Slate and Arizona State University are partnering on the new podcast Mission: Interplanetary, and it’s going to be unlike anything you’ve heard — literally. Subscribe on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Tune-in, Amazon, and pretty much anywhere else you get your podcasts!
I must confess to nerding out a little. I’m co-hosting a new space podcast with the amazing former astronaut and Arizona State University’s Global Explorer in Residence Cady Coleman. And it’s going to be freakin’ awesome!
The podcast — aptly called Mission: Interplanetary — is a partnership between ASU’s Interplanetary Initiative and Slate, and boldly goes where few space podcasts have gone before as we explore some of the biggest questions around humanity becoming an interplanetary species.
I’m still a little star struck by sharing the virtual stage with Cady, who’s a phenomenal astronaut, scientist, and all-round space-geek. But that’s nothing compared to how awed I feel about the out-of-this-world awesomeness of our guests.
A Stellar Guest List
Over the next few weeks we’ll be talking with (in no particular order):
- Scientist and author Katie Mack on how the universe ends;
- Smithsonian Air and Space Museum director Ellen Stofan on how we can bring space closer to everyone here on Earth;
- Space-lawyer Timiebi Aganaba-Jeanty on murder in space;
- Author David Baron on the history of Mars;
- Space theoretician Natalie Trevino on decolonizing space;
- Former astronaut Mark Brown on space junk;
- Principle Investigator of NASA’s Psyche mission Lindy Elkins Tanton on visiting asteroids; and
- Scientist Tanya Harrison and and author Mary Robinette Kowal on all-women space missions.
This is a pretty awesome lineup of guests and topics. But what’s getting me utterly stoked is that these are not going to be your usual space podcasts.
These conversations go unusually wide and deep. They’re amusing, disarming, unexpected, and at times deadly serious. And they always focus on what it means for all of us to be part of a space-faring species.
Countdown to Launch
The podcast formally launches on March 23rd — subscribe on your favorite podcast platform by searching for “Mission: Interplanetary” — we’ll be on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Tune-in, Amazon, and pretty much anywhere else you listen to podcasts!
But to kick things off (drumroll …) we have a unique live launch event on March 17 with ASU scientist and past president of The Planetary Society, Jim Bell. As well as being a phenomenal planetary scientist, Jim is also the Principal Investigator of the Mastcam-Z investigation for the Mars Perseverance rover.
Update: you can watch the launch event here:
And that comment at the beginning of this post about Mission: Interplanetary being unlike anything you’ve heard — literally? Well let me just say that we have a segment that is the perfect fusion of podcast and space, but to find out more, you’re just going to have to subscribe when we go live on March 23.
Happy space podcasting!
Where to subscribe
You should be able to subscribe to Mission: Interplanetary wherever you get your podcasts, but we are already up on these platforms:
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As a postscript, as anyone who’s been involved with a successful podcast knows, the true heroes are the people in the background who make it work, and so I want to call out the absolutely phenomenal work of our producer and director Lance Gharavi, and our engineer/sound designer/everything else expert Stephen Christensen. Without their drive, vision and blood sweat and tears, Mission: Interplanetary wouldn’t be a thing!