Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and Science

Episodes

• 
  2026 NASA's Innovative Advanced Concepts Symposium: Part 1 — Nuclear sensors and cave explorers 30.09.2026 1h 1m

  Researchers at the 2026 NIAC Symposium share their bold concepts for exploring the most inaccessible places in our Solar System, from the Moon's permanently shadowed craters to caves on Titan and inside lunar lava tubes.
• 
  Hayabusa2 flies by asteroid Torifune 23.09.2026 1h

  NASA Chief Scientist for Small Body Exploration at Johnson Space Center, Paul Abell, takes us inside Hayabusa2's flyby of asteroid Torifune and the surprise discovery that it's a contact binary.
• 
  Book Club Edition: Alien Oceans by Kevin Hand 18.09.2026 1h 7m

  Planetary scientist Kevin Hand joins us for a deep exploration of his excellent book about the search for life in the oceans of other worlds.
• 
  Star Trek at 60: What Vulcans and Klingons can teach us about being human (Part 2) 16.09.2026 1h 7m

  In part two of our Star Trek 60th anniversary series, Tim Russ, Tuvok from Star Trek: Voyager, and Karim Diané, Jay-Den Kraag from Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, explore what the Vulcans and the Klingons can teach us about becoming the people who deserve to reach the stars.
• 
  Star Trek at 60: What do we value the most? (Part 1) 09.09.2026 59m

  Robert Picardo, the Emergency Medical Hologram from Star Trek: Voyager and now Starfleet Academy, traces the sixty-year bond between Star Trek and The Planetary Society, from Gene Roddenberry's 1980 letter to the halls of Congress.
• 
  Space Policy Edition: The Long Space Age with Alex MacDonald 04.09.2026 1h 7m

  Alex MacDonald, former Chief Economist at NASA and author of "The Long Space Age," joins Casey Dreier to explore more than two centuries of privately funded space exploration in America.
• 
  World Space Week and farewell to Swift 02.09.2026 1h 4m

  Dennis Stone, president and co-founder of the World Space Week Association, shares how the largest annual space event on Earth came to be and how you can join the celebration this October. Plus, Science Editor Asa Stahl walks us through the final chapter of the Swift space telescope.
• 
  The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is ready to launch 26.08.2026 56m

  The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is preparing to launch, promising to transform our understanding of dark energy and exoplanets. We talk with Julie McEnery, senior project scientist for Roman at NASA Goddard, and Jason Rhodes, project scientist for Roman at JPL, about what's ahead.
• 
  Book Club Edition: Becoming Martian by Scott Solomon 21.08.2026 1h 17m

  How will living in space change our bodies and minds? That’s the sub-title of Scott Solomon’s great new book, “Becoming Martian”, and it’s the question he takes up this month on the book club edition of Planetary Radio.
• 
  The SpaceX Falcon 9 that crashed into the Moon 19.08.2026 1h 3m

  Jared Head, museum facilitator at Columbia Memorial Space Center and co-host of All Space Considered at Griffith Observatory, breaks down how a SpaceX Falcon 9 upper stage ended up crashing into the moon. Plus, Planetary Society staff reflect on the 2026 total solar eclipse in Spain and share an update on the fight to save NASA science.
• 
  Total solar eclipse 2026: Astrophotography and birdsong 12.08.2026 57m

  Astrophotographer Andrew McCarthy and bioacoustics researcher David Mann, join Planetary Radio to talk about the August 12th total solar eclipse and how birds responded to totality.
• 
  Space Policy Edition: “Science: A New Golden Age” - Reimagining U.S. science policy 07.08.2026 1h 10m

  Casey Dreier is joined by Zach Pirtle, deputy director of the Consortium for Science, Policy and Outcomes at Arizona State University, and the Planetary Society's Chief of Advocacy Jack Kiraly to dissect the White House's "Science: A New Golden Age" report, which calls for a sweeping reimagining of how the U.S. funds and conducts science.
• 
  LHS 1140b: The first atmosphere detected on a rocky habitable-zone exoplanet 05.08.2026 57m

  Collin Cherubim, NASA Hubble Fellow at the University of Chicago, discusses his team's detection of an atmosphere on LHS 1140b, the first rocky exoplanet in a star's habitable zone confirmed to have one.
• 
  TERP RAPTOR: A student-built mission to asteroid Apophis 29.07.2026 1h 1m

  A team of University of Maryland students is building a CubeSat to fly past asteroid Apophis during its historic close approach to Earth in 2029. Four members of the TERP RAPTOR team join us to share how they're turning a classroom project into a real space mission.
• 
  Hot Jupiters: The ‘Roasted Planet’ and the wrong-way hotspot 22.07.2026 1h 2m

  Research Scientist Tiffany Kataria of NASA JPL and Assistant Professor Lisa Dang of the University of Waterloo talk about two extreme hot Jupiters from the American Astronomical Society meeting.
• 
  Book Club Edition: “The Edge of Space-Time” by Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 17.07.2026 59m

  Theoretical physicist Chanda Prescod-Weinstein visits the club for a mind-bending conversation about her brilliant, deeply personal exploration of the Cosmos.
• 
  Sian Proctor and John Read on teaching babies to love the Cosmos 15.07.2026 57m

  Commercial space astronaut Sian Proctor and astronomer John Read join Planetary Radio to discuss “Baby's Guide to the Night Sky,” their new book introducing the youngest children to constellations and the wonders of the Cosmos.
• 
  Small Town Universe: Inside Green Bank's Radio Quiet Zone 08.07.2026 55m

  Green Bank, West Virginia bans cell phones and Wi-Fi so its giant radio telescope can listen undisturbed. This week, Senior Communications Advisor Mat Kaplan talks with director Katie Dellamaggiore and physicist Ellie White about the documentary Small Town Universe, and Public Education Specialist Kate Howells previews August's total solar eclipse.
• 
  Space Policy Edition: What's going on with commercial space stations? 03.07.2026 57m

  Clayton Swope, deputy director of the Aerospace Security Project and senior fellow at CSIS, joins the show to break down NASA's rocky path toward a commercial replacement for the International Space Station.
• 
  Rosalind Franklin and the search for life on Mars 01.07.2026 57m

  The European Space Agency's Rosalind Franklin rover finally has a path to Mars. ExoMars Project Scientist Jorge Vago joins Planetary Radio to discuss the rover's 2-meter drill, its onboard astrobiology lab, and what it would mean to finally find evidence that Mars was once home to life.