Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy And Science

At 93, Margaret Kivelson is still at the center of space science and policy. In this charming conversation she shares anecdotes about her early life, how she entered the new field of space physics and some of her groundbreaking work, including discovery of convincing evidence for a saltwater ocean under the ice on Jupiter’s moon Europa. Bruce and Mat offer another great prize from Chop Shop in this week’s What’s Up space trivia contest. Discover more at https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/2022-margaret-kivelson See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We are honored to offer you this outstanding episode of one of our favorite podcasts. Twenty Thousand Hertz reveals the stories behind the world's most recognizable and interesting sounds. Here they present the Voyager Golden Record carried by those beloved spacecraft that have departed our solar system on a journey to the stars. We hope you'll enjoy it as much as we have. We'll be back with a regular episode of Planetary Radio every Wednesday. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Citizen scientists will soon have another opportunity to become part of the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, and an innovative project will use a subtle effect of sunlight to learn about near-Earth objects. These are the projects funded in the first round of The Planetary Society’s Science and Technology Empowered by the Public (STEP) grant program. We’ll meet the awardees after Society chief scientist Bruce Betts provides an overview. Bruce returns for this week’s What’s Up and the space trivia contest. Discover more at https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/2022-first-step-grant-awardees See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Planetary scientist Bethany Ehlmann has co-authored a paper presenting evidence that liquid surface water flowed on Mars as much as a billion years more recently than previously thought. That’s an extra billion years for possible life to have formed and thrived. We’ll also join Planetary Society editor Rae Paoletta as she explores water worlds throughout our solar system in a new article. Another great prize awaits the winner of the What’s Up space trivia contest. Discover more at https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/2022-bethany-ehlmann-mars-water See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's the 50th anniversary of Pioneer 10, the first spacecraft to the outer planets. Pioneers 10 and 11 were scrappy, low-cost endeavors that blazed the path for future exploration. But the future has been expensive: outer planets missions are some of the priciest planetary probes in history. Can we get back to a pioneering spirit and increase the frequency of outer planet exploration? To find out, we talk with Mark Wolverton, author of “The Depths of Space: The Story of the Pioneer Probes,” and Scott Bolton, principal investigator for Juno, the most affordable Jupiter mission in decades. Casey and Mat also discuss the dynamic and tragic situation in Ukraine, and its implications for space. Discover more here: https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/pioneer-10-and-11-bolton-wolverton See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Michelle Kunimoto was one of Forbes magazine’s 30 Under 30 in science. Now she leads the most successful search for exoplanets that relies on data delivered by the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite or TESS. She shares this fast-growing catalog of worlds in her first Planetary Radio conversation. Bruce Betts and Mat Kaplan also kick off a new series of great prizes in the What’s Up space trivia contest. Discover more at https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/2022-michelle-kunimoto-tess See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Astrobiologist, planetary scientist, author and science communicator David Grinspoon has just been named a lifetime fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He returns to Planetary Radio for a wide-ranging conversation about the state of our search for life across the solar system and beyond. We also learn what it was like to grow up in a home visited regularly by Carl Sagan and Isaac Asimov. Plus, get out your pencils and calculators! Bruce Betts delivers another cosmic arithmetic challenge in the space trivia contest. Discover more at https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/2022-david-grinspoon See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Planetary Society has awarded another eight Gene Shoemaker near-Earth object grants to outstanding amateur astronomers and observatories around the world. We’ll meet recipients from Chile, Croatia and the United States after chief scientist Bruce Betts tells us about the program. Bruce will then return with Mat Kaplan for yet another What’s Up tour of the sky and a new space trivia contest. Discover more at https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/2022-shoemaker-neo-awards See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Astrophysicists Sam Grunblatt and Johanna Vos are colleagues at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. Sam’s team has discovered giant worlds that are about to be devoured by their expanding stars, while Johanna has detected weather on brown dwarfs, those plentiful worlds that are bigger than planets but smaller than stars. Later, Bruce Betts takes the Olympics beyond the edge of our solar system with this week’s space trivia contest. Discover more at https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/2022-grunblatt-vos-brown-dwarfs-giant-worlds-near-end See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Robert Smith shares the story of how the astronomical community decided upon the JWST as the follow-up to the Hubble Space Telescope, the coalition politics required for mega-projects like Hubble and JWST, and how that dynamic shapes modern science. Dr. Smith holds a Ph.D. in the history and philosophy of science from the University of Cambridge. He  is a professor at the University of Alberta. His book, The Space Telescope: A Study of NASA, Science, Technology, and Politics, was released in 1989. Discover more here:https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/robert-smith-jwst-big-science See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The JWST’s instruments have been turned on. Now begins the months-long preparation for observations that will reveal our universe as never before. 2006 Nobel Prize for Physics laureate John Mather is the senior project scientist for the new telescope. He shares his hope for what’s to come and a look back at how this mighty instrument came to be. He and Mat Kaplan also take a deep dive into the origin of the cosmos. Bruce Betts says early risers have a treat waiting for them in the predawn sky. Discover more at https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/2022-john-mather-jwst See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

From Venus to Pluto, our solar system contains a myriad of planets, moons and other bodies whose surfaces are covered in snow and ice made of water and other exotic stuff. Saturn’s moon Enceladus is among the most intriguing. Colin Meyer, Jacob Buffo and their associates have modeled its ice and the plumes that emanate from the moon’s south pole. These geysers may not originate in the ocean deep below. Planetary Society editor Rae Paoletta is also fascinated by the worlds with ice-like deposits and activity. Bruce Betts keeps us out there with a Titanic random space fact and a new space trivia contest. Discover more at https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/2022-meyer-buffo-enceladus-plumes See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We are approaching the 10th anniversary of Curiosity’s arrival in the Red Planet’s Gale crater. The rolling laboratory is still making profound discoveries as it reveals beautiful vistas and closeups. Project scientist Ashwin Vasavada shares some of the most significant finds in the last year. We’re deep into winter in the northern hemisphere, making Orion, Mat Kaplan’s favorite constellation, hard to miss in the night sky. Bruce Betts tells us there’s much more to see in this week’s What’s Up. Discover more at https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/2022-ashwin-vasavada-curiosity-update See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Parker Solar Probe dipped within the corona on its eighth encounter with our star. It found phenomena that have surprised and delighted heliophysicists, and it captured a movie that is one of the greatest space videos ever. We’ll talk about these and more with Nicola “Nicky” Fox, director of NASA’s Heliophysics Division, and Nour Raouafi, the mission’s project scientist. Get out your calculators! Winning the new space trivia contest will require some basic arithmetic. Discover more at https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/2022-fox-raouafi-parker-solar-probe See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

New rockets, new legislation, and a new direction for planetary exploration are just some of the major events happening in space in the coming year. D.C. Operations Chief Brendan Curry returns to the show to explore these and other issues that will shape the next decade of space exploration and occupy The Planetary Society's advocacy and policy team in 2022. Discover more here:https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/2022-preview-curry-dreier See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

NASA’s Artemis program aims to return humans to the Moon for the first time since 1972. We visit Naval Base San Diego to board the USS John P. Murtha, the ship that may recover the uncrewed Artemis 1 Orion capsule when it returns from the Moon this year. Next, Daniel Kopp of ILC Dover tells us about work underway to create the next moonsuit. Every Apollo moonwalker wore an ILC Dover spacesuit, as do most of the astronauts who go outside the International Space Station. What’s Up? That’s the question chief scientist Bruce Betts answers each week. Explore more at https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/2022-ilc-dover-moonsuit-navy-orion-recovery-exercise See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mat Kaplan and six Planetary Society colleagues review a year full of accomplishments, firsts and exciting discoveries. Society CEO Bill Nye opens the show with a celebration of the James Webb Space Telescope’s launch. Next is a round robin discussion with Jason Davis, Casey Dreier, Kate Howells, and Rae Paoletta. We close with Bruce Betts’ recap of the LightSail 2 mission right after he offers a new What’s Up space trivia contest. Explore more at https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/2021-year-in-review. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Space historian William Sheehan and planetary scientist Jim Bell have written a fascinating history of humankind’s at least 5,000-year relationship with the Red Planet. “Discovering Mars” is filled with anecdotes about the people who have revealed Mars. The chronicle includes Mars helicopter Ingenuity’s flights and then looks to the future of exploration. Someone will win the book in Bruce Betts’ latest What’s Up space trivia contest. Discover more athttps://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/2021-discovering-mars-book-bell-sheehan See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The James Webb Space Telescope will begin its mission of discovery as soon as Dec. 24. René Doyon, Heidi Hammel and Mike McElwain join us for a conversation about what it may reveal from our solar system to the edge of the universe. Doyon is principal investigator for the telescope’s NIRISS imaging spectrograph, Hammel is vice president for science at the Association of University for Research in Astronomy (AURA) and McElwain of the Goddard Space Flight Center is the JWST Observatory project scientist. What do chief scientist Bruce Betts and a horse have in common? Find out in the What’s Up space trivia contest. There’s always more to explore athttps://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/2021-jwst-pre-launch-rene-doyon-heidi-hammel-mike-mcelwain See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The plot of the great new movie “Don’t Look Up” is driven by a giant comet speeding toward Earth and the scientists who want to divert it. Adam McKay directed this dark comedy. He and real-life planetary defense expert Amy Mainzer talk with Mat Kaplan about the science, the scientists, and much more. Then a group of Planetary Society colleagues share their thoughts about the film. Fans of Dr. Seuss will find something special in this week’s What’s Up with Bruce Betts. There’s always more to explore athttps://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/2021-adam-mckay-amy-mainzer-dont-look-up See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.