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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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Leonard David has been writing about space exploration for more than five decades. Now he has turned his attention to China’s ambitious plans.
Two missions are coming together in a high bay clean room at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. SMAP and ISS RapidScat went on display for a visit by NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. Mat Kaplan and Emily Lakdawalla provide special coverage.
When she was learning to forecast the weather in Hawaii, Brown University grad student Kat Scanlon didn’t suspect it would help her uncover evidence for rain or, more likely, snow that helped shape the surface of Mars billions of years ago.
Amanda Hendrix looks for and studies water in our solar system, where it has been found in surprising locales. Earth's moon, for instance. She talks about Luna’s ice and the weathering of its ancient surface.
Alan Stern is back to tell us about Golden Spike, his new company that plans to put human clients on the surface of the moon by the end of this decade.
Planetary Society experts review the challenges and triumphs of 2012 and look forward to a new and exciting year. You’ll hear Bill Nye the Science Guy, Emily Lakdawalla on new missions, Casey Dreier on “Saving our Science,” and Bruce Betts’ review of great projects, as well as a musical rendition of “Random Space Fact.”
The 44th Annual Meeting of the AAS Division of Planetary Sciences hosted hundreds of researchers and revealed volumes of scientific results. Join us at the conference.
Emily Lakdawalla and Bill Nye the Science Guy join Mat Kaplan for a special remembrance of Neil Armstrong. Then we visit with the principal investigator for the first ray gun on Mars. Roger Wiens leads the ChemCam team that is using its powerful laser to zap and analyze Martian rocks. It’s just one of the Curiosity Rover success stories. Win a ChemCam bumper sticker and a Planetary Radio t-shirt in the weekly What’s Up space trivia contest!
JPL volcanologist Rosaly Lopes has discovered more volcanos than anyone else, including 71 on Jupiter’s moon Io. She is fascinated by these fiery (and sometimes frigid) features of our dynamic solar system, and shared her love at the recent SETIcon.
There are millions of urbanites who have never seen the wonders of a truly dark night sky. Scott Kardel of the International Dark Sky Association is fighting to restore the sky our ancestors knew so well.
John Callas reports on Spirit and Opportunity, Bill Nye debates the future of humans on the Moon, and Bruce Betts looks to the Perseid meteor shower in his What's Up review of the night sky.
Hear excerpts of the Mars Exploration Rover imaging team lead Jim Bell's presentation last week at Planetary Society headquarters; Emily looks for life on the moon, while Bruce Betts says to get ready for this week's lunar eclipse!