NASA's Curious Universe

Come get curious with NASA. As an official NASA podcast, Curious Universe brings you mind-blowing science and space adventures you won't find anywhere else. Explore the cosmos alongside astronauts, scientists, engineers, and other top NASA experts who are achieving remarkable feats in science, space exploration, and aeronautics. Learn something new about the wild and wonderful universe we share. All you need to get started is a little curiosity. NASA's Curious Universe is an official NASA podcast hosted by Padi Boyd and Jacob Pinter. Discover more original NASA shows at nasa.gov/podcasts


Science
26
Curious Universe Live: Art and Science with Ast...
Live from On Air Fest in Brooklyn, New York: NASA astronaut Matt Dominick.
29 min
27
Inside the Team That Keeps Hubble Flying
For the space telescope's 35th anniversary, a rare peek inside its control center.
38 min
28
How NASA Found the Ingredients For Life on an A...
Some of the first science results are in from a NASA mission to asteroid Bennu.
27 min
29
Why the Moon’s Icy South Pole is a Hot Target f...
NASA's Artemis campaign is targeting the South Pole for the first crewed lunar landing in decades.
36 min
30
The Mind-Bending Math Inside Black Holes
Dr. Ronald Gamble, a NASA theoretical astrophysicist, peers inside some of the universe's most extreme objects: black holes.
25 min
31
How Open Science and AI Are Advancing Hurricane...
A NOAA Hurricane Hunter aircraft flies into the eye of a storm. What happens next?
31 min
32
Europa Clipper's Voyage to Jupiter's Ocean Moon
Could Jupiter's moon support life in its salty seas?
36 min
33
An Asteroid by Any Other Name With Special Gues...
At NASA, defending the planet from space rocks is serious business.
38 min
34
Sun Series: Bonus: Dispatches from the Path of ...
As the Moon's shadow fell across the U.S., NASA sent us into the field.
35 min
35
Sun Series: Soaring Toward the Sun
For the first time, a NASA spacecraft is flying through the Sun's atmosphere.
35 min
36
Sun Series: What is Space Weather?
Close up, our star is a wild, stormy place.
34 min
37
Sun Series: Minisode! Countdown to Total Solar ...
It's almost time for a once-in-a-lifetime show.
11 min
38
Sun Series: You (Yes, You!) Can Help NASA Study...
You can help NASA solve our star's enduring mysteries.
44 min
39
Sun Series: How to Experience a Total Solar Ecl...
When the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, the world looks up in awe.
41 min
40
Sun Series: The Sun, Our Star
A journey from the surface of the Earth into our Sun's core.
36 min
41
Here Comes the Sun Series
This year, get to know your friendly neighborhood star.
2 min
42
Planet Hunting with Host Padi Boyd
In this special episode, we turn the tables and put host Padi Boyd in the interview seat. Padi shares stories from her time with NASA’s groundbreaking Kepler mission, which showed us many more exoplanets—planets orbiting other stars—than we had previously discovered. She also tells us about her dream astronomical dinner companion and her go-to karaoke song. Plus, we'll wrap up another season of wild and wonderful adventures by answering questions from listeners like you and sharing behind-the-scenes tidbits from Season 6 episodes. For the first time, this episode of Curious Universe is also available as a video podcast. Check it out at nasa.gov/curiousuniverse and NASA’s YouTube channel: youtu.be/h0wLZJeYGxw
37 min
43
A Year in Mars Dune Alpha
To prepare for the day when humans travel to Mars, NASA is conducting a one-year experiment in a Mars simulation environment. So what’s it like to spend a year in CHAPEA, the Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog? In this season finale episode, travel through the airlock with voice recordings made by the four-person crew, including what it feels like—and smells like—inside their realistic 3-D printed habitat and how virtual reality gives them the sensation of walking on the Red Planet. NASA's Curious Universe is an official NASA podcast. Discover more adventures with NASA astronauts, engineers, scientists, and other experts at nasa.gov/curiousuniverse
25 min
44
Exploring the Early Universe with Webb
The James Webb Space Telescope promised to show us “baby pictures” of the universe. Now in its second year of science, Webb is fulfilling that promise—and more. NASA scientists Jane Rigby, Taylor Hutchison, and Gerónimo Villanueva explain how they use Webb to peer back to the earliest stages of the universe and examine stunning plumes of water in our own solar system. NASA's Curious Universe is an official NASA podcast. Discover more adventures with NASA astronauts, engineers, scientists, and other experts at nasa.gov/curiousuniverse
27 min
45
Special Delivery from Outer Space
On September 24, 2023, a capsule from space parachuted down into the Utah desert. Tucked inside it were 4.5-billion-year-old bits of rock and dust from a faraway asteroid named Bennu collected by the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft. These pristine space rocks, which contain carbon and other building blocks of life, could rewrite scientists’ understanding of our solar system. In this episode, sit in mission control and ride aboard helicopters with asteroid mission leaders like Dante Lauretta and Mike Moreau for a behind-the-scenes look at the OSIRIS-REx sample return mission’s epic conclusion. NASA's Curious Universe is an official NASA podcast. Discover more adventures with NASA astronauts, engineers, scientists, and other experts at nasa.gov/curiousuniverse
38 min
46
Tiny but Mighty
What do air pollution, thunder clouds and climate change have in common? Aerosols! These tiny particles, generated by everything from desert dust storms to car exhaust, play a huge role in our atmosphere, affecting our health when we breathe them in and even changing the weather. Globally, they play an even bigger role, changing how much sunlight gets through to Earth’s surface and heating or cooling our entire planet. Through new satellite missions, NASA atmospheric scientists like Kirk Knobelspiesse and public health experts like Susan Anenberg are working together to untangle aerosol mysteries. NASA's Curious Universe is an official NASA podcast. Discover more adventures with NASA astronauts, engineers, scientists, and other experts at nasa.gov/curiousuniverse
31 min
47
How You (Yes, You!) Can Do Science With NASA
Anyone can participate in the process of NASA science and engineering through what we call citizen science, regardless of your citizenship. You might have heard it called “participatory science” or “community science.” It all means that thousands of people around the world are helping the professionals make discoveries about our planet, our solar system, and our universe at large, through these projects. Meet three volunteers whose perspectives have changed by participating in citizen science. NASA's Curious Universe is an official NASA podcast. Discover more adventures with NASA astronauts, engineers, scientists, and other experts at nasa.gov/curiousuniverse
28 min
48
Hum of the Sun
What does space sound like? It’s a question that has fascinated composers and scientists alike throughout history. Through a process called data sonification, heliophysicists are using NASA satellites like audio recorders to listen to the electromagnetic symphony our Sun plays, and making new discoveries along the way. NASA's Curious Universe is an official NASA podcast. Discover more adventures with NASA astronauts, engineers, scientists, and other experts at nasa.gov/curiousuniverse
32 min
49
Welcome to the Dark Side
Normal matter—the kind that makes up our home planet and everything we can see—adds up to just five percent of the known universe. The other 95 percent is dark matter and dark energy, a tag team that ranks among the biggest mysteries in all of science. NASA astrophysicists Jason Rhodes and Ami Choi explain how we study this dark side and why it’s making scientists reconsider what we think we know about the universe. NASA's Curious Universe is an official NASA podcast. Discover more adventures with NASA astronauts, engineers, scientists, and other experts at nasa.gov/curiousuniverse
25 min
50
Introducing Season Six
In season six, meet researchers who are using sounds from the Sun to unlock new details about our star, explore the “dark side” of the universe with scientists who study dark matter and dark energy, and get a behind-the-scenes look at the first NASA mission to deliver an asteroid sample to Earth. A new episode drops every Tuesday. NASA's Curious Universe is an official NASA podcast. Discover more adventures with NASA astronauts, engineers, scientists, and other experts at nasa.gov/curiousuniverse
1 min