Humanity is going back to the Moon, and Europe is already playing a critical role in making it happen. This week, Planetary Radio brings you voices straight from the 18th European Space Conference in Brussels, Belgium, where more than 2,000 of the world’s top space leaders gathered to shape the future of European space exploration.

We begin with conference co-organizer Tomas Dimitrov of Logos and Business Bridge Europe, who sets the stage for the conversations ahead. From there, we hear from European Commissioner for Defence and Space Andrius Kubilius, ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher, French Minister Delegate for European Affairs Benjamin Haddad, and Germany’s Federal Space Minister Dorothee Bär.

We also take you inside the Moonlight Initiative panel, bringing you the full conversation as scientists and engineers from ESA, NASA, and industry lay out their vision for building GPS and communications infrastructure around the Moon, and wrestle with what it will really take to support a permanent human presence there.

Then, Planetary Society Chief Scientist Bruce Betts joins us for What’s Up to tackle one of the most fascinating and unexpected challenges of lunar exploration: what time is it on the Moon?

Discover more at: https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/2026-european-space-conference 

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Gentry Lee spent nearly five decades at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and in that time he helped shape some of the most ambitious missions in the history of space exploration. A new documentary, “Starman,” chronicles his career and the big question that runs through it: is there life beyond Earth? Lee worked on every NASA mission to land on Mars, helped Carl Sagan bring the Universe to living rooms around the world with “Cosmos,” and oversaw dozens of active missions as Chief Engineer for the Solar System Exploration Directorate at JPL. Few people have had a front-row seat to the Space Age quite like him.

In this episode, host Sarah Al-Ahmed sits down with Gentry at Planetary Society headquarters just one day after his retirement from JPL. He reflects on the colleagues who shaped him, the missions that changed our understanding of the Solar System, and why the search for life beyond Earth remains the most profound endeavor humanity has ever undertaken.

Discover more at: https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/2026-starman

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Is the United States really in a new space race with China? Or is that framing missing the bigger picture?

In this Space Policy Edition of Planetary Radio, Casey Dreier, chief of space policy at The Planetary Society, sits down with Patrick Besha, former NASA strategic advisor on China, to explore the realities behind China’s rapidly advancing space program. They discuss how China’s political system shapes its long-term space strategy, why the rhetoric about a “space race” may be misleading, and how competition between the United States and China in space is likely to unfold over the coming decades.

Discover more at: https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/spe-us-china-space-race

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NASA has announced a major restructuring of the Artemis program, reshaping the roadmap for returning humans to the Moon.

At a February 27 press conference, agency leadership addressed the rollback of Artemis II following post–wet–dress–rehearsal testing and unveiled significant changes to upcoming missions, including shifting Artemis III from a planned lunar landing to a low-Earth-orbit rendezvous and integrated systems test. In this episode, you’ll hear remarks from NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman and Lori Glaze, Moon to Mars program manager and acting associate administrator for NASA’s Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate. They explain what happened with Artemis II and why NASA is changing course.

Then, host Sarah Al-Ahmed is joined by Jack Kiraly, director of government relations at The Planetary Society, and Ari Koeppel, AAAS science and technology policy fellow, to unpack the political and strategic forces behind this shift and what it means for the future of lunar exploration.

In What’s Up, Bruce Betts, our chief scientist, looks back at Apollo 9, the Earth-orbiting mission that proved the Lunar Module could operate independently before NASA attempted a lunar landing.

Discover more at: https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/2026-artemis-update

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Could a single ancient impact have briefly transformed one of the Solar System’s darkest moons into a cryovolcanic world?

When Voyager 2 flew past Uranus in 1986, it captured the only close-up images we have of Umbriel, a heavily cratered, charcoal-dark satellite long considered geologically inactive. But one feature stands out: a bright ring inside the 131-kilometer-wide Wunda crater.

In this episode, Sarah Al-Ahmed speaks with Adeene Denton, NASA postdoctoral program fellow at the Southwest Research Institute, about her team’s new study published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets. Using shock physics simulations, Denton and her colleagues reconstruct the impact that formed Wunda crater to determine what Umbriel’s interior must have been like at the time. Their modeling explores whether impact-induced cryovolcanism can explain the bright deposits observed on the crater floor.

Then, in What’s Up, Bruce Betts, chief scientist of The Planetary Society, joins Sarah to break down one of the key mechanisms that keeps icy moons from freezing solid, tidal heating driven by orbital resonance. 

Discover more at: https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/2026-cryovolcanism-on-umbriel

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They informed and entertained together throughout the first 20 years of Planetary Radio. Listen in as the Society’s chief scientist and book club edition host Mat Kaplan share the mic once again for a delightful conversation about Dr. Betts’ two new space books for young people. “Are We Alone?” introduces the search for life across the Universe, while “The Size of Space” collects many of Bruce’s brilliant and hilarious ways to cut our Solar System down to human size.

Discover more at: https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/book-club-bruce-betts

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This week on Planetary Radio, we mark a major leadership transition at The Planetary Society. Host Sarah Al-Ahmed sits down with Bill Nye, outgoing chief executive officer and newly appointed chief ambassador of The Planetary Society, and Jennifer Vaughn, incoming chief executive officer and former chief operating officer, for a candid conversation about this long-planned transition. Together, Bill and Jenn reflect on how the organization, under their shared leadership, grew into the world’s largest and most effective nonprofit dedicated to advancing the scientific exploration of space.

Then, Bruce Betts, chief scientist of The Planetary Society, joins Sarah for What’s Up. They discuss an upcoming planetary alignment on and around February 28, 2026.

Discover more at: https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/2026-jennifer-vaughn-ceo

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Where did Earth’s water come from? In this episode of Planetary Radio, we explore how scientists are answering that question by studying a remarkably well-preserved record of the early Solar System: lunar samples brought back by the Apollo missions. Host Sarah Al-Ahmed is joined by Tony Gargano, postdoctoral fellow at the Lunar and Planetary Institute with the University Space Research Association and a research affiliate at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. Gargano studies lunar rocks and regolith to understand how planets form, evolve, and acquire key ingredients like water over time. By analyzing subtle chemical fingerprints preserved in Apollo-era lunar regolith, his work helps constrain how much water meteorites could have brought to Earth and what that means for our planet’s path to habitability.

The episode also features a short bonus segment with actor George Takei, recorded at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures during a screening of “Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.” Takei reflects on the enduring legacy of “Star Trek,” its influence on generations of scientists and explorers, and why he is excited about humanity’s return to the Moon in the Artemis era. He connects science fiction’s hopeful vision of the future with the real science helping us understand our origins today.

Discover more at: https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/2026-earth-water-apollo-moon-dust

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What does a NASA authorization bill actually do, and why does it matter? In this episode of Space Policy Edition, we dig into one of the most misunderstood but powerful tools Congress uses to shape the future of U.S. space exploration.

Host Casey Dreier, chief of space policy at The Planetary Society, is joined by Jack Kiraly, the Society’s director of government relations, for a deep dive into how NASA authorization bills work, how they differ from appropriations, and why they can have decades-long consequences for science missions, human spaceflight, and planetary defense. The discussion also reflects on a major recent win for space advocates: Congress’s bipartisan decision to protect NASA science funding.

Discover more at: https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/spe-what-is-a-nasa-authorization-bill

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What if Europa’s seafloor isn’t alive with activity after all?

This week on Planetary Radio, host and producer Sarah Al-Ahmed explores new research that reframes how scientists think about one of the Solar System’s most intriguing ocean worlds.

Sarah is joined by Paul Byrne, associate professor of earth, environmental, and planetary sciences at Washington University in St. Louis. Paul is the lead author of a new study suggesting that the seafloor beneath Europa’s global ocean may be geologically quiet today, potentially lacking the hydrothermal activity often associated with habitable environments on Earth. Together, they discuss how scientists investigate places we can’t yet observe directly and why Europa remains a compelling world to explore regardless of what we find.

Then, Bruce Betts, chief scientist of The Planetary Society, joins us for What’s Up to explain why Saturn’s moon Enceladus shows strong evidence for active hydrothermal vents beneath its icy crust, offering a fascinating contrast between two ocean worlds.

Discover more at: https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/2026-europas-quiet-seafloor

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Humans are preparing to return to the Moon. On this episode of Planetary Radio, host Sarah Al-Ahmed is joined by Kelsey Young and Noah Petro, two of the scientists helping turn humanity’s return to the Moon into reality.

Kelsey Young is a research space scientist at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and serves as the Artemis Science Flight Operations Lead. She also leads the Lunar Observations and Imaging Campaign for Artemis II, defining what astronauts will observe, document, and study as they fly around the Moon for the first time in more than 50 years.

Noah Petro is the lab chief of the Planetary Geology, Geophysics, and Geochemistry Laboratory at NASA Goddard and the former Project Scientist for the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. He also serves as the Project Scientist for Artemis III, helping shape the science behind humanity’s first lunar footsteps of the 21st century.

Together, they discuss how Artemis II and Artemis III build on decades of lunar science, how astronauts are being trained to observe the Moon like geologists, and why the Moon’s south pole is such a compelling destination for future exploration.

Then, we wrap up with What’s Up, where Bruce Betts, chief scientist of The Planetary Society, shares the story of the first and so far only professional geologist to walk on the Moon.

Discover more at: https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/2026-artemis-ii-and-iii

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