Podcast for audio and video - NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory: Recent Episodes
Video and audio podcasts
Video and audio podcasts from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory feature the latest news on space and science findings from JPL and NASA. Topics include discoveries made by spacecraft studying planets in our solar system, including Mars, Saturn and our home planet, Earth. Missions also study stars and galaxies in our universe. Other topics cover tips for amateur astronomers and updates from the Mars Rover and Cassini missions.
The ocean-observing Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich satellite launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket
To prepare the Perseverance rover for its date with Mars, NASA’s Mars 2020 mission team conducted a wide array of tests to help ensure a successful entry, descent and landing at the Red Planet.
The joint U.S.-European Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich is the next in a line of Earth-observing satellites that will collect the most accurate data yet on sea level and how it changes over time.
What are some skywatching highlights in October 2020? Not one, but two, full moons; Mars at opposition; and finding the Andromeda galaxy.
What are some skywatching highlights in September 2020? Spot the Moon together with Mars and Venus, along with the flickering star Fomalhaut, which had itself a planet...until it didn't!
What are some skywatching highlights in August 2020? See the Moon posing with various planets throughout the month, plus catch the peak of the annual Perseid meteor shower.
To get ready for the launch of the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover, NASA invited the public to join a global, collective #CountdownToMars project.
NASA’s Perseverance Rover began its long journey to Mars today by successfully launching from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on a ULA Atlas V rocket.
NASA's Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover is heading to the Red Planet to search for signs of ancient life, collect samples for future return to Earth and help pave the way for human exploration.
In February 2020, NASA’s Perseverance Rover began its long journey to Mars by first traveling across the United States.
NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter will make history's first attempt at powered flight on another planet next spring.
What's Up for July? How about some moons with those giant planets? Mars after midnight. And are the stars of Mars the same as ours?
What are some skywatching highlights you can see in June 2020? Look for the Summer Triangle rising in the east after sundown, keep tabs on the morning planets and June 20 brings the solstice.
Getting a Mars rover built, tested and to the launch pad is a feat that requires the dedication of hundreds of team members.
Watch as NASA-JPL engineers test the Sample Caching System on the Perseverance Mars rover.
NASA's Mars 2020 Perseverance rover lives up to its name by enduring a series of tests to prepare for its journey to the Red Planet.
By chilling atom clouds to just above absolute zero, or the coldest temperature matter can reach, Cold Atom Lab enables scientists to directly observe unique atomic behaviors.
What astronomy highlights can you see in the sky in May 2020? Venus, Sirius and the Milky Way. With so many of us staying home these days, here's a look into the sky at dusk and dawn.
Where did life originate on Earth? Could the process hold clues for finding life elsewhere?
What are some astronomy highlights in the sky in April 2020? This month, Venus visits the Pleiades; Mars, Jupiter and Saturn begin their breakup; and we ask, "What is the Moon illusion?"
NASA Curiosity Project Scientist Ashwin Vasavada guides this tour of the rover's view of the Martian surface.
Looking for astronomy highlights for March 2020? This month, early risers enjoy a planetary grouping of Mars, Jupiter and Saturn in the early morning sky.
Collecting samples from Mars and bringing them back to Earth is a historic undertaking that starts with the launch of NASA's Mars 2020 rover.
After 16 years of unveiling the infrared universe, NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has left a singular legacy.
A new NASA-funded planet-hunting instrument has been installed on the WIYN telescope, on Arizona’s Kitt Peak.
What can you see in the December sky? Beautiful pairings of Venus, Saturn and Mars with the crescent Moon throughout the month, at sunrise and sunset.
See how the odd orbits Neptune's inner moons Naiad and Thalassa enable them to avoid each other, as they race around the planet. Researchers call it a "dance of avoidance."
NASA's InSight lander on Mars is trying to use its robotic arm to get the mission’s heat flow probe, or mole, digging again.
What's Up for September? Following the crescent Moon, the September equinox and — wait — where did Mars go?
See NASA’s next Mars rover quite literally coming together inside a clean room at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
The Mars 2020 Rover is preparing to launch to the Red Planet in July 2020, but it doesn't have a name yet.
In the August sky, look for the "shooting stars" of the annual Perseid meteor shower for some stargazing delights.
A team of engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, install the legs and wheels — otherwise known as the mobility suspension — on the Mars 2020 rover.
LEMUR belongs to a new generation of robots being built by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory that can crawl, walk and even climb rock walls.
As NASA marks the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing, here are five things to know about the Moon that you can share with others.
Can we fly on Mars? The laws of physics may say it's near impossible, but actually flying a heavier-than-air vehicle on the Red Planet is much harder than that.
NASA InSight scientist/engineer Troy Hudson gives us the game plan for getting the mission's heat probe, also known as the "mole," digging again on Mars.
What's up in the June sky? Jupiter is at its biggest and brightest, Mercury and Mars appear ultra-close and how you can observe the Moon's tilted orbit.
Soar through this cosmic landscape filled with bright nebulas, as well as runaway, massive and young stars.
After spending the better part of a year exploring Mars' Vera Rubin Ridge, NASA's Curiosity Mars rover has moved to a new part of Mount Sharp.
What's up in the May sky? A meteor shower produced by debris from Halley's Comet, asteroids named after dinosaurs and a "blue moon" on May 18th.
NASA's OCO-3 mission is ready for launch to the International Space Station. This follow-on to OCO-2 brings new techniques and new technologies to carbon dioxide observations of Earth from space.
What can you see in the April sky? The Moon visits Mars in the evening, and later joins Saturn and Jupiter for a spot of tea. Also, how to find Polaris, the North Star.
What can you see in the March sky? Jupiter and other planets in the morning, a change of seasons and an open star cluster called the Beehive.
Drive along with NASA's Opportunity Mars rover and hear the voices of scientists and engineers behind the mission.
What can you see in the February sky? Stars and planets with distinct red and blue colors, like Mars and Sirius.
Forty-one years after it launched into space, NASA's Voyager 2 probe has exited our solar bubble and entered the region between stars.
When NASA's InSight descends to the Red Planet on Nov. 26, 2018, it is guaranteed to be a white-knuckle event.
When NASA's InSight lands on Mars, it will be the first mission on another planet to use a robotic arm to grasp instruments and place them on the surface.
OnSight is mixed-reality software that allows scientists and engineers to virtually walk and meet on Mars.
Join JPL scientist Josh Willis as he and the NASA Oceans Melting Greenland (OMG) team work to understand the role that ocean water plays in melting Greenland's glaciers.
NASA's Dawn spacecraft turned science fiction into science fact by using ion propulsion to explore the two largest bodies in the main asteroid belt, Vesta and Ceres.
Why are the tallest peaks in the solar system found on one of its smallest worlds? Like any planet, how Mars looks outside is tied to what goes on inside.
Initially scheduled for a 2.5-year primary mission, NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has gone far beyond its expected lifetime -- and is still going strong after 15 years.
Three of the world's largest radio telescopes team up to reveal two objects orbiting each other
New research from the up-close Grand Finale orbits of NASA's Cassini mission shows a surprisingly powerful interaction of plasma waves moving from Saturn to its moon Enceladus.
A dust storm continues to envelop the Red Planet and Curiosity's labs are back in action.
July's night skies feature Mars opposition on the 27th, when Mars, Earth, and the Sun all line up, and Mars' closest approach to Earth since 2003 on the 31st.
ECOSTRESS is a new NASA Earth science mission to study how effectively plants use water by measuring their temperature from space.
What's up in the night sky this month? Enjoy a ringside seat for Saturn, plus a night long parade featuring Venus, Jupiter, Mars and Vesta!
Crazy Engineering sees double! Twin satellites that will track water movement on Earth and test a new laser measurement technology.
The moon and Saturn meet Mars in the morning as NASA's Insight spacecraft launches to the red planet on May 5.
NASA's asteroid-hunting NEOWISE survey has observed or detected more than 29,000 asteroids in infrared light.
NASA's InSight will be the first interplanetary launch from America's West Coast. Residents in some of California's coastal communities could get a front row seat. Here's when and where to see it.
We know what "The Red Planet" looks like from the outside -- but what's going on under the surface of Mars? Find out more in the 60-second video from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
NASA's Curiosity Project Scientist Ashwin Vasavada gives a descriptive tour of the Mars rover's view in Gale Crater. The scene from "Vera Rubin Ridge" looks back over the journey so far, including buttes, dunes and other features along the route. To see where the rover is now, visit
To aid geologists, colors in the image are white balanced so rocks appear the same color as the same rocks would on Earth.
Why? Click here:
Quadrantid meteors January 3-4, a West Coast-favoring total lunar eclipse, and time to start watching Mars!
More than 300 bright spots have been located on the surface of Ceres. Scientists with NASA's Dawn mission say the bright material indicates the dwarf planet is an active, evolving world.
In just a couple of years, NASA's newest rover will be flying to Mars. The Mars 2020 mission will use the next generation of science and landing technology to collect rock samples for possible return by a future mission.
Scientists were surprised and delighted to detect -- for the first time -- an interstellar asteroid passing through our solar system. Additional observations brought more surprises: the object is cigar-shaped with a somewhat reddish hue. The asteroid, named Oumuamua by its discoverers, is up to one-quarter mile (400 meters) long and highly-elongated-perhaps 10 times as long as it is wide. That is unlike any asteroid or comet observed in our solar system to date, and may provide new clues into how other solar systems formed.
The first flight of an advanced supersonic parachute system for Mars 2020 NASA's next Mars rover. The test took place on Oct. 4, 2017, at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia. At the moment of full inflation, the parachute is going 1.8 times the speed of sound or nearly 1,300 miles an hour, and generating nearly 35,000 pounds of drag force-drag that would be necessary to help slow a payload down as it was entering the Martian atmosphere. This is the first of several tests in support of NASA's Mars 2020 mission.
In its final hours, NASA's Cassini spacecraft returned these last looks at Saturn, its rings and moons, as it prepared to end its nearly 20-year voyage in space.
Team members reflect on what has made the NASA/ESA Cassini mission such an epic journey -- the extraordinary spacecraft, tremendous science and historic international collaboration.
NASA's Cassini spacecraft has explored the Saturn system since 2004, re-writing our understanding of the giant planet, its rings, moons and magnetosphere.
In the late summer of 1977, NASA launched the twin Voyager spacecraft. These remote ambassadors still beam messages back to Earth 40 years later, with data from their deep space travels.
Saturn's giant, hazy moon Titan has been essential to NASA's Cassini mission during its 13 thrilling years of exploration there.
The total solar eclipse on Aug. 21, 2017, will trace a narrow path across the nation, though most of the U.S. will see a partial eclipse.
NASA's Cassini spacecraft gazed toward high southern latitudes near Saturn's south pole to observe ghostly curtains of dancing light -- Saturn's southern auroras, or southern lights.
Prepare for the August eclipse by observing the moon phases this month. Plus, two meteor showers peak at the end of the month.
Did you ever wonder how NASA spots asteroids that maybe getting too close to Earth for comfort? Watch and learn.
How do you visualize distant worlds that you can't see? A team of artists uses scientific data to imagine exoplanets and other astrophysical phenomena.
This animation shows asteroids and comets observed in infrared by NASA's Near-Earth Object Wide-field Survey Explorer (NEOWISE) mission.
This movie of asteroid 2014 JO25 was generated using radar data collected by NASA's 230-foot-wide (70-meter) Deep Space Network antenna at Goldstone, California on April 19, 2017.
Mars takes a longer trip around the Sun than Earth does. Find out what that means for spacecraft in this 60-second video.
This video was made using images from Cassini's first dive through the gap between Saturn and its rings on April 26, 2017.
After the first-ever dive through the narrow gap between the planet Saturn and its rings, NASA's Cassini spacecraft called home to mission control.
This movie of asteroid 2014 JO25 was generated using radar data collected by NASA's Goldstone Solar System Radar in California's Mojave Desert.
NASA's Cassini spacecraft discovered hydrogen in the plume of gas and icy particles spraying from Saturn's moon Enceladus.
The final chapter in a remarkable mission of exploration and discovery, Cassini's Grand Finale is in many ways like a brand new mission.
Jupiter is visible all night long, and the Lyrid meteors shower puts on a good show April 22 before dawn.
The search for life beyond Earth needs robots. But to explore distant ocean worlds like Europa, we'll need a new set of tools to drill through ice, reach faraway samples and cross difficult terrain.
For 15 years, the GRACE mission has unlocked mysteries of how water moves around our planet.
Seven Earth-sized planets have been observed by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope around a tiny, nearby, ultra-cool dwarf star called TRAPPIST-1.
This month watch bright Venus, Mars and Uranus, comets and Vesta, Plus the sunset glow of dust in our solar system.
On January 24, 2017, Opportunity celebrates 13 years on Mars. On Earth, she's officially a teenager -- and behaving like one.
On Jan. 14, 2005, ESA's Huygens probe made its descent to the surface of Saturn's hazy moon, Titan.
This video shows a flyover of the intriguing crater named Occator on dwarf planet Ceres. Occator is home to Ceres' brightest area.
2016 ends with fireworks as three planets line up as if ejected from a Roman candle. Mercury, Venus and Mars are visible above the sunset horizon all month long.
On Nov. 30, 2016, NASA's Cassini mission begins a daring set of ring-grazing orbits, skimming past the outside edge of Saturn's main rings.
NASA's Cassini spacecraft watched clouds of methane moving across the far northern regions of Saturn's largest moon, Titan, on Oct. 29 and 30, 2016.
This month, see Venus at sunset, Jupiter at dawn, an evening look at Saturn, plus meteors!
In mid-1944, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory embarked on the "Corporal" program to develop a guided ballistic missile.
There are no gas stations or power outlets in space. That's why NASA's Curiosity rover on Mars--and some other NASA spacecraft that explore the solar system--use something called "radioisotope power." NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory is working with the Department of Energy on ways to make the next generation of radioisotope power systems even more powerful and capable. This video explains more.
NASA's Cassini spacecraft stared at Saturn for nearly 44 hours on April 25-27, 2016, to obtain this movie showing just over four Saturn days.
This mission was designed to last at least two-and-a-half years;
13 years later, Spitzer has operated far beyond the scope of the original mission.
After four years on Mars, Curiosity rover and her operations team are now seasoned explorers, anxious to climb to greater heights on Mount Sharp.
How to spot Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, as well as the and the annual Perseid meteor shower.
Ceres' lack of giant impact basins presents a puzzle to scientists. They expected to observe more large craters on the dwarf planet than have been found by NASA's Dawn mission.
After an almost five-year journey to the solar system's largest planet, NASA's Juno spacecraft successfully entered Jupiter's orbit during a 35-minute engine burn.
NASA's Juno spacecraft has traveled nearly half a billion miles to reach its destination, Jupiter. Find out how engineers made humanity's most distant solar-powered spacecraft.
Secrets lie deep within Jupiter, shrouded in the solar system's strongest magnetic field and most lethal radiation belts. On July 4, 2016, NASA's Juno spacecraft will plunge into uncharted territory, entering orbit around the gas giant and passing closer than any spacecraft before. Juno will see Jupiter for what it really is, but first it must pass the trial of orbit insertion.
Surveyor 1 landed on the lunar surface on June 2, 1966, marking humanity's first controlled touchdown on the moon, and the robotic precursor to the Apollo astronaut missions to come.
Find out where to look in the sky this month to find Saturn, Mars, Jupiter and a comet.
After two Martian years, Curiosity is more than a Mars geologist, scientist and explorer. It's a Mars weather reporter, too.
What's Up for May. Two huge solar system highlights: Mercury transits the sun and Mars is closer to Earth than it has been in 11 years.
Sometimes light just gets in the way. A look at two technologies that block starlight to give telescopes a better view of distant Earth-like planets.
Radar data of comet P/2016 BA14 taken over three days (March 21-23, 2016), when the comet was between 2.5 million miles and 2.2 million miles (4.1 million kilometers and 3.6 million kilometers) from Earth.
NASA's Dawn spacecraft has revealed marvelous sights on dwarf planet Ceres during its first year in orbit.
NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has clocked more than a decade of service at the Red Planet and has yielded scientific discoveries and magnificent views of a distant world. These images taken by MRO's HiRISE camera are not in true color because they include infrared information in order to be optimized for geological science.
Five morning planets, comet Catalina passes Polaris, and icy Uranus and icy Vesta meet near Valentine's Day.
A colorful animation shows a simulated flight over the surface of dwarf planet Ceres, based on images from NASA's Dawn spacecraft.
What's Up for January? A meteor shower, a binocular comet, and the winter circle of stars!
Curiosity performs the first investigation of active sand dunes on another planet. Studying the Bagnold Dunes on Mars will help scientists understand the physics of Martian dunes and how they move.
Honey, I shrunk the satellites! Mini-satellites are following in the footsteps of cell phones and computers. CubeSats are small but highly capable of performing a variety of space missions.
View Mars this month, and get a preview of great Mars views in 2016, the best since 2005!
As we honor the retirement of Director Charles Elachi, we look back at the JPL achievements of the past 15 years.
Earth's land and ocean currently absorb about half of all carbon dioxide emissions from the burning of fossil fuels, but it's uncertain whether the planet can keep this up in the future. NASA's Earth science program works to improve our understanding of how carbon absorption and emission processes work in nature and how they could change in a warming world with increasing levels of emissions from human activities.
See all the phases of the moon, by day and by night! Find out why the same side of the moon always faces the Earth, and look for the areas where all six of the Apollo missions landed.
JPL scientist Marina Brozovic explains how radar will be used to study asteroid 2015 TB145 when it safely passes Earth on Oct. 31, 2015.
On Oct. 28, 2015, NASA's Cassini spacecraft will take the deepest dive ever through the plume of Saturn's moon Enceladus. Scientists hope this close flyby will shed light on what's happening beneath the moon's icy surface.
Researchers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory are developing the Buoyant Rover for Under-Ice Exploration, a technology that could one day explore oceans under the ice layers of planetary bodies. The prototype was tested in arctic lakes near Barrow, Alaska.