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The Brightest Light in the UniverseLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee <a href="https://omnystudio.com/listener">omnystudio.com/listener</a> for privacy information.

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.

The Brightest Light in the Universe

Ninety years ago this Halloween, a group of Caltech graduate students hauled a small rocket motor into the Arroyo Seco near Pasadena and tried to fire it up. It didn’t go as planned, but that moment became the unofficial birthday of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). Now, for the first time in the lab’s history, NASA is opening JPL’s management contract to competition. Historian Peter Westwick, author of “Into the Black: JPL and the American Space Program, 1976-2004,” joins Casey Dreier to trace JPL’s path from Army rocketry to the outer planets, the moments when the lab had to reinvent itself to survive, and its sometimes tense relationship with Caltech. Together, they tackle a question that has followed the lab for decades: Is it Caltech’s JPL or NASA’s JPL?

Discover more at: https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/whose-jpl-is-it

Ninety years ago this Halloween, a group of Caltech graduate students hauled a small rocket motor into the Arroyo Seco near Pasadena and tried to fire it up. It didn&rsquo;t go as planned, but that moment became the unofficial birthday of NASA&rsquo;s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). Now, for the first time in the lab&rsquo;s history, NASA is opening JPL&rsquo;s management contract to competition. Historian Peter Westwick, author of &ldquo;Into the Black: JPL and the American Space Program, 1976-2004,&rdquo; joins Casey Dreier to trace JPL&rsquo;s path from Army rocketry to the outer planets, the moments when the lab had to reinvent itself to survive, and its sometimes tense relationship with Caltech. Together, they tackle a question that has followed the lab for decades: Is it Caltech&rsquo;s JPL or NASA&rsquo;s JPL?
Discover more at: <a href="https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/whose-jpl-is-it">https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/whose-jpl-is-it</a>

Historian Peter Westwick joins Casey Dreier to explore JPL’s 90-year history, from Army rockets to planetary exploration, as NASA opens the lab’s management contract to competition for the first time.

Space Policy Edition: Whose JPL is it? A historian on the lab’s 90-year search for itself

On the night of Oct. 5, 1923, Edwin Hubble spotted a variable star in Andromeda from Mt. Wilson Observatory above Pasadena, California, proving that our galaxy is just one of countless others in the Universe. Now, California Rep. Judy Chu, co-chair of the Planetary Science Caucus, has introduced a resolution in the U.S. House of Representatives supporting the designation of Oct. 5 as National Beyond the Milky Way Day in the United States. John Mulchaey, president of Carnegie Science, and Jess Soto, Carnegie Science’s public engagement specialist, join Planetary Radio to share the story of the discovery and the push for national recognition. We also bring you highlights from the Oct. 13 ceremony at Carnegie’s Hale Library, along with conversations with Rep. Chu, Planetary Society CEO Jennifer Vaughn, and astrophysicist Laura-May Abron. Asa Stahl, our public outreach astronomer, shares how you can vote in The Planetary Society’s Best of 2026 Awards. Then Bruce Betts, our chief scientist, explains why it took humanity so long to realize Andromeda was a galaxy and how you can see it for yourself.

Discover more at: https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/2026-beyond-the-milky-way-day

On the night of Oct. 5, 1923, Edwin Hubble spotted a variable star in Andromeda from Mt. Wilson Observatory above Pasadena, California, proving that our galaxy is just one of countless others in the Universe. Now, California Rep. Judy Chu, co-chair of the Planetary Science Caucus, has introduced a resolution in the U.S. House of Representatives supporting the designation of Oct. 5 as National Beyond the Milky Way Day in the United States. John Mulchaey, president of Carnegie Science, and Jess Soto, Carnegie Science&rsquo;s public engagement specialist, join Planetary Radio to share the story of the discovery and the push for national recognition. We also bring you highlights from the Oct. 13 ceremony at Carnegie&rsquo;s Hale Library, along with conversations with Rep. Chu, Planetary Society CEO Jennifer Vaughn, and astrophysicist Laura-May Abron. Asa Stahl, our public outreach astronomer, shares how you can vote in The Planetary Society&rsquo;s Best of 2026 Awards. Then Bruce Betts, our chief scientist, explains why it took humanity so long to realize Andromeda was a galaxy and how you can see it for yourself.
Discover more at:<a href="https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/2026-beyond-the-milky-way-day"> https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/2026-beyond-the-milky-way-day</a>

California Rep. Judy Chu, Carnegie Science President John Mulchaey, and Jess Soto of Carnegie Science share the story behind the push to recognize Oct. 5 as National Beyond the Milky Way Day, honoring Edwin Hubble’s 1923 discovery of a Universe beyond our galaxy. 

The night the Universe got bigger: An event to honor Hubble’s discovery

NASA’s Perseverance rover has driven farther than any other vehicle on another world. On Oct. 11, 2026, its odometer reached 45.22 kilometers (28.10 miles), passing the record Opportunity spent about 15 years setting. Perseverance did it in about five and a half years. To celebrate, we’re revisiting previous Planetary Radio host Mat Kaplan’s 2021 conversation with Vandi Verma, chief engineer of robotic operations for Perseverance at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. She explains AutoNav, the self-driving system that has carried the rover more than 90% of the way, and the careful work of collecting rock samples on Mars. Host Sarah Al-Ahmed catches us up on what’s happened since and marks 25 years of Mars Odyssey. Then stick around for a vintage What’s Up with Mat and Chief Scientist Bruce Betts.

Discover more at: https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/2026-perseverance-distance-record

NASA&rsquo;s Perseverance rover has driven farther than any other vehicle on another world. On Oct. 11, 2026, its odometer reached 45.22 kilometers (28.10 miles), passing the record Opportunity spent about 15 years setting. Perseverance did it in about five and a half years. To celebrate, we&rsquo;re revisiting previous Planetary Radio host Mat Kaplan&rsquo;s 2021 conversation with Vandi Verma, chief engineer of robotic operations for Perseverance at NASA&rsquo;s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. She explains AutoNav, the self-driving system that has carried the rover more than 90% of the way, and the careful work of collecting rock samples on Mars. Host Sarah Al-Ahmed catches us up on what&rsquo;s happened since and marks 25 years of Mars Odyssey. Then stick around for a vintage What&rsquo;s Up with Mat and Chief Scientist Bruce Betts.
Discover more at:<a href="https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/2026-perseverance-distance-record"> https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/2026-perseverance-distance-record</a>

Perseverance just set the record for the most distance driven on another world. We revisit Mat Kaplan’s 2021 conversation with Vandi Verma, JPL principal engineer and chief engineer of robotic operations for Perseverance, about how the rover drives itself across Mars. 

The Brightest Light in the Universe

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