Can nuclear propulsion fundamentally transform our ability to send humans to Mars? Bhavya Lal, a policy and nuclear engineering expert now working at NASA, helped write a new report on the topic for the National Academies of Sciences. She joins the show to talk about the advantages of various types of nuclear propulsion, the engineering and policy challenges that face them, and the role of government versus the private sector in developing and deploying transformational technologies. Discover more here: https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/0804-2021-spe-bhavya-lal-nuclear-propulsion

Can nuclear propulsion fundamentally transform our ability to send humans to Mars? Bhavya Lal, a policy and nuclear engineering expert now working at NASA, helped write a new report on the topic for the National Academies of Sciences. She joins the show to talk about the advantages of various types of nuclear propulsion, the engineering and policy challenges that face them, and the role of government versus the private sector in developing and deploying transformational technologies. Discover more here: <a href="https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/0804-2021-spe-sarah-scoles-pentagon-ufo-report">https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/0804-2021-spe-bhavya-lal-nuclear-propulsion</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.

NASA’s Bhavya Lal returns to explain the challenges and big advantages of nuclear propulsion in space.

Space Policy Edition: Mars via the Nuclear Option

Japan’s Martian Moons eXploration mission, MMX, is about to set out for Phobos and Deimos, the two small moons of Mars. If all goes well, it will bring the first-ever sample from the Martian system back to Earth. Asa Stahl, public outreach astronomer at The Planetary Society, explains why these strange little moons are still such a mystery and what a piece of Phobos could reveal. Then Kris Zacny, vice president and senior research scientist at Honeybee Robotics, tells the story of PlanetVac, a sampler that Planetary Society members helped get off the ground more than a decade ago. From its first tests in a vacuum chamber to the surface of the Moon aboard Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost lander, PlanetVac has come a long way, and its descendant is now headed for Phobos. Plus, Bruce Betts, chief scientist at The Planetary Society, joins us in What’s Up.

Discover more at: https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/2026-mmx-planetvac

Japan&rsquo;s Martian Moons eXploration mission, MMX, is about to set out for Phobos and Deimos, the two small moons of Mars. If all goes well, it will bring the first-ever sample from the Martian system back to Earth. Asa Stahl, public outreach astronomer at The Planetary Society, explains why these strange little moons are still such a mystery and what a piece of Phobos could reveal. Then Kris Zacny, vice president and senior research scientist at Honeybee Robotics, tells the story of PlanetVac, a sampler that Planetary Society members helped get off the ground more than a decade ago. From its first tests in a vacuum chamber to the surface of the Moon aboard Firefly Aerospace&rsquo;s Blue Ghost lander, PlanetVac has come a long way, and its descendant is now headed for Phobos. Plus, Bruce Betts, chief scientist at The Planetary Society, joins us in What&rsquo;s Up.
Discover more at: <a href="https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/2026-mmx-planetvac">https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/2026-mmx-planetvac</a>

Japan’s MMX mission is about to launch for the moons of Mars, carrying a sampler with deep Planetary Society roots. Asa Stahl, public outreach astronomer at The Planetary Society, and Kris Zacny, vice president and senior research scientist at Honeybee Robotics, tell the story.

From the Mojave to Phobos: PlanetVac rides with MMX

Can you buy science the way you buy a rocket launch? NASA is exploring the idea of “science as a service,” asking industry how commercial companies could provide scientific data and capabilities for Earth science, space weather, and astrophysics. But the concept isn’t new. It’s the latest chapter in a four-decade effort to commercialize space science that stretches back to the brief, troubled privatization of Landsat in the 1980s. Casey Dreier is joined by Jack Kiraly, chief of advocacy for The Planetary Society, and Britney Schmidt, planetary scientist, astrobiologist, and Planetary Society board member, to unpack what commercial science services can and can’t deliver. 

Discover more at: https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/science-as-a-service

Can you buy science the way you buy a rocket launch? NASA is exploring the idea of &ldquo;science as a service,&rdquo; asking industry how commercial companies could provide scientific data and capabilities for Earth science, space weather, and astrophysics. But the concept isn&rsquo;t new. It&rsquo;s the latest chapter in a four-decade effort to commercialize space science that stretches back to the brief, troubled privatization of Landsat in the 1980s. Casey Dreier is joined by Jack Kiraly, chief of advocacy for The Planetary Society, and Britney Schmidt, planetary scientist, astrobiologist, and Planetary Society board member, to unpack what commercial science services can and can&rsquo;t deliver.&nbsp;
Discover more at: <a href="https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/science-as-a-service">https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/science-as-a-service</a>

Jack Kiraly, chief of advocacy for The Planetary Society, and planetary scientist Britney Schmidt join Casey Dreier to examine NASA’s push toward “science as a service,” and why science is so much more than buying data.

Space Policy Edition: What does “science as a service” really mean?

In this second of two episodes from the 2026 NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) Symposium at Wichita State University, Sarah Al-Ahmed talks with researchers developing the propulsion and life support technologies that could open up new frontiers in deep space exploration.

First, Artur Davoyan, associate professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, discusses Coilable Stacked Solar Sails, a new sail architecture that could enable fast missions to the outer planets and interstellar space. Then, James Bickford of Charles Stark Draper Laboratory introduces TFINER, the Thin Film Isotope Nuclear Engine Rocket, a project that generates thrust from the natural decay of radioactive thin films, enabling rendezvous with interstellar objects and missions to the solar gravitational focus. Finally, Alvaro Romero-Calvo, assistant professor at Georgia Tech, and Theo St. Francis, graduate researcher in Georgia Tech's Low-Gravity Science and Technology Lab, discuss their concept, Breathing Beyond Earth, a pump-free oxygen production system for long-duration space missions to Mars. Plus, Bruce Betts, chief scientist of the Planetary Society, joins Sarah for What's Up, with a look ahead to the launch of JAXA's Martian Moons Exploration mission, MMX.

Discover more at: https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/2026-niac-symposium-part-2

In this second of two episodes from the 2026 NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) Symposium at Wichita State University, Sarah Al-Ahmed talks with researchers developing the propulsion and life support technologies that could open up new frontiers in deep space exploration.
First, Artur Davoyan, associate professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, discusses Coilable Stacked Solar Sails, a new sail architecture that could enable fast missions to the outer planets and interstellar space. Then, James Bickford of Charles Stark Draper Laboratory introduces TFINER, the Thin Film Isotope Nuclear Engine Rocket, a project that generates thrust from the natural decay of radioactive thin films, enabling rendezvous with interstellar objects and missions to the solar gravitational focus. Finally, Alvaro Romero-Calvo, assistant professor at Georgia Tech, and Theo St. Francis, graduate researcher in Georgia Tech's Low-Gravity Science and Technology Lab, discuss their concept, Breathing Beyond Earth, a pump-free oxygen production system for long-duration space missions to Mars. Plus, Bruce Betts, chief scientist of the Planetary Society, joins Sarah for What's Up, with a look ahead to the launch of JAXA's Martian Moons Exploration mission, MMX.
Discover more at: <a href="https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/2026-niac-symposium-part-1">https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/2026-niac-symposium-part-2</a>

More conversations from the 2026 NIAC Symposium, this time about the propulsion and life support breakthroughs that could carry us to the outer Solar System and keep us alive when we get there.

Space Policy Edition: Mars via the Nuclear Option

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