Badri Younes says that a spacecraft that can’t communicate or find its way is worthless. He leads SCaN, NASA’s Space Communications and Navigation program, which manages resources like the agency’s Deep Space Network. SCaN is also preparing for a future that relies on optical communication and possibly even quantum computing. Younes takes us on an audio tour of SCaN’s work that extends beyond our solar system. There’s more to explore at https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/2021-badri-younes-nasa-scan

LHS 1140b: The first atmosphere detected on a rocky habitable-zone exoplanet
57:19

TERP RAPTOR: A student-built mission to asteroid Apophis
1:01:45

Hot Jupiters: The ‘Roasted Planet’ and the wrong-way hotspot
1:02:54