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Science

Small Steps, Giant Leaps

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

NASA’s technical workforce put boots on the Moon, tire tracks on Mars, and the first reusable spacecraft in orbit around the Earth. Learn what’s next as they build missions that redefine the future with amazing discoveries and remarkable innovations.

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  • 25 episodes
  • fortnightly
  • Avg 18 min
  • English

Episodes 25

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  • #164
    Dec 3, 2025 · 15 min

    Simulating Moon and Mars Dust

    Dr. Jennifer Edmunson explains what it takes to simulate Moon and Mars dust on Earth, and lessons learned from preparing to build habitats on other worlds.

  • #163
    Nov 19, 2025 · 20 min

    NASA's Centennial Challenges Prize Program

    There’s a program at NASA that taps into the power of the public to solve some of the toughest problems in space exploration. It’s called Centennial Challenges, a prize competition that has awarded more than $24 million to hundreds of people ranging from academics, startup founders, small business owners, and independent inventors from across the U.S. and 86 countries.

  • #162
    Sep 18, 2025 · 22 min

    6,000 Exoplanets and Counting

    On September 17, 2025, NASA announced that the number of exoplanets, planets outside our solar system, tracked by NASA has reached 6,000. In the three decades since the groundbreaking detection of exoplanet 51 Pegasi b, the first confirmed planet orbiting a Sun-like star, astronomers have concluded that exotic worlds are everywhere.

  • #161
    Sep 3, 2025 · 19 min

    NASA's Zero Gravity Research Facility

    A steel vacuum chamber 50 stories deep at NASA’s Glenn Research Center lets researchers simulate near-weightlessness by letting test hardware freefall for 5.18 seconds.

  • Aug 20, 2025 · 26 min

    Turning Space Data Into Sound

    From black holes to star clusters, scientists are turning space data into sound with a process called sonification. Dr. Kimberly Arcand, visual scientist with the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, joins us to explore how data sonification lets more people experience the cosmos and give researchers a new way to interpret science one note at a time.

Showing 21–25 of 25 episodes