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Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and Science
30 episodes
Total solar eclipse 2026: Astrophotography and birdsong
Aug 12, 2026 · 57 min
On August 12th, 2026, the Moon’s shadow will sweep across Iceland, Greenland, and Spain, bringing the first total solar eclipse visible from Europe since 1999. And because this eclipse happens near sunset, it promises to be one of the most visually stunning in living memory. Astrophotographer Andrew McCarthy, founder of Cosmic Background Photography, joins the show to talk about his extraordinary 2024 eclipse image, his collaboration with the Artemis II crew to capture the Moon in unpreced…
Space Policy Edition: “Science: A New Golden Age” - Reimagining U.S. science policy
Aug 7, 2026 · 1 hr 11 min
The White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy recently released "Science: A New Golden Age", a sweeping report that calls for a fundamental reimagining of how the United States funds and conducts science. Explicitly modeled on Vannevar Bush's landmark 1945 report "Science, the Endless Frontier," it challenges the traditional linear model of innovation, advocates for empowering individual scientists over institutions, proposes faster grants with less bureaucracy, and envisions a great…
LHS 1140b: The first atmosphere detected on a rocky habitable-zone exoplanet
Aug 5, 2026 · 57 min
For the first time, scientists have confirmed an atmosphere on a rocky exoplanet in the habitable zone of another star. Sarah Al-Ahmed is joined by Collin Cherubim, NASA Hubble Fellow at the University of Chicago, to discuss his team's detection of helium escaping from the super-Earth LHS 1140b, and what it reveals about how rocky worlds build, transform, and lose their atmospheres over time. His team's paper, published in the journal Science, marks a milestone decades in the making. Then Bruce…
TERP RAPTOR: A student-built mission to asteroid Apophis
Jul 29, 2026 · 1 hr 2 min
On Friday, April 13, 2029, asteroid Apophis will pass closer to Earth than our geostationary satellites. While NASA, ESA, and JAXA are all sending missions, a team of students at the University of Maryland is building their own spacecraft to join the fleet. TERP RAPTOR is a CubeSat-based mission roughly the size of a microwave that aims to fly past the asteroid and snap images of its surface as it approaches Earth. Four members of the team join Planetary Radio: Adrienne Rudolph, the Student Prin…
Hot Jupiters: The ‘Roasted Planet’ and the wrong-way hotspot
Jul 22, 2026 · 1 hr 3 min
Two hot Jupiters presented at the 248th American Astronomical Society meeting push our understanding of exoplanet atmospheres to the extreme. Research Scientist Tiffany Kataria from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory shares new JWST observations of HD80606 b, the "Roasted Planet,”a gas giant on one of the most eccentric orbits ever discovered. Assistant Professor Lisa Dang of the University of Waterloo joins to discuss CoRoT-2 b, a young, inflated hot Jupiter whose hottest point shows up in…
Book Club Edition: “The Edge of Space-Time” by Chanda Prescod-Weinstein
Jul 17, 2026 · 60 min
It may be the best book subtitle we’ve encountered in the Planetary Society book club: “Particles, Poetry and the Cosmic Dream Boogie.” Theoretical physicist and black feminist science theorist Chanda Prescod-Weinstein has followed her acclaimed first book, “The Disordered Cosmos,” with this new, equally celebrated, deeply personal romp across the Universe, “The Edge of Space-Time”. Swinging from quantum mechanics to hip-hop, and from galaxies to A…
Sian Proctor and John Read on teaching babies to love the Cosmos
Jul 15, 2026 · 58 min
“Baby's Guide to the Night Sky” introduces the youngest kids — down to newborns — to constellations and the wonders of the Cosmos. It comes from two people who've spent their lives chasing that same wonder in very different ways. This week, we are joined by authors Sian Proctor and John Read. Sian Proctor is a geoscientist, artist, poet, and commercial space astronaut who served as pilot of Inspiration4 in 2021, becoming the first Black woman to serve as a mission pilot i…
Small Town Universe: Inside Green Bank's Radio Quiet Zone
Jul 8, 2026 · 55 min
Green Bank, West Virginia is home to the world's largest fully steerable radio telescope. It's also the only town in the U.S. where cell phones and Wi-Fi are banned, so the telescope can listen for faint signals from across the Universe undisturbed. This week, we bring you a special conversation recorded after The Planetary Society's virtual screening of Small Town Universe, the documentary that follows the people whose lives are shaped by that place. Mat Kaplan, Planetary Society senior communi…
Space Policy Edition: What's going on with commercial space stations?
Jul 3, 2026 · 58 min
NASA's plan for what comes after the International Space Station (ISS) has been anything but stable. Since 2019, the agency's commercial space station strategy has shifted from free-flying vendor-operated stations to a government-owned module attached to the ISS, and back again, all while the clock ticks toward the ISS's expected retirement around 2030. Clayton Swope, deputy director of the Aerospace Security Project and senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies,…
Rosalind Franklin and the search for life on Mars
Jul 1, 2026 · 58 min
After more than two decades, the European Space Agency's Rosalind Franklin rover finally has a path to the launchpad. This week, ExoMars Project Scientist Jorge Vago joins Planetary Radio to talk about what makes this mission like nothing we've sent to Mars before: a drill capable of reaching 2 meters beneath the surface, where organic molecules may have been shielded from radiation for billions of years. We dig into how the rover will scout its drilling sites, how its onboard laboratory will an…
Tianwen-2: China closes in on Kamoʻoalewa
Jun 24, 2026 · 60 min
China’s Tianwen-2 spacecraft has successfully arrived at Kamoʻoalewa—a tiny, enigmatic "quasi-satellite" that dances along with Earth on its trek around the Sun. A fascinating scientific debate is heating up over this object's true identity: is it a standard, heavily space-weathered asteroid, or is it a long-lost chunk of our own Moon, violently blasted into space by an ancient impact? Tianwen-2 is on a mission to solve this cosmic identity crisis, and it is happening right now. This…
Book Club Edition: “To Be Taught, If Fortunate” with Becky Chambers
Jun 19, 2026 · 1 hr 6 min
This outstanding novella, “To Be Taught, If Fortunate” by award-winning science fiction author Becky Chambers, is a passionate argument for the human exploration of space and the wonders we will find there. Kirkus Reviews calls it, “An extraordinary picture of humanity among the stars.” Join host Mat Kaplan for a conversation with Becky in which her personal enthusiasm for space science matches that of her four wandering explorers. The very alien lifeforms they discover a…
Flying on Titan: The engineering of Dragonfly
Jun 17, 2026 · 60 min
Saturn's moon Titan is one of the most Earth-like worlds in our Solar System, with a dense nitrogen atmosphere, weather cycles, methane rivers, and vast organic dune fields. It also happens to be the perfect place to fly a drone. NASA's Dragonfly mission is doing exactly that, sending a car-sized, nuclear-powered rotorcraft to explore Titan's surface starting in 2034. With just two years until launch, the team is deep in the work of making it happen. This week, we're joined by two members of the…
U.S. space science in flux: Grant rules, rockets, and reorganization
Jun 10, 2026 · 56 min
Between budget battles, proposed grant rule changes, and an exploding Blue Origin rocket, there's a lot to cover in U.S. space policy right now. Jack Kiraly, The Planetary Society's director of government relations, joins host Sarah Al-Ahmed to walk through a cascade of developments affecting NASA and the broader U.S. science community, including a proposed rule change at the Office of Management and Budget that would hand control of federal research grant decisions to political appointees, bypa…
Space Policy Edition: A proposal to stifle American science
Jun 5, 2026 · 52 min
The White House's Office of Management and Budget has released a sweeping 400-page proposed rule change that would fundamentally alter how the U.S. federal government manages grants, affecting everything from NASA research to biomedical science and community programs. In this episode, Casey Dreier is joined by Liz Ginexi, a former Program Officer at the U.S. National Institutes of Health, to break down what these changes would mean for American science. Among the most significant proposals: repl…
Spacewoman with Eileen Collins
Jun 3, 2026 · 55 min
Colonel Eileen Collins was the first woman to pilot and command a Space Shuttle, and the person NASA trusted to lead the program back into space after the loss of Columbia. But her story is about so much more than the milestones. In this episode, Sarah Al-Ahmed sits down with Eileen Collins to discuss “Spacewoman,” a new documentary written and directed by Hannah Berryman, based on Collins' book “Through the Glass Ceiling to the Stars: The Story of the First American Woman to C…
Los Angeles Astronomical Society celebrates 100 years of looking up
May 27, 2026 · 1 hr 2 min
The Los Angeles Astronomical Society (LAAS) is one of the oldest and largest amateur astronomy clubs in the United States, and this year, it’s turning 100. To mark the occasion, the LAAS threw a centennial star party on the lawn of Griffith Observatory, featuring 100 telescopes, a dedication ceremony, and a community of passionate skywatchers who showed up rain and all. In this episode, we sit down with Laura-May Abron, vice president of the Los Angeles Astronomical Society and chair of it…
Twenty organic molecules found in an ancient Martian rock
May 20, 2026 · 56 min
NASA's Curiosity rover has been exploring Mars' Gale Crater for over a decade. A new analysis of samples collected there reveals something remarkable: more than 20 different organic molecules preserved in ancient rock, including the first detection of a nitrogen-bearing heterocycle on Mars, a type of molecule that's a precursor to compounds essential for life as we know it. While these molecules aren't evidence of life, they tell us that the chemical building blocks for life were present in anci…
Book Club Edition: Diane Ackerman and “The Planets: A Cosmic Pastoral”
May 15, 2026 · 51 min
Author, poet, and science communicator Diane Ackerman is our guest. Her wonderful collection of poems, with one devoted to each of the worlds in our Solar System, was first published in 1976. Carl Sagan said she had produced, “...a stunning book of poetry in The Planets. The work is scientifically accurate and even a convenient introduction to modern ideas on the planets, but much more important, it is spectacularly good poetry, clear, lyrical, and soaring. . . One of the triumphs of Acker…
Igniting Discovery: A showcase of NASA-funded research
May 13, 2026 · 57 min
The Planetary Society's 2026 Day of Action brought something new this year. For the very first time, the advocacy day was followed by a showcase of NASA funded science in an event called Igniting Discovery. Host Sarah Al-Ahmed speaks with Jack Kiraly, Director of Government Relations at the Planetary Society, about how the event came together, and with first-time advocate Julianna Charlene Kolczynski, whose passion for space traces back to her grandfather's dreams. Megan McKeown, Director of Gov…
Day of Action 2026: Rejoining the fight to save NASA science
May 6, 2026 · 60 min
Every year, members of The Planetary Society travel to Washington, D.C., to make their voices heard on Capitol Hill. This year, just days after the Artemis II crew splashed down off the coast of San Diego, the Presidential Budget Request dropped once more, proposing a 46% cut to NASA's science budget. Planetary Radio host Sarah Al-Ahmed was on the ground capturing the passion, the preparation, and the people behind one of the largest Days of Action in the Planetary Society's history. In th…
Space Policy Edition: Why humans matter — The philosophy of Artemis II
May 1, 2026 · 1 hr 19 min
When Artemis II returned its crew safely to Earth, millions of people found themselves unexpectedly moved. The mission was a test flight, a proof-of-concept, and yet it felt like something far greater than the sum of its parts. In this episode, Casey Dreier, chief of space policy at The Planetary Society, sits down with Rebecca Lowe, philosophy senior fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, to explore the deeper meaning of humanity's return to deep space. Drawing on philosophy…
Yuri's Night 2026: Celebrating 65 years of human spaceflight
Apr 29, 2026 · 60 min
On April 12th, 1961, Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space. Sixty-five years later, we celebrated that milestone at Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, CA. We began on the lawn of Griffith Observatory, where host Sarah Al-Ahmed spoke with exhibitors about the tools, dreams, and technology that drive space exploration. Laura Tomlin, CEO of Space for Teachers, shares how microgravity research projects inspire the next generation. Robotics engineer Kalind Carpenter from NASA’s J…
Project Hail Mary hits the big screen
Apr 22, 2026 · 1 hr 2 min
“Project Hail Mary” is finally in theaters, and the science is just as thrilling as the story. This week on Planetary Radio, Sarah Al-Ahmed and senior communications adviser Mat Kaplan share their first reactions fresh from the theater. Author and producer Andy Weir tells us in his own words what the story is really about, in a flashback conversation with Mat. Award-winning Nature correspondent Alexandra Witze takes a critical scientific eye to the film. Virginia Tech astrophysicist…
Book Club Edition: Founder and CEO Peter Beck on The Launch of Rocket Lab
Apr 17, 2026 · 58 min
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 rockets, following the United States and China. Sir Peter Beck joins us for a deeply revealing and entertaining conversation about “The Launch of Rocket Lab,” the beautiful book that tells his and Rocket Lab's inspiring story. His dedication to advancing planetary science missions will make members of The Planetary Society proud! Discover mor…
Triumph and turmoil: Artemis II and the renewed fight to save NASA science
Apr 15, 2026 · 60 min
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 episode, we celebrate some of the mission's most extraordinary moments: the record-breaking Flight Day 6 when Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, and Mission Specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen traveled farther from Earth than any humans in history, a breathtaking solar eclipse observed from lunar orbit, meteorite impact flashes…
Artemis II launches to the Moon
Apr 8, 2026 · 58 min
Four astronauts — Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, Mission Specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen — are on their way around the Moon, on a journey that will take them farther from Earth than any human has gone before. This week on Planetary Radio, we bring you the sounds of launch day and the voices of the people who lived it. You’ll hear from the engineers who built the spacecraft, including Mark Tobias, chief engineer at Northrop Grumman, Jan-Henrik Horstman…
Space Policy Edition: Return to Launch — Cape Canaveral's unlikely history
Apr 3, 2026 · 1 hr 13 min
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 fair amount of historical accident. In this episode of the Space Policy Edition of Planetary Radio, host Casey Dreier, chief of space policy at The Planetary Society, sits down with Stephen C. Smith, author and writer behind the Substack The Space Pundit, to discuss his book Return to Launch: Florida and America's Space Industry. A longtime Kennedy S…
Artemis II’s AVATAR and a sungrazing comet
Apr 1, 2026 · 1 hr 1 min
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 to space. It's called AVATAR, short for A Virtual Astronaut Tissue Analog Response: tiny organ chips grown from the astronauts' own cells, flying the same trajectory around the Moon, exposed to the same deep-space radiation and microgravity as the crew themselves. Lisa Carnell, director of NASA's Biological and Physical Sciences Division, explains…
The astronaut health experiments of Artemis II
Mar 25, 2026 · 1 hr 3 min
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’t had in over 50 years. This week, we’re joined by Steve Platts, chief scientist of NASA's Human Research Program, who walks us through the suite of human health experiments flying aboard Artemis II, from the ARCHER wearable sensors tracking crew health and team dynamics, to dry saliva swabs measuring stress hormones. Then Casey Dreier…
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