Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and Science
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and Science
Playlist by Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and SciencePlanetary 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 fi…1,296 clip(s) in playlist
The Planetary Society goes to TwitchCon 2025
The Planetary Society heads to TwitchCon 2025 to explore how scientists and educators use livestreaming to share the excitement of discovery. We begin with Moohoodles, one of Twitch’s pioneering space science streamers and co-host of the live panel “The Planetary Society: Space, Time, and You.” She…
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Space Policy Edition: Should a (potential) biosignature revive Mars Sample Return?
In 1996, a controversial claim of fossilized life in a Martian meteorite ignited a golden age of Mars exploration. Nearly 30 years later, a potential biosignature detected by the Perseverance rover at Jezero Crater has sparked…nothing, not even a formal effort to revive the beleaguered robotic Mars…
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Do Aliens Speak Physics?
If we ever meet intelligent extraterrestrials, will we even be able to talk about physics? Physicist Daniel Whiteson of UC Irvine and cartoonist Andy Warner join Sarah Al-Ahmed to explore one of science’s strangest and most profound questions: if alien civilizations exist, would their understanding…
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Ripples on the Cosmic Ocean
What happens in space doesn’t stay in space. Historian Dagomar Degroot joins Planetary Radio host Sarah Al-Ahmed to explore how shifting solar cycles, volcanic eruptions on Venus, Martian dust storms, and even mistaken sightings of lunar forests have influenced life, science, and society on Earth. …
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2025 NASA’s Innovative Advanced Concepts Symposium: Part 2 — Hopping robots and the search for exoplanet magnetospheres
In this second installment of Planetary Radio’s coverage from the 2025 NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts Symposium in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, host Sarah Al-Ahmed highlights more of the technologies presented by the NIAC fellows. Mary Knapp of MIT Haystack Observatory shares her team’s Great Ob…
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Book Club Edition: Space Craze by Margaret Weitekamp
The American fascination with spaceflight and what we might find out there began long before any human left Earth. It’s Dr. Margaret Weitekamp’s job to collect, document, and preserve the cultural artifacts that display our deep attraction to all things spacey. Her book, Space Craze, explores how t…
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2025 NASA’s Innovative Advanced Concepts Symposium: Part 1 — Lunar glass and starshades
Each year, NASA’s Innovative Advanced Concepts program (NIAC) funds visionary ideas that could shape the future of space exploration. In this first of two episodes from the 2025 NIAC Symposium in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, Planetary Radio host Sarah Al-Ahmed introduces some of the concepts pr…
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A Day of Action to save NASA science
On October 6, 2025, hundreds of space advocates from across the United States joined The Planetary Society and 20 partner organizations on Capitol Hill to deliver one clear message: protect NASA’s science budget. We begin with Ari Koeppel, AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellow and Space Policy I…
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Space Policy Edition: China’s growing space science ambitions
If the United States is indeed in a space race with China, then we cannot abandon space science. That’s the claim made by Maxwell Zhu and The Planetary Society’s chief of space policy, Casey Dreier, in a recent op-ed in Payload Space. Their piece contrasted the growing ambitions of China’s coming s…
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Perseverance finds potential biosignatures in Jezero Crater
NASA’s Perseverance rover has made one of its most intriguing discoveries yet in Jezero Crater. A rock sample called Sapphire Canyon, drilled from the Bright Angel formation, contains unusual chemical and mineral patterns that may be potential biosignatures. We begin with remarks from Morgan Cable…
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