Planetary Radio
Planetary Radio is the weekly adventure on the final frontier produced by the Planetary Society and it's CEO, Bill Nye the Science Guy. Listen to host Mat Kaplan's conversations with the scientists, engineers, dreamers and leaders at the forefront of space exploration. You'll also hear our regular segments with Bill, "Planetary Evangelist" Emily Lakdawalla, and Director of Science and Technology Bruce Betts. Enter the weekly space trivia contest for your chance to win out-of-this-world prizes!
- Update frequency
- every 6 days
- Average duration
- 51 minutes
- Episodes
- 589
- Years Active
- 2014 - 2023
Space Policy Edition: Mars via the Nuclear Option
NASA’s Bhavya Lal returns to explain the challenges and big advantages of nuclear propulsion in space.
01:10:30 |
Fri 06 Aug 2021
Alan Stern Says It’s Time for Suborbital Science
Planetary scientist and New Horizons principal investigator Alan Stern says great science will ride on Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo and Blue Origin’s New Shepard.
00:46:00 |
Wed 04 Aug 2021
Andy Chaikin on Apollo 15 and the lessons of Apollo
Space historian and author of A Man on the Moon Andy Chaikin returns as we celebrate Apollo 15’s 50th anniversary.
01:27:39 |
Wed 28 Jul 2021
Amy Mainzer and a New Asteroid-Hunting Space Telescope
NASA has approved development of the NEO Surveyor space telescope. Project lead Amy Mainzer will share her hopes for this vital planetary defense tool.
00:49:15 |
Wed 21 Jul 2021
We’re Going Back to Venus
Leaders of the DAVINCI and VERITAS missions tell us what their spacecraft will reveal about the planet that is so much like Earth and yet so terribly different.
01:02:50 |
Wed 14 Jul 2021
Visiting the James Webb Space Telescope
Host Mat Kaplan visits the James Webb Space Telescope in California to see the observatory before it launches and speak with project leaders.
01:18:30 |
Wed 07 Jul 2021
Space Policy Edition: The Pentagon's UFO Report, Featuring Sarah Scoles
The Pentagon has released its assessment of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena. Casey Dreier and science journalist Sarah Scoles talk about what’s behind the renewed interest in UFOs and Sarah’s book, The…
01:18:11 |
Fri 02 Jul 2021
Finding Life by Looking for Complexity
University of Glasgow chemist Lee Cronin believes he and his collaborators have found a way to recognize life as we know it and as we don’t know it.
00:56:38 |
Wed 30 Jun 2021
The Pearly Clouds of Mars
Atmospheric scientist Mark Lemmon discusses the beautiful clouds on Mars imaged by NASA's Curiosity rover.
00:52:51 |
Wed 23 Jun 2021
Amateur Astronomers Saving the World
Planetary Society grants have enabled amateur astronomers to discover and track asteroids that cross Earth’s path. We’ll meet two of them.
01:05:26 |
Wed 16 Jun 2021
Experimental Cosmologist Brian Keating
A fascinating conversation with Brian Keating, director of the Simons Observatory that will search for our cosmic origins from a mountaintop in Chile’s Atacama region.
01:34:56 |
Wed 09 Jun 2021
Space Policy Edition: NASA's 2022 Budget Request Says "Yes"
The White House’s proposed 2022 NASA budget is almost entirely great news, as is the announcement that two complementary orbiters will explore Venus.
00:50:34 |
Fri 04 Jun 2021
Mighty Jupiter Revealed
The Juno mission will continue its exploration of Jupiter till 2025, thanks to a four-year extension granted by NASA. Principal investigator Scott Bolton brings us up to date.
01:01:14 |
Wed 02 Jun 2021
The New Great Space Observatories
Astrophysicist Grant Tremblay describes how four proposed space telescopes could reveal our solar system and the universe as never before.
00:54:58 |
Wed 26 May 2021
Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Project Manager MiMi Aung
The leader of the Mars Helicopter test mission celebrates her team’s success and explores the daunting challenges they overcame.
00:54:06 |
Wed 19 May 2021
Defenders of Earth on Planetary Radio
Six planetary defense leaders report on progress toward protecting Earth from near-Earth objects.
01:13:39 |
Wed 12 May 2021
Space Policy Edition: How Starship at the Moon Brings NASA Closer to Mars
NASA chose SpaceX’s Starship as the sole winner of its human lunar lander development contract in a move that may also take us closer to Mars.
00:53:33 |
Fri 07 May 2021
Author Andy Weir and Project Hail Mary
The author of The Martian introduces us to his terrific new novel and shares his thoughts about the current state of space exploration.
00:50:36 |
Wed 05 May 2021
A Conversation with Kyoto Prize Recipient James Gunn
Jim Gunn co-created and led the Sloan Digital Sky Survey that has revealed the universe as never before.
01:19:31 |
Wed 28 Apr 2021
Is ‘Oumuamua a Piece of a Pluto-Like Planet? And Ingenuity’s First Flight on Mars
NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter makes a successful first flight on the Red Planet, while two researchers offer new insights on the first interstellar object discovered in our solar system.
01:01:48 |
Wed 21 Apr 2021
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