Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy And Science

It is many times larger than any previous solar sail, and it will pave the way for even bigger spacecraft propelled by light. Solar Cruiser principal investigator Les Johnson tells us about his latest project and looks to humanity crossing the gulfs of interstellar space. Stellaris: People of the Stars is a collection of science fact and fiction co-edited by Les. Mat and Bruce offer a copy in the new What’s Up space trivia contest. There’s more to discover at https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/0106-2021-les-johnson-solar-cruiser See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chief Scientist Bruce Betts, Editorial Director Jason Davis, Chief Advocate and Senior Space Policy Advisor Casey Dreier, and Communications Strategy and Canadian Space Policy Advisor Kate Howells join host Mat Kaplan for our annual look back at the closing year’s accomplishments in space exploration. They also predict 2021’s biggest events on the final frontier. A very cool prize awaits the winner of the new What’s Up space trivia contest. There’s more to discover at https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/1230-2020-2020-review-betts-davis-dreier-howells See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Engineer and astronaut Stephanie Wilson was a toddler when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin visited the Moon. She may someday almost literally walk in their footsteps. Stephanie is one of 18 astronauts--9 women and 9 men--chosen for the Artemis Team. We also welcome back Cassini-Huygens project scientist Linda Spilker for another update on the discoveries still being made thanks to that flagship mission. Linda also looks ahead toward more missions in the outer solar system. Did you catch the great conjunction? Mat and Bruce did, and they’ll talk about it in What’s Up. There’s more to discover at https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/1223-2020-stephanie-wilson-artemis-linda-spilker See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mike Hecht is in charge of the MOXIE experiment on NASA’s Perseverance rover, arriving on Mars in February. The tiny device will test our ability to turn the Red Planet’s plentiful carbon dioxide into oxygen. Someday a scaled-up version may make the oxidizer that will get astronauts back to Earth. Mike also helps lead the groundbreaking Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration that captured the first image of a black hole. Want to win a Planetary Society baseball cap? Your opportunity arrives with What’s Up. Discover more at https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/1216-2020-mike-hecht-moxie See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Carl Sagan was first in the job. Now it has been handed to Caltech planetary scientist Bethany Ehlmann. We’ll talk with the Planetary Society’s new president about her Moon mission and more. Society CEO Bill Nye and president emeritus Jim Bell also join in. Then we welcome back China space program expert Andrew Jones for an update on the nation’s lunar sample return effort and a survey of many other missions and developments. The new Planetary Society baseball cap will go with a great new book about the Apollo program to the winner of a new space trivia contest. Discover more at https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/1209-2020-ehlmann-transition-nye-bell-andrew-jones See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Apollo was seen as a triumph of,not for, all mankind, argues Dr. Teasel Muir-Harmony, author of the new book Operation Moonglow: A Political History of Apollo. She joins the show to talk about how this was not an accident, but the outcome of a carefully managed public relations campaign by the United States to promote its interests abroad. Discover more here.  https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/1202-2020-spe-teasel-muir-harmony See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The 900-ton instrument platform suspended high above the giant Arecibo dish crashed downward in the early morning hours of December 1st. Host Mat Kaplan had recorded a conversation with the leader of the observatory just hours before the disaster. You’ll hear it here, along with a reflection on the magnificent radio telescope by Bill Nye, and further comments by Planetary Society Chief Scientist Bruce Betts. We’ve also got space headlines and a brand-new prize for a brand-new space trivia contest. Learn more at https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/1202-2020-francisco-cordova-loss-arecibo-observatory See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We celebrate 18 years of Planetary Radio with two great features and 10 personal questions for host Mat Kaplan from Planetary Society Chief Scientist Bruce Betts. Astronomer Jane Greaves is back with an update on the phosphine gas detected above Venus. Then we find water right out under the Sun on our own Moon. Research leader Casey Honnibal tells us how her team found it using the SOFIA telescope on a 747. Learn more at https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/1125-2020-greaves-phosphine-honnibal-lunar-water See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jeffrey Plaut and Richard Zurek are the project scientists for two of the most successful and long-lived Mars missions. Their orbiters, Mars Odyssey and the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, are still delivering great science, even after 19 years above the Red Planet for Odyssey. We’ve also condensed the first 29 hours of the first operational Crew Dragon mission into 98 thrilling seconds. You’ll get a chance to win The Spacefarer’s Handbook in this week’s What’s Up space trivia contest. Learn more at https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/1118-2020-crew-dragon-odyssey-mro See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The United States' 2020 elections are over. What do the results mean for NASA in the years ahead? To help answer that question, we welcome back Brendan Curry, The Planetary Society's Chief of D.C. Operations. Join us as we review the changes in Congress and the White House that will impact the direction of the U.S. space program. Explore more here.  https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/1002-2020-spe-brendan-curry-election-review See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In a jam-packed episode, we’ll talk to a discoverer of a distant, lonely planet that wanders the galaxy, and then turn to plans to send a radically-simple sample collection system to the Moon and Mars’ moon Phobos. Planetary Society CEO Bill Nye will add his congratulations for the PlanetVac team. We’ve also got a signed copy of Bill’s latest book for the winner of the new What’s Up space trivia contest. Learn more at https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/1111-2020-poleski-rogue-planet-zacny-planetvac See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

At least two ambitious, smart asteroid mining companies have gone bust. Joel Sercel makes the case that his new effort comes at a much better time, and with a better approach. He’ll also share his audacious plan for mining water on the Moon, along with his concerns regarding humanity’s spread across the solar system. Can we avoid the mistakes made in past eras of exploration and expansion? You’ve got one more chance to win your own asteroid—a small, rubber one—in this week’s What’s Up space trivia contest. Learn more at https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/1104-2020-joel-sercel See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We are joined by the leader of the OSIRIS-REx mission that sampled an asteroid last week. Dante reveals just how brilliantly successful the encounter was, and describes preparations for the journey back to Earth. Space journalist Nancy Atkinson tells us about Orbilander, a mission that would orbit and then descend to Saturn’s moon Enceladus in a search for life. Space headlines from The Downlink and our weekly visit with Chief Scientist Bruce Betts round out this week’s show. Explore more at https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/1028-2020-dante-lauretta-osiris-rex See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

OSIRIS-REx has done it! We have special coverage of the spacecraft’s successful collection of a sample from asteroid Bennu. Then we talk with Jane Greaves, leader of the team that found evidence of phosphine gas in the atmosphere of Venus. Has this put us on the road to discovery of life above that hellish world? Bruce Betts and Mat Kaplan offer a copy of Beyond Earth’s Edge: The Poetry of Spaceflight in the new space trivia contest. Learn more at https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/1021-2020-jane-greaves-venus-phosphine See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Beyond Earth’s Edge: The Poetry of Spaceflight is the new and outstanding collection of poems edited by Julie Swarstad Johnson and Christopher Cokinos. They’ll join us to hear poems in the collection read by Bill Nye, Robert Picardo, Sasha Sagan, astronauts, scientists and others. Bruce Betts looks away from the night sky long enough to pen his own poetic contribution. We’ve also got space headlines from The Downlink, and a new space trivia contest. Learn more at https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/1014-2020-poetry-johnson-cokinos See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Protecting worlds like Earth and Mars from microscopic invaders carried by human and robot visitors was just one of the scores of topics covered at this year’s Humans to Mars summit. Mat Kaplan moderated a panel featuring planetary scientist and New Horizons mission principal investigator Alan Stern, NASA associate administrator Mike Gold, and NASA planetary protection officer Lisa Pratt. Planetary Society digital editor Jason Davis shares the fascinating 40-year timeline that can be found in the Society’s September equinox edition of The Planetary Report, and Mars shines bright in our What’s Up segment. Great links and more are at https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/1007-2020-h2m-planetary-protection-panel See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A month before the U.S. election Joe Biden's campaign has yet to state its goals for space and NASA. We asked Jeff Foust, one of the best space reporters in the business, to help us piece together a working model of a potential Biden Administration space policy. We comb through the available evidence, combining insights from Biden's history in the Senate, his 8 years as vice president, and current activities in the Democratic House of Representatives and party platform to create a prediction of what might be the same, and what might differ from the Trump Administration's approach to NASA. Explore more here.  https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/1002-2020-spe-jeff-foust See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

AURA, the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, is the organization that oversees operation of many of our world’s most powerful telescopes, including the Hubble Space Telescope.  Veteran astronomer and planetary scientist Heidi Hammel is its Vice President for Science. Listen to her passionate argument for exploration by ground and space-based instruments and what they may tell us about ourselves. Only one cat has gone to space! You might win a tribute to that feline in the new What’s Up space trivia contest. Links and more are at https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/0930-2020-heidi-hammel-aura See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Emily Lakdawalla was on the very first episode of Planetary Radio, and has been heard on hundreds since then. The planetary evangelist returns for a conversation like no other. Planetary Society CEO Bill Nye shares his thoughts after we hear from Emily. Got Mars? Bruce Betts tells us it’s brighter than Jupiter in the evening sky. He’ll tell you where to look during What’s Up. Much more of Emily can be heard at https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/0923-2020-emily-lakdawalla-farewell-nye See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

An international team has detected phosphine gas in the clouds above Venus. Naturally-produced phosphine on Earth is created by anaerobic bacteria. We’ll listen to portions of the media briefing at which this result was announced. Then we’ll get perspective on the find from the Planetary Society’s Casey Dreier. Astrophysicist and Venus atmosphere expert Javier Peralta will share his reaction and a big find of his own on our nearest planetary neighbor. Links and more are at https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/0916-2020-venus-phosphine-discovery-casey-dreier See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.