Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and Science17 Juni

Flying on Titan: The engineering of Dragonfly

Saturn's moon Titan is one of the most Earth-like worlds in our Solar System, with a dense nitrogen atmosphere, weather cycles, methane rivers, and vast organic dune fields. It also happens to be the perfect place to fly a drone. NASA's Dragonfly mission is doing exactly that, sending a car-sized, nuclear-powered rotorcraft to explore Titan's surface starting in 2034. With just two years until launch, the team is deep in the work of making it happen.

This week, we're joined by two members of the Dragonfly team from the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory. Felipe Ruiz is the mission's lead rotor engineer and mechanical implementation lead, responsible for designing the eight-rotor system that will carry Dragonfly across Titan's skies. Zibi Turtle is the mission's principal investigator, a planetary scientist whose career has spanned missions from Galileo to Cassini to Europa Clipper.

Together, they walk us through the engineering challenges of flying a thousand-kilogram rotorcraft in an alien atmosphere, how the team is testing and validating the design here on Earth, and what the spacecraft's instruments will look for on Titan's surface.

Then Bruce Betts, our chief scientist, joins us for What's Up, where we pay tribute to the Ingenuity Mars helicopter and the legacy of the first powered, controlled flight on another world.

Discover more at: https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/2026-engineering-of-dragonfly

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Book Club Edition: “To Be Taught, If Fortunate” with Becky Chambers

This outstanding novella, “To Be Taught, If Fortunate” by award-winning science fiction author Becky Chambers, is a passionate argument for the human exploration of space and the wonders we will find ...

19 Juni 1h 6min

U.S. space science in flux: Grant rules, rockets, and reorganization

Between budget battles, proposed grant rule changes, and an exploding Blue Origin rocket, there's a lot to cover in U.S. space policy right now. Jack Kiraly, The Planetary Society's director of govern...

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Space Policy Edition: A proposal to stifle American science

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Spacewoman with Eileen Collins

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Los Angeles Astronomical Society celebrates 100 years of looking up

The Los Angeles Astronomical Society (LAAS) is one of the oldest and largest amateur astronomy clubs in the United States, and this year, it’s turning 100. To mark the occasion, the LAAS threw a cente...

27 Maj 1h 2min

Twenty organic molecules found in an ancient Martian rock

NASA's Curiosity rover has been exploring Mars' Gale Crater for over a decade. A new analysis of samples collected there reveals something remarkable: more than 20 different organic molecules preserve...

20 Maj 55min

Book Club Edition: Diane Ackerman and “The Planets: A Cosmic Pastoral”

Author, poet, and science communicator Diane Ackerman is our guest. Her wonderful collection of poems, with one devoted to each of the worlds in our Solar System, was first published in 1976. Carl Sag...

15 Maj 51min