We look forward to the Oct. 7 launch of the European Space Agency's Hera spacecraft with Michael Küppers, project scientist for the mission. Then Ambre Trujillo, our digital community manager at The Planetary Society, lets you know how to celebrate Europa Clipper by joining NASA's Runway to Jupiter style challenge. We'll close out with Bruce Betts, our chief scientist, and a discussion of the potential future meteor shower caused by the DART impact in What's Up.

Discover more at: https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/2024-hera-launch

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We return to the 2024 NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) Symposium for part two of our coverage. Astronaut and NIAC external council member Mae Jemison honors Lou Friedman, the co-founder of The Planetary Society, for his contributions to the space community and the NIAC program. Then Kenneth Carpenter from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and his colleagues pitch their plan for an Artemis-enabled Stellar Imager. Steven Benner from the Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution and his team tell us about their plan for an add-on to large-scale water mining operations on Mars to screen for introduced and alien life. We close out with Bruce Betts, chief scientist of The Planetary Society, in What's Up, as we celebrate LightSail 2 being announced as one of the winners of this year's Gizmodo Science Fair.

Discover more at: https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/2024-niac-part-2

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Join us on a journey to the 2024 NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) Symposium. We'll hear from the teams behind two NIAC projects that could help us study distant planets and potentially reach them ourselves. Marshall Eubanks from Space Initiatives, Inc. and his colleagues will introduce us to their concept for a swarm of laser sailing pico spacecraft that could travel interstellar distances. Then Ryan Sprenger from Fauna Bio Inc. joins us to discuss how hibernation could help humans reach other worlds. Then, our chief scientist, Bruce Betts, joins us for What's Up and a new random space fact.

Discover more at: https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/2024-niac-part-1

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.