DART smacked an asteroid! So what’s next in planetary defense?
The success of the Double Asteroid Redirection Test was just one more step toward protecting our world from wayward asteroids and comets. NASA Planetary Defense Officer Lindley Johnson, and Kelly Fast...
2 Nov 202256min
Meet the new Planetary Radio host! (and enjoy a beer with a cosmologist)
Join host Mat Kaplan as he proudly introduces the person who will take on the show he created 20 years ago. Then we’ll join astrophysicist Brian Keating at a joyful gathering of cosmologists who hope ...
26 Okt 202248min
Eyes on the Sky: Spacewatch and the Catalina Sky Survey
The University of Arizona in Tucson hosts two of the most successful asteroid searches on our planet. Together, they have discovered, tracked, and characterized tens of thousands of objects, many of w...
19 Okt 20221h 2min
Innovate! NASA’s leading-edge fellows share their amazing projects
Mat Kaplan once again hosted the live webcast from the annual NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts or NIAC symposium. He presents a speed dating sample of highlights. How about a Mars habitat grown from ...
12 Okt 20221h 1min
Space Policy Edition: The Geopolitics of a Successful SETI Detection
What would nation-states do in response to a signal from an alien intelligence? Would they compete for status and control of the message, or hope to gain some technological advantage from its contents...
7 Okt 20221h 2min
Grounded: The director of the SOFIA flying observatory looks back
The Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) made its last flight on Sept. 30, 2022. Astronomer Margaret Meixner was onboard as the huge telescope built into a 747 aircraft ended its o...
5 Okt 202244min
Bull’s-eye! DART impacts Dimorphos, and we meet space image artist and processor Judy Schmidt
They did it! The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft scored a direct hit on Dimorphos. We’ve got the thrilling last moments before impact, followed by an exclusive, triumphant conversat...
28 Sep 20221h 8min
Countdown to DART: Will We Move an Asteroid?
We are less than a week from the DART spacecraft’s impact on asteroid moonlet Dimorphos as this episode is published. Mission Coordination Lead Nancy Chabot gives us a status update and a preview of w...
21 Sep 202252min
