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 special panel recorded live at STLV: Trek to Vegas 2025, featuring Robert Picardo, actor and Planetary Society board member who played the Emergency Medical Hologram on ”Star Trek: Voyager,” and Tim Russ, actor, telescope enthusiast, and Voyager’s Lt. Tuvok. They’re joined by Andrew Pauly, director of marketing at The Planetary Society, and Ambre Trujillo, the Society’s digital community manager, for a conversation about how science fiction inspires real-world space exploration — and how fans can take action to protect it.

Later in the episode, Jack Kiraly, director of government relations at The Planetary Society, discusses the recent wave of NASA employee departures and what it could mean for the future of space science. Then, in What’s Up, our Chief Scientist Bruce Betts reflects on the end of NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer mission.

Discover more at: https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/2025-a-star-trek-future

What do &ldquo;Star Trek,&rdquo; space advocacy, and the fight to save NASA science have in common? In this episode of Planetary Radio, we share a special panel recorded live at STLV: Trek to Vegas 2025, featuring Robert Picardo, actor and Planetary Society board member who played the Emergency Medical Hologram on &rdquo;Star Trek: Voyager,&rdquo; and Tim Russ, actor, telescope enthusiast, and Voyager&rsquo;s Lt. Tuvok. They&rsquo;re joined by Andrew Pauly, director of marketing at The Planetary Society, and Ambre Trujillo, the Society&rsquo;s digital community manager, for a conversation about how science fiction inspires real-world space exploration &mdash; and how fans can take action to protect it.
Later in the episode, Jack Kiraly, director of government relations at The Planetary Society, discusses the recent wave of NASA employee departures and what it could mean for the future of space science. Then, in What&rsquo;s Up, our Chief Scientist Bruce Betts reflects on the end of NASA&rsquo;s Lunar Trailblazer mission.
Discover more at: <a href="https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/2025-a-star-trek-future">https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/2025-a-star-trek-future</a>

Planetary Radio brings you the human adventure across our Solar System and beyond. We visit each week with the scientists, engineers, leaders, advocates, and astronauts who are taking us across the final frontier. Regular features raise your space IQ while they put a smile on your face. Join host Sarah Al-Ahmed and Planetary Society colleagues including Bill Nye the Science Guy and Bruce Betts as they dive deep into space science and exploration. The monthly Space Policy Edition takes you inside the DC beltway where the future of the US space program hangs in the balance. Visit planetary.org/radio for an episode guide and much more.

Planetary Radio brings you the human adventure across our Solar System and beyond. We visit each week with the scientists, engineers, leaders, advocates, and astronauts who are taking us across the final frontier. Regular features raise your space IQ while they put a smile on your face. Join host Sarah Al-Ahmed and Planetary Society colleagues including Bill Nye the Science Guy and Bruce Betts as they dive deep into space science and exploration. The monthly Space Policy Edition takes you inside the DC beltway where the future of the US space program hangs in the balance. Visit planetary.org/radio for an episode guide and much more.

Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and Science

Planetary Radio brings you the human adventure across our solar system and beyond. We visit each week with the scientists, engineers, leaders, advocates, and astronauts taking us across the final frontier. Regular features raise your space IQ while they put a smile on your face. Join host Sarah Al-Ahmed and Planetary Society colleagues including Bill Nye, the Science Guy, and Bruce Betts, chief scientist for The Planetary Society, as they dive deep into the latest space news. The monthly Space Policy Edition takes you inside the DC beltway with Casey Dreier and Jack Kiraly to discuss the politics of space exploration in the US and advocacy actions you can take to support the missions that matter. Visit planetary.org/radio for the space trivia contest, an episode guide, and much more.

Planetary Radio brings you the human adventure across our solar system and beyond. We visit each week with the scientists, engineers, leaders, advocates, and astronauts taking us across the final frontier. Regular features raise your space IQ while they put a smile on your face. Join host Sarah Al-Ahmed and Planetary Society colleagues including Bill Nye, the Science Guy, and Bruce Betts, chief scientist for The Planetary Society, as they dive deep into the latest space news. The monthly Space Policy Edition takes you inside the DC beltway with Casey Dreier and Jack Kiraly to discuss the politics of space exploration in the US and advocacy actions you can take to support the missions that matter. Visit planetary.org/radio for the space trivia contest, an episode guide, and much more.

Star Trek actors Robert Picardo and Tim Russ join Planetary Society staff members Ambre Trujillo and Andrew Pauly at STLV, a “Star Trek” convention, to explore how “Star Trek” inspires real-world space advocacy.

A “Star Trek” future: Your place in space

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 the stars?

In this episode of Planetary Radio, we explore the science of the heliosphere and the realm beyond with Linda Spilker, project scientist for the Voyager mission at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Drawing on decades of experience with the twin spacecraft, Spilker shares how Voyager reshaped our view of the Solar System’s outer frontier, from the nature of the heliopause to the unexpectedly rich structure of the local interstellar medium.

We unpack what Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 have taught us about charged particles, magnetic fields, and cosmic rays beyond the Sun’s protective bubble, and why those measurements have upended earlier ideas about where the Solar System truly ends. Spilker also reflects on the mission’s extraordinary longevity, the ingenuity required to keep the spacecraft communicating across the vastness of space, and what Voyager’s legacy means for future journeys between the stars.

Then, in What’s Up, Bruce Betts, chief scientist at The Planetary Society, places Voyager in context, showing how long-lived missions shape the bigger picture of space science and why observing longer can lead to some of our most profound discoveries.

Discover more at: https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/2026-voyagers-and-the-heliopause

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 the stars?
In this episode of Planetary Radio, we explore the science of the heliosphere and the realm beyond with Linda Spilker, project scientist for the Voyager mission at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Drawing on decades of experience with the twin spacecraft, Spilker shares how Voyager reshaped our view of the Solar System&rsquo;s outer frontier, from the nature of the heliopause to the unexpectedly rich structure of the local interstellar medium.
We unpack what Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 have taught us about charged particles, magnetic fields, and cosmic rays beyond the Sun&rsquo;s protective bubble, and why those measurements have upended earlier ideas about where the Solar System truly ends. Spilker also reflects on the mission&rsquo;s extraordinary longevity, the ingenuity required to keep the spacecraft communicating across the vastness of space, and what Voyager&rsquo;s legacy means for future journeys between the stars.
Then, in What&rsquo;s Up, Bruce Betts, chief scientist at The Planetary Society, places Voyager in context, showing how long-lived missions shape the bigger picture of space science and why observing longer can lead to some of our most profound discoveries.
Discover more at:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/2026-voyagers-and-the-heliopause">https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/2026-voyagers-and-the-heliopause</a>

Linda Spilker, project scientist for the Voyager mission, explains what Voyager has revealed about the heliopause and the Solar System’s outer edge.

Voyager and the heliopause: Exploring where the Sun gives way to the stars

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 before the second Trump administration took office. That episode, “The Challenges of Change at NASA,” explored the institutional and political roadblocks to radical change at the U.S. space agency.

A lot has happened since that show, including DOGE, mass staff departures, a draconian budget cut proposal, a dramatic shift toward sending humans to Mars, and the rapid departure of 20% of NASA's workforce.

But at the end of the year, much remains the same. The SLS and Orion programs continue unchanged, with funding locked in through 2032. The humans-to-Mars policy has effectively vanished; returning U.S. astronauts to the Moon, to stay, is again centered within civil space policy. NASA's science missions, though still facing a serious budgetary threat, have not gone away.

So, did we see real change at NASA? And to what end? Or was it merely disruption masquerading as change?

Marcia Smith and host Casey Dreier revisit their original analysis and discuss what they got wrong, what they got right, and what surprised them about 2025 in civil space policy.

Discover more at: https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/spe-2025-a-year-of-disruption-and-change-at-nasa

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 before the second Trump administration took office. That episode, &ldquo;The Challenges of Change at NASA,&rdquo; explored the institutional and political roadblocks to radical change at the U.S. space agency.
A lot has happened since that show, including DOGE, mass staff departures, a draconian budget cut proposal, a dramatic shift toward sending humans to Mars, and the rapid departure of 20% of NASA's workforce.
But at the end of the year, much remains the same. The SLS and Orion programs continue unchanged, with funding locked in through 2032. The humans-to-Mars policy has effectively vanished; returning U.S. astronauts to the Moon, to stay, is again centered within civil space policy. NASA's science missions, though still facing a serious budgetary threat, have not gone away.
So, did we see real change at NASA? And to what end? Or was it merely disruption masquerading as change?
Marcia Smith and host Casey Dreier revisit their original analysis and discuss what they got wrong, what they got right, and what surprised them about 2025 in civil space policy.
Discover more at: <a href="https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/spe-2025-a-year-of-disruption-and-change-at-nasa">https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/spe-2025-a-year-of-disruption-and-change-at-nasa</a>

After DOGE cuts, mass staff departures, and a blink-and-you-missed-it pivot to Mars, how much did NASA actually change in 2025? Space Policy Online founder Marcia Smith returns to assess a turbulent year.

Space Policy Edition: Change for the Sake of Disruption at NASA

As 2025 comes to a close, Planetary Radio looks back on a year that reshaped space exploration, through stunning discoveries, major milestones, unexpected challenges, and the people who carried science forward through it all.

In this episode, Sarah Al-Ahmed, host and producer of Planetary Radio, is joined first by Kate Howells, public education specialist at The Planetary Society, to share results from The Planetary Society’s Best of 2025 campaign and the newly released 2025 Year in Pictures edition of The Planetary Report. They discuss the images, missions, and accomplishments voted on by the global space community, and how space imagery continues to inspire curiosity, connection, and hope. 

Then, Sarah sits down with Mat Kaplan, senior communications advisor, Asa Stahl, science editor, and Ambre Trujillo, digital community manager at The Planetary Society, for a wide-ranging conversation about the defining space exploration stories of 2025. 

The episode closes with Bruce Betts, chief scientist of The Planetary Society, in What’s Up, where he looks ahead to what’s coming in 2026.

Discover more at: https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/2025-looking-back-space-exploration

As 2025 comes to a close, Planetary Radio looks back on a year that reshaped space exploration, through stunning discoveries, major milestones, unexpected challenges, and the people who carried science forward through it all.
In this episode, Sarah Al-Ahmed, host and producer of Planetary Radio, is joined first by Kate Howells, public education specialist at The Planetary Society, to share results from The Planetary Society&rsquo;s Best of 2025 campaign and the newly released 2025 Year in Pictures edition of The Planetary Report. They discuss the images, missions, and accomplishments voted on by the global space community, and how space imagery continues to inspire curiosity, connection, and hope. Then, Sarah sits down with Mat Kaplan, senior communications advisor, Asa Stahl, science editor, and Ambre Trujillo, digital community manager at The Planetary Society, for a wide-ranging conversation about the defining space exploration stories of 2025.&nbsp;
The episode closes with Bruce Betts, chief scientist of The Planetary Society, in What&rsquo;s Up, where he looks ahead to what&rsquo;s coming in 2026.
Discover more at: <a href="https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/2025-looking-back-space-policy-and-advocacy">https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/2025-looking-back-space-exploration</a>

Planetary Radio looks back at the biggest space exploration stories of 2025, from stunning images and major missions to hard lessons about how science moves forward. Host Sarah Al-Ahmed is joined by members of The Planetary Society’s communications team to reflect on what defined the year, and what they’re most excited to see in 2026.

A “Star Trek” future: Your place in space

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