the show and revisits a conversation we had one year ago, recorded just weeks befor...
Looking back: Space exploration in 2025
31 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
As 2025 comes to a close, Planetary Radio looks back on a year that reshaped space exploration, through stunning discoveries, major milestones, unexpe...
Looking back: Space policy and advocacy in 2025
24 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
2025 was one of the most consequential years for space policy in modern U.S. history. In this special year-in-review episode, Planetary Radio takes a ...
Book Club Edition: MOONS: The Mysteries and Marvels of our Solar System by Kate Howells
19 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
It was such a delight to feature work by our own Kate Howells in The Planetary Society’s member book club. We keep Kate busy as our public educa...
Galileo at 30: How a mission transformed our understanding of Jupiter
17 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Thirty years ago, NASA’s Galileo spacecraft became the first mission to orbit Jupiter, opening a new chapter in our exploration of the outer Sol...
Space Policy Edition: The Moral Case for Space Science
12 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Why do we explore space, and why does science matter in the first place? In this Space Policy Edition rerun, Planetary Society Chief of Space Policy C...
Inside the 2025 Mars Society Convention
10 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The 2025 International Mars Society Convention convened at the University of Southern California this October for three days of passionate discussion ...
ESCAPADE begins its journey to Mars
03 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
NASA’s twin ESCAPADE spacecraft have finally launched on their journey to Mars. Designed to study how the solar wind interacts with Mars’ ...
Smart Girl Dumb Questions: Casey Dreier answers why space is worth it
26 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This week on Planetary Radio, we’re sharing a special conversation from our friends at the Smart Girl Dumb Questions podcast. Host Nayeema Raza ...
Book Club Edition: The Martians: The True Story of an Alien Craze that Captured Turn-of-the-Century America by David Baron
21 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
There was a time when almost everyone, from Alexander Graham Bell to the Wall Street Journal, believed there was a supremely intelligent civilization ...
Epic Spaceman: Making cosmic scale human
19 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When his filmmaking career stalled during the pandemic, Toby Lockerbie turned to the one place that had never stopped inspiring him: the Universe. Wit...
The Planetary Society goes to TwitchCon 2025
12 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Planetary Society heads to TwitchCon 2025 to explore how scientists and educators use livestreaming to share the excitement of discovery. We begin...
Space Policy Edition: Should a (potential) biosignature revive Mars Sample Return?
07 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In 1996, a controversial claim of fossilized life in a Martian meteorite ignited a golden age of Mars exploration. Nearly 30 years later, a potential ...
Do Aliens Speak Physics?
05 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
If we ever meet intelligent extraterrestrials, will we even be able to talk about physics? Physicist Daniel Whiteson of UC Irvine and cartoonist Andy ...
Ripples on the Cosmic Ocean
29 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What happens in space doesn’t stay in space. Historian Dagomar Degroot joins Planetary Radio host Sarah Al-Ahmed to explore how shifting solar c...
2025 NASA’s Innovative Advanced Concepts Symposium: Part 2 — Hopping robots and the search for exoplanet magnetospheres
22 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this second installment of Planetary Radio’s coverage from the 2025 NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts Symposium in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania...
Book Club Edition: Space Craze by Margaret Weitekamp
17 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The American fascination with spaceflight and what we might find out there began long before any human left Earth. It’s Dr. Margaret Weitekamp&r...
2025 NASA’s Innovative Advanced Concepts Symposium: Part 1 — Lunar glass and starshades
15 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Each year, NASA’s Innovative Advanced Concepts program (NIAC) funds visionary ideas that could shape the future of space exploration. In this fi...
A Day of Action to save NASA science
08 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
On October 6, 2025, hundreds of space advocates from across the United States joined The Planetary Society and 20 partner organizations on Capitol Hil...
Space Policy Edition: China’s growing space science ambitions
03 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
If the United States is indeed in a space race with China, then we cannot abandon space science. That’s the claim made by Maxwell Zhu and The Pl...
Perseverance finds potential biosignatures in Jezero Crater
01 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
NASA’s Perseverance rover has made one of its most intriguing discoveries yet in Jezero Crater. A rock sample called Sapphire Canyon, drilled fr...
Bill Nye: A star in Hollywood, a voice for NASA
24 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Bill Nye, CEO of The Planetary Society, has officially joined the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In this episode, we speak with Bill about what this rare hon...
Book Club Edition: Cosmos Award–winning author Dava Sobel
19 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Only six people have received The Planetary Society’s Cosmos Award for Outstanding Public Presentation of Science. We were honored to present it...
A cosmic travel guide: 111 Places in Space That You Must Not Miss
17 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Pack your cosmic suitcase. This week on Planetary Radio, host Sarah Al-Ahmed is joined by Mark McCaughrean, astronomer, science communicator, and form...
International Observe the Moon Night 2025
10 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This week on Planetary Radio, we look forward to International Observe the Moon Night on October 4, 2025. Host Sarah Al-Ahmed speaks with Staci Horvat...
Space Policy Edition: Does the rise of Elon mean the decline of NASA?
05 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
NASA, the crown jewel of 20th-century technocratic liberalism, was the first to land humans on the Moon but now depends on SpaceX for its access to sp...
Uranus revealed: Solving the ice giant’s heat mystery
03 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
For decades, Uranus has puzzled scientists. Unlike the other giant planets, Voyager 2’s 1986 flyby suggested the ice giant emitted no excess hea...
Esports and space: BASILISK’s quest for “Science Victory”
27 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
BASILISK, the first esports organization dedicated to promoting science, has teamed up with The Planetary Society and Caltech’s Institute for Qu...
Silicate clouds and a dusty ring: JWST looks at YSES-1
20 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In 2020, the YSES-1 system became the first directly imaged multiplanetary system around a Sun-like star. It features two giant exoplanets orbiting a ...
Book Club Edition: Exploring the Overview Effect with Frank White
15 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Author Frank White has interviewed well over 100 astronauts. Almost all of them report the sense of awe they experienced as they looked down or back a...
A “Star Trek” future: Your place in space
13 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What do “Star Trek,” space advocacy, and the fight to save NASA science have in common? In this episode of Planetary Radio, we share a spe...
3I/ATLAS: The third interstellar object ever found
06 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Just three interstellar objects have ever been detected in our Solar System, each arriving from the depths of interstellar space. In this episode, we ...
Space Policy Edition: Is this the moment for in-space nuclear power?
01 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The 2020s will be a decisive decade for in-space nuclear power. So argues Dr. Bhavya Lal, whose new report reframes the conversation around a simple i...
The science of sleep in space
30 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
How do astronauts get quality sleep in space? Erin Flynn-Evans, director of the Fatigue Countermeasures Laboratory at NASA Ames Research Center, joins...
New Horizons: Celebrating a decade since the Pluto flyby
23 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
On July 14, 2015, NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft made its historic flyby of Pluto, transforming our understanding of this distant world. Ten yea...
Book Club Edition: Andy Weir and Project Hail Mary
18 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Author Andy Weir was as shocked as anyone when The Martian became a top bestseller novel in the US. He repeated that achievement with his equally mind...
Mat Kaplan’s first flight in zero-G
16 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What happens when scientists, students, space communicators, and refugee engineers float together in zero gravity? Former Planetary Radio host Mat Kap...
First images from the Vera C. Rubin Observatory
09 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Vera C. Rubin Observatory has shared its first public images, revealing millions of galaxies, stars, and asteroids in stunning detail. Stephanie D...
Space Policy Edition: Are Democrats falling behind on space policy?
04 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Have Democrats ceded leadership in space policy? That’s what Mary Guenther believes. She’s the Director of Space Policy at the Progressive...
Space science and the Artemis Accords: Highlights from the 2025 H2M2 Summit
02 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Recorded at the 2025 Humans to the Moon and Mars Summit (H2M2) in Washington, D.C., this episode features two powerful conversations about the future ...
Space Policy Edition: NASA’s 2026 budget
27 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Alicia Brown from the Commercial Space Federation and Brittany Webster from the American Geophysical Union join the show to discuss NASA’s fisca...
The Giant Magellan Telescope takes its next big step
25 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) is poised to become one of the most powerful ground-based observatories ever built. On June 12, 2025, the U.S. Nati...
The human stories behind the science: Dava Sobel receives the Cosmos Award
18 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Few writers have captured the wonder of science through storytelling as powerfully as Dava Sobel. In this episode, we celebrate her remarkable career ...
Making space matter: A space journalist’s journey
11 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What does it take to turn a love of space into a global career in science journalism? Sarah Cruddas has done just that. With a background in astrophys...
Space Policy Edition: What does NASA need with an economist?
06 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Former NASA Chief Economist Akhil Rao explains why NASA needs economic expertise to navigate the complex—and often misunderstood—market fo...
The dark age of NASA science? Analyzing the FY 2026 budget proposal
04 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The White House has released its Fiscal Year 2026 congressional budget justification for NASA, and the implications are staggering. If enacted, this p...
Volcanic worlds across the Solar System
28 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Volcanoes aren’t just an earthly phenomenon. They’re found all across the Solar System. In this compilation episode of Planetary Radio, we...
Space science under fire: Your questions answered
21 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
As debates over NASA's future heat up, questions about the value of space exploration are popping up everywhere. This week on Planetary Radio, we're t...
Kosmos 482: The Soviet-era Venus probe that fell to Earth
14 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This week on Planetary Radio, we explore the decades-long journey of Kosmos 482, a Soviet-era Venus probe that spent 53 years orbiting Earth before it...
TOI-270 d: Unveiling the secrets of a sub-Neptune
07 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
TOI-270 d is revealing secrets about the most common type of planet in our galaxy, sub-Neptunes. Sarah Al-Ahmed is joined by planetary geochemist Chri...
Space Policy Edition: How NASA remembers—and forgets
02 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
No one person knows how to build a spaceship. Dr. Janet Vertesi has seen this firsthand. She’s spent years embedded in NASA science teams, not a...
From backyard telescopes to global reach: AstroKobi and the power of short-form space videos
30 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
How does someone go from stargazing in a rural Australian backyard to inspiring millions around the world about space science? This week, Sarah Al-Ahm...
Celebrating 45 years of The Planetary Society at the Cosmic Shores Gala
23 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Join us aboard the historic RMS Queen Mary for a celebration of The Planetary Society’s 45th anniversary. In this special episode of Planetary R...
Passback budget breakdown: A 47% cut to NASA science
16 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
NASA’s science programs are facing the largest proposed budget cut in more than 40 years. This staggering 47%reduction could cancel missions, wa...
Why is Mars red? A new clue to the history of habitability in Martian dust
09 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
For decades, scientists hypothesized that Mars’ reddish color came from hematite, an iron oxide thought to have formed through dry oxidation aft...
Space Policy Edition: Lies, Damned Lies, and Space Data
04 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The space sector is data-rich but insight-poor. Jack Kuhr, head of research at Payload Space, joins the show to unpack how business, budgeting, and pe...
Live from Washington, D.C.: The future of space politics
02 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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...
The Other Moonshot: The untold stories of Apollo’s Black engineers in Los Angeles
26 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Apollo program put humans on the Moon, but behind that historic achievement were engineers whose stories have gone largely untold. In this episode...
The Mars Innovation Workshop
19 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We take you inside the Mars Innovation Workshop, hosted at the SETI Institute’s headquarters and produced by Explore Mars. Planetary Society Sen...
An extinction-level event for NASA science
12 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
NASA's science missions have transformed our understanding of the Universe, from breathtaking images of deep space to robotic explorers on Mars. But n...
Space Policy Edition: Locke, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness (in space)
07 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Philosopher Rebecca Lowe joins us to explore how the ideas of classical liberalism can provide fresh insight into humanity’s activities in space...
Breaking down Bennu: OSIRIS-REx finds life’s building blocks in asteroid sample
05 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission has returned pristine samples from asteroid Bennu to Earth, and the early results are remarkable. Sample analysts have...
Genesis: The sample return mission that fell to Earth and still succeeded
26 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Twenty years ago, NASA’s Genesis spacecraft returned to Earth carrying precious samples of the solar wind, only to crash-land in the Utah desert...
Astronaut Hayley shares her brave adventure
19 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
From IV drips to rocket ships, Hayley Arceneaux has been on a journey. She joins Planetary Radio to discuss her memoir “Wild Ride” and her...
Near-Earth Asteroid 2024 YR4 and NASA under a new administration
12 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The internet is buzzing about Asteroid 2024 YR4, currently ranked as the highest-threat asteroid in our skies. But is it really cause for concern? Our...
Space Policy Edition: Mars Sample Return, but at what (fixed) price?
07 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck joins the show to unpack his company’s bold, $4-billion fixed-price plan to bring Martian samples home, why he believe...
Kiss-and-capture: The dance of Pluto and Charon
05 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
How did Pluto meet its largest moon, Charon? Many have speculated that Charon formed in an impact, but traditional models of planetary formation have ...
The Edward Stone Voyager Exploration Trail
29 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This week on Planetary Radio, we celebrate the enduring legacy of Ed Stone, the longtime project scientist for NASA’s Voyager mission and former...
Does It Fly? Putting science in entertainment to the test
22 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This week, we discuss how to examine the science behind our favorite TV shows and movies with the co-hosts of the "Does It Fly?" podcast, Hakeem Oluse...
Revisiting K2-18 b: JWST finds a lead in the search for life on a mysterious exoplanet
15 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This week we revisit one of the most remarkable exoplanet discoveries of 2024 with the help of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). JWST detected si...
Emily Calandrelli becomes the hundredth woman in space
08 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This week, we celebrate a remarkable milestone as Emily Calandrelli, also known as “the Space Gal,” becomes the 100th woman to venture int...
Space Policy Edition: The Challenges of Change at NASA
03 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
How does change happen within NASA, and what prevents it? Marcia Smith, founder of Space Policy Online, joins the show to discuss the opportunities an...
The Planetary Society’s 45th anniversary with Bill Nye
01 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Planetary Radio kicks off The Planetary Society's 45th anniversary year with CEO, Bill Nye. Bill reflects on the organization's first forty-five years...
Looking back on 2024
25 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Mars “spiders” recreated in the lab
18 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Lauren Mc Keown, a postdoctoral fellow at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, discusses her experiences recreating Martian araneiform terrain, also call...
Space Policy Edition: The Myth of Presidential Leadership
13 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
For over half a century, space advocates and presidents alike have tried to recreate the JFK moment of calling on the country to send a man to Moon &m...
StarTalk with Bill Nye and Neil deGrasse Tyson
11 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We take you to Planetary Society headquarters, where Neil deGrasse Tyson, astrophysicist and host of StarTalk, interviews Planetary Society CEO Bill N...