Planetary Radio

Series produced by Mat Kaplan

Series image

The Planetary Society's travel show that takes you to the final frontier, featuring commentary by Society CEO Bill Nye the Science Guy.

For over 20 years, we've been proud to bring Planetary Radio to our dedicated listeners. However, after careful consideration, we discontinued our traditional broadcast distribution on Aug. 2, 2023. We invite Radio stations to continue airing the extended podcast version of the show, along with any of our previous episodes. You can find the extensive archive of our broadcasts and our new podcast MP3s here: https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/radio-episodes-files For more information about Planetary Radio, visit our website at https://www.planetary.org/radio. For inquiries or support, contact Sarah Al-Ahmed, the host and producer of Planetary Radio, at planetaryradio@planetary.org. Thank you again for being an integral part of the Planetary Radio family. We look forward to continuing our cosmic journey together through the wonders of our podcast and beyond. Hide full description

For over 20 years, we've been proud to bring Planetary Radio to our dedicated listeners. However, after careful consideration, we discontinued our traditional broadcast distribution on Aug. 2, 2023. We invite Radio stations to continue airing the extended podcast version of the show, along with any of our previous episodes. You can find the extensive archive of our broadcasts and our new podcast MP3s here: https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/radio-episodes-files For more information about Planetary Radio, visit our website at https://www.planetary.org/radio. For inquiries or support, contact Sarah Al-Ahmed, the host and producer of Planetary Radio, at planetaryradio@planetary.org. Thank you again for being an integral part of the Planetary Radio family. We look forward to... Show full description


519 Pieces

Order by: Newest First | Oldest First
Meet the new Planetary Radio host!
From: Mat Kaplan
Series: Planetary Radio
Caption: New host Sarah Al-Ahmed is introduced by current host and Planetary Radio creator Mat Kaplan in this week's episode.
After 20 years at the helm, Mat Kaplan introduces the person who will take over Planetary Radio when the new year begins.

Bought by Key Radio KEYK 89.3 FM, KIYU-FM, WJCU, KCNP, KWMR and more


  • Added: Oct 25, 2022
  • Length: 28:50
  • Purchases: 12
Eyes on the Sky: Spacewatch and the Catalina Sky Survey
From: Mat Kaplan
Series: Planetary Radio
Caption: One of the Catalina Sky Survey/Steward Observatory telescopes on Mt. Lemmon prepares for another night of asteroid hunting., Credit: CSS/Steward Observatory
Meet leaders of two of the most successful Earth-based searches for asteroids, including many thousands that could threaten Earth.

Bought by Key Radio KEYK 89.3 FM, KIYU-FM, WJCU, KWMR, WXAV 88.3FM Chicago and more


  • Added: Oct 19, 2022
  • Length: 28:50
  • Purchases: 12
Innovate! NASA’s leading-edge fellows share their amazing projects
From: Mat Kaplan
Series: Planetary Radio
Caption: Artist's concept of an advanced, spaceship., Credit: NASA/MSFC
Join us at the 2022 NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) Symposium for a taste of projects that just might change the world.

Bought by Key Radio KEYK 89.3 FM, KIYU-FM, KCNP, WMUU-LP, KWMR and more


  • Added: Oct 12, 2022
  • Length: 28:50
  • Purchases: 12
Grounded: The director of the SOFIA flying observatory on its termination
From: Mat Kaplan
Series: Planetary Radio
Caption: With its giant infrared telescope open to the sky, SOFIA flies toward another night of observation, Credit: NASA/DLR
Director of SOFIA Science Mission Operations Margaret Meixner joins us to lament the end of the giant flying observatory and to celebrate its treme...

Bought by KBUT Crested Butte, Colo., Key Radio KEYK 89.3 FM, KIYU-FM, WJCU, WXAV 88.3FM Chicago and more


  • Added: Oct 05, 2022
  • Length: 28:50
  • Purchases: 12
Bull’s-eye! DART impacts Dimorphos
From: Mat Kaplan
Series: Planetary Radio
Caption: Asteroid Dimorphos imaged by the Double Asteroid Redirection Test spacecraft seconds before the probe impacted., Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL
Listen as the Double Asteroid Redirection Test spacecraft closes in on asteroid Dimorphos, followed by a triumphant conversation with DART Coordina...

Bought by Key Radio KEYK 89.3 FM, C89.5 - KNHC Seattle, KIYU-FM, KWMR, KCNP and more


  • Added: Sep 27, 2022
  • Length: 28:50
  • Purchases: 13
Countdown to DART: Will We Move an Asteroid?
From: Mat Kaplan
Series: Planetary Radio
Caption: The DART spacecraft races toward its impact on asteroid Dimorphos in this artist's concept., Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL
The DART spacecraft’s impact on asteroid moonlet Dimorphos is set for Sept. 26. We’ll get a preview of this historic smackdown from the mission’s c...

Bought by Key Radio KEYK 89.3 FM, WFHB, KIYU-FM, KWMR, KCNP and more


  • Added: Sep 20, 2022
  • Length: 28:50
  • Purchases: 13
A Space Coast Conversation with European Space Agency Leader Josef Aschbacher
From: Mat Kaplan
Series: Planetary Radio
Caption: An Artemis astronaut collects a promising rock on the Moon., Credit: NASA
Host Mat Kaplan spends a few minutes talking with Josef Aschbacher, Director General of the European Space Agency, at the first attempt to launch A...

Bought by Key Radio KEYK 89.3 FM, KIYU-FM, WFHB, KWMR, WMUU-LP and more


  • Added: Sep 14, 2022
  • Length: 28:50
  • Purchases: 13
Countdown to Artemis, The Return to the Moon
From: Mat Kaplan
Series: Planetary Radio
Caption: The Sun rises on the morning of August 29, 2022 at the Kennedy Space Center as the countdown continues toward launch of Artemis 1., Credit: Mat Kaplan
Join Mat Kaplan and Planetary Society colleagues in Florida for the first attempt to launch the Space Launch System rocket on a mission to the Moon.

Bought by Key Radio KEYK 89.3 FM, C89.5 - KNHC Seattle, WFHB, KIYU-FM, WJCU and more


  • Added: Sep 07, 2022
  • Length: 28:50
  • Purchases: 15
The Voyager Mission: A 45th Anniversary Celebration
From: Mat Kaplan
Series: Planetary Radio
Caption: On board each Voyager spacecraft is a time capsule: a 12-inch, gold-plated copper disk carrying spoken greetings in 55 languages from Earth’s peoples, along with 115 images and myriad sounds representing our home planet., Credit: NASA/JPL
It’s a party for Voyager and the team of scientists, engineers and others who have followed it across our solar system. Then we’ll visit with Ann D...

Bought by C89.5 - KNHC Seattle, WFHB, RadioStPete Florida, KWMR, WJCU and more


  • Added: Aug 30, 2022
  • Length: 28:50
  • Purchases: 14
Pieces of Mars: How We’ll Get Them to Earth
From: Mat Kaplan
Series: Planetary Radio
Caption: This illustration shows a concept for multiple robots that would team up to ferry to Earth samples collected from the Mars surface by NASA's Mars Perseverance rover., Credit: NASA/ESA/JPL-CalTech
Getting precious Mars rocks into Earthbound labs is an unprecedented challenge. We’ll hear how a lander, a rocket, a big solar-powered transfer veh...

Bought by WFHB, KIYU-FM, WJCU, WMUU-LP, KWMR and more


  • Added: Aug 23, 2022
  • Length: 28:50
  • Purchases: 13
A Venus Phosphine Scoop! The Return of Jane Greaves
From: Mat Kaplan
Series: Planetary Radio
Caption: This false color radar image allows us to see through Venus' thick clouds to the broiling surface below., Credit: NASA/JPL/USGS
Delightful astronomer Jane Greaves is back with the latest evidence for phosphine gas in the atmosphere of Venus.

Bought by WFHB, KIYU-FM, KMUN, KCNP, WJCU and more


  • Added: Aug 16, 2022
  • Length: 28:50
  • Purchases: 14
Comets Stink! The Chemical Zoo Found at Comet Chury
From: Mat Kaplan
Series: Planetary Radio
Caption: Rosetta and the Philae lander approach comet Chury., Credit: ESA
Scientists have found a menagerie of complex organic compounds on the comet visited by the Rosetta spacecraft that connect it with the birth of our...

Bought by KIYU-FM, C89.5 - KNHC Seattle, WFHB, KWMR, WJCU and more


  • Added: Aug 09, 2022
  • Length: 28:50
  • Purchases: 15
Citizen Science: Join the search for Martian clouds
From: Mat Kaplan
Series: Planetary Radio
Caption: NASA's Curiosity rover captured the images used to create this mosaic of Martian clouds over Mont Mercou on 19 March 2021., Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/Kevin M. Gill
Scientists need your help identifying clouds high above the surface of the red planet. The goal is figuring out where Mars’ water went.

Bought by WFHB, KIYU-FM, KWMR, WJCU, KRZA and more


  • Added: Aug 02, 2022
  • Length: 28:50
  • Purchases: 12
New Jet Propulsion Lab Director Laurie Leshin
From: Mat Kaplan
Series: Planetary Radio
Caption: Laurie Leshin formally assumes her roles as director of NASA JPL and vice president of Caltech in May., Credit: Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Laurie Leshin has just become the tenth director of JPL and the first woman to run the fabled center for space science and robotic exploration.

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  • Added: Jul 27, 2022
  • Length: 28:50
  • Purchases: 14
Former NASA chief scientist Jim Green looks back
From: Mat Kaplan
Series: Planetary Radio
Caption: Former NASA chief scientist Jim Green, Credit: NASA
The former director of NASA’s Planetary Science division, Jim Green, retired as the agency’s chief scientist in January. This episode opens with a ...

Bought by WFHB, KIYU-FM, KBUT Crested Butte, Colo., WJCU, KWMR and more


  • Added: Jul 20, 2022
  • Length: 28:50
  • Purchases: 11
The JWST: An Awesome New Window on the Universe Opens Wide
From: Mat Kaplan
Series: Planetary Radio
Caption: The James Webb Space Telescope's Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) captured this stunning view of the Carina Nebula, located about 7,500 light-years from Earth. Nicknamed the "cosmic cliffs," it is essentially a nursery for young stars., Credit: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI
NASA and its partners have revealed the first stunning images from the new space telescope. We’ll talk about them with Bill Nye and members of the ...

Bought by WFHB, KIYU-FM, KUT, C89.5 - KNHC Seattle, KWMR and more


  • Added: Jul 13, 2022
  • Length: 28:50
  • Purchases: 14
A Hero of the New Space Age: Lori Garver and Escaping Gravity
From: Mat Kaplan
Series: Planetary Radio
Caption: Cover of Lori Garver's great new book., Credit: Diversion Books
Lori Garver went up against powerful forces inside and outside NASA to create the hugely successful commercial cargo and crew programs.

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  • Added: Jul 06, 2022
  • Length: 28:50
  • Purchases: 13
Asteroid Day! Earth Plays Defense
From: Mat Kaplan
Series: Planetary Radio
Caption: Asteroid Day serves as a reminder of the threat posed to our planet by near-Earth objects, and the campaign to protect ourselves from them., Credit: Asteroid Day Foundation
A co-founder of the annual, worldwide event, and the leader of the European Space Agency’s planetary defense program mark the 114th anniversary of ...

Bought by WFHB, KIYU-FM, KWMR, WJCU, WXAV 88.3FM Chicago and more


  • Added: Jun 28, 2022
  • Length: 28:50
  • Purchases: 11
Sail on! Bill Nye and others celebrate LightSail 2’s three years in space
From: Mat Kaplan
Series: Planetary Radio
Caption: This image taken by The Planetary Society's LightSail 2 spacecraft on Feb. 27, 2021 shows the Red Sea, Nile River, the eastern Mediterranean Sea, and surrounding areas. North is approximately at top right., Credit: The Planetary Society
Celebrate the third anniversary of LightSail 2’s launch with Bill Nye and other leaders of The Planetary Society.

Bought by WFHB, KIYU-FM, WJCU, KCNP, KWMR and more


  • Added: Jun 21, 2022
  • Length: 28:50
  • Purchases: 11
Portrait of a Scientist: A Conversation with Psyche mission leader Lindy Elkins-Tanton
From: Mat Kaplan
Series: Planetary Radio
Caption: Portrait of the Scientist as a Young Woman is the great new memoir by Lindy Elkins-Tanton, Credit: William Morrow
Psyche asteroid mission principal investigator Lindy Elkins-Tanton returns with her excellent new memoir, “A Portrait of the Scientist as a Young W...

Bought by KMUN, WFHB, KIYU-FM, WJCU, KWMR and more


  • Added: Jun 14, 2022
  • Length: 28:50
  • Purchases: 12

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