Podcasts · Science · Kids & Family

NASA's Curious Universe

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

110 episodes · in order

An official NASA podcast bringing you mind-blowing stories you won’t find anywhere else.

More about the show

What does it take to launch a rocket? What happens when we go looking for life beyond Earth? And what can the universe teach us next?

With extraordinary access to the people and places behind NASA’s exploration of space, Curious Universe brings you closer to the discoveries shaping what we know about our universe.

Don’t forget your curiosity.

Episodes page 2 of 3

  1. To the Stars with Jessica Watkins

    · 18 min · S5 E8

    In this special season five finale episode, join NASA astronaut Jessica Watkins, self-proclaimed “rock nerd” on a journey to the stars.

  2. Introducing Season Six

    · 1:54 · Trailer

    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…

  3. Welcome to the Dark Side

    · 26 min · S6 E1

    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…

  4. Hum of the Sun

    · 33 min · S6 E2

    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…

  5. How You (Yes, You!) Can Do Science With NASA

    · 29 min · S6 E3

    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.”…

  6. Tiny but Mighty

    · 32 min · S6 E4

    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…

  7. Special Delivery from Outer Space

    · 39 min · S6 E5

    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…

  8. Exploring the Early Universe with Webb

    · 29 min · S6 E6

    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…

  9. A Year in Mars Dune Alpha

    · 26 min · S6 E7

    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…

  10. Planet Hunting with Host Padi Boyd

    · 39 min · S6 E8 · Bonus

    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…

  11. Here Comes the Sun Series

    · 2:44 · S7 E1

    Meet the Sun. Even if you think you know our star, our new mini series from NASA’s Curious Universe will show you why Sun science is heating up in 2024—and why NASA experts have so much more to discover. Get ready for…

  12. Sun Series: The Sun, Our Star

    · 37 min · S7 E2

    The Sun is our closest star. Billions of years ago, it shaped the formation of our home planet and the beginning of life on Earth. Today, it provides the heat and energy that powers our civilization, but it can also…

  13. Sun Series: How to Experience a Total Solar Eclipse

    · 42 min · S7 E3

    On April 8, 2024, the Moon will pass in front of the Sun, casting a shadow across Mexico, the United States, and Canada. Total solar eclipses have fascinated human beings for thousands of years. Watching the Moon…

  14. Sun Series: You (Yes, You!) Can Help NASA Study the Sun

    · 45 min · S7 E4

    How often do you think about your nearest star? Though it may not seem like it from here on Earth, our trusty Sun is a place of mystery. Take a good look at its influence on our planet – through the otherworldly…

  15. Sun Series: Minisode! Countdown to Total Solar Eclipse 2024

    · 12 min · S7 E5 · Bonus

    It’s time. On April 8, 2024, millions of people across North America will see a total solar eclipse. Get the most out of totality with this special bonus episode. Listen up for safety tips, learn how to make your own…

  16. Sun Series: What is Space Weather?

    · 35 min · S7 E6

    From Earth, the Sun can seem steady and predictable. But when you look at our star close up, there’s a lot going on. Go behind the scenes with NASA’s Moon to Mars Space Weather Analysis Office, a team monitoring space…

  17. Sun Series: Soaring Toward the Sun

    · 37 min · S7 E7

    For the first time, a NASA spacecraft is flying through the Sun's atmosphere. Nour Raouafi, project scientist for Parker Solar Probe, explains why the Sun's corona is the source of one of the biggest mysteries in all…

  18. Sun Series: Bonus: Dispatches from the Path of Totality

    · 36 min · S7 E8 · Bonus

    On April 8, 2024, North America experienced its last total solar eclipse until the 2040s. As the Moon’s shadow fell across the U.S., NASA sent Curious Universe producers out into the field across the path of totality…

  19. An Asteroid by Any Other Name With Special Guest Latif Nasser

    · 39 min · S8 E1

    The idea of an asteroid from outer space crashing into Earth has captured the imaginations of science fiction directors for decades. But here at NASA, we take potentially hazardous near-Earth objects seriously. We have…

  20. Europa Clipper's Voyage to Jupiter's Ocean Moon

    · 37 min · S8 E2

    As NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft leaves Earth, it carries a message: we, too, are made of water. Europa—one of Jupiter’s moons—is a top candidate to support life, thanks to its ocean of liquid, salty water capped by…

  21. How Open Science and AI Are Advancing Hurricane Research

    · 33 min · S8 E3

    As climate change drives more frequent and intense tropical cyclones and hurricanes, coastal communities desperately need better tools to predict how bad storms will be and when and where they’ll strike—and to assess…

  22. The Mind-Bending Math Inside Black Holes

    · 27 min · S8 E4

    Black holes are mysterious, far away, and can bend the fabric of reality itself—but we're learning more about them all the time. Ronald Gamble, a NASA theoretical astrophysicist, uses math, computer coding, and a dash…

  23. Why the Moon’s Icy South Pole is a Hot Target for NASA

    · 37 min · S8 E5

    The Moon’s South Pole is a bizarre landscape. Mountain ridges glow in perpetual sunlight while deep craters freeze in billion-year-old shade. Yet hidden in the depths of those shadowed craters, under temperatures…

  24. How NASA Found the Ingredients For Life on an Asteroid

    · 28 min · S8 E6

    How did life begin? It’s one of science’s biggest questions, but it’s impossible to answer on Earth, where ancient clues have been buried by the planet’s shifting surface. Instead, scientists are looking beyond our own…

  25. Inside the Team That Keeps Hubble Flying

    · 40 min · S8 E7

    When it launched in 1990, NASA expected the Hubble Space Telescope to last for about 15 years. Thirty-five years later, Hubble is still showing us the universe as no other telescope can. Go behind the scenes with…

  26. Curious Universe Live: Art and Science with Astronaut Matthew Dominick

    · 30 min · S8 E8

    NASA has a long history of bringing together science, engineering and art. Space exploration is a human endeavor—one that requires creativity. In this special live episode, NASA astronaut Matthew Dominick and comedian…

  27. Welcome to Earth

    · 3:55 · Trailer

    There’s one planet NASA studies more than any other: Earth. With our unique vantage point from space, NASA collects information about our home in ways nobody else can. In this podcast miniseries, celebrate our home…

  28. Earth Series: How NASA Sees Our Blue Marble

    · 29 min · S9 E1

    NASA is an exploration agency, and one of our missions is to know our home. In the 1960s, NASA astronauts orbiting the Moon captured a revelatory view of Earth. Today, NASA explores our home planet with a fleet of…

  29. Earth Series: The Ocean, Now in Full Color

    · 36 min · S9 E2

    Life all over the planet—even far from the coasts—depends on the oceans. A pair of NASA satellites, PACE and SWOT, is giving us a fresh look at Earth’s water. PACE tracks color changes driven by tiny plankton, which…

  30. Earth Series: From Space to Your Plate

    · 32 min · S9 E3

    Earth has an incredibly varied and ever-changing landscape—jagged mountains, arid deserts, lush rainforests, rolling wheat fields. Before NASA came on the scene, no one was keeping a systematic eye on the ground from…

  31. Earth Series: Monitoring the Air We Breathe

    · 39 min · S9 E4

    Take a deep breath, and you’re inhaling oxygen from Earth’s atmosphere. Take a walk outside, and the atmosphere is shielding you from harmful radiation. NASA research provides crucial data to understand air quality and…

  32. Earth Series: What's Next for NASA Earth Science

    · 29 min · S9 E5

    NASA has a record of Earth observations going back more than 50 years. What might be in store for the next 50 years? In this finale of our Earth series, we hear from two scientists helping to chart the course of NASA…

  33. How Lying In Bed For 60 Days Helps Astronauts

    · 27 min · S10 E2

    In space, microgravity changes the body. Body fluids shift from the legs toward the head, the back of our eyes flatten, we lose muscle strength, our bones lose some of their density, and even the amount of blood pumped…

  34. Why Webb's Earliest Galaxies Are Blowing Scientists' Minds

    · 28 min · S10 E3

    With the James Webb Space Telescope, we are seeing the early universe like never before. Webb produces beautiful images and detailed scientific data that leave astronomers in awe. In this episode, Mic Bagley, a NASA…

  35. Webb's Exoplanet Research Sounds Like Sci-Fi—But It's Real

    · 24 min · S10 E4

    Some exoplanets—like a gas giant with rain made of glass and 5,000-mile-per-hour winds—sound like worlds dreamed up by a science fiction writer. But they’re real. From light-years away, scientists can uncover details…

  36. What Webb Is Teaching Us About Our Solar System

    · 28 min · S10 E5

    NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is hard at work answering our biggest questions about the birth of our universe and faraway galaxies. But some astronomers are pointing its powerful eyes much closer to home. In this…

  37. How Webb Illuminates Stars’ Cloudy Origins

    · 23 min · S10 E6

    In the space between stars, dark clouds of gas, dust, and ice mingle in a chemical laboratory unlike any on Earth. Ewine van Dishoeck, an astronomer who studies molecules in space and who helped develop an instrument…

  38. Encore: A Day In Space

    · 23 min · S10 E7

    Have you ever dreamed of spending a day in space? Humans have lived aboard the International Space Station for 25 years—or more than 9,000 consecutive days. In this episode originally published in 2021, experience a…

  39. Cosmic Dawn with Nobel Laureate John Mather

    · 19 min · S10 E1

    The James Webb Space Telescope is doing something astronomers dreamed about for decades: peering into our universe’s early past, a period known as cosmic dawn. A new NASA documentary—also called Cosmic Dawn—chronicles…

  40. Launching Soon: Artemis II

    · 3:33 · S11 E1 · Trailer

    This year, four NASA astronauts are flying around the Moon and back—and Curious Universe is bringing you along for the ride. The mission is called Artemis II. It’s a key test flight that will set the stage for future…

  41. Artemis II: Meet the Moonbound Astronauts

    · 52 min · S11 E2

    This year, four NASA astronauts will fly around the Moon and back for the first time since the Apollo program. Their mission is called Artemis II. It’s a key test flight that will set the stage for humans to land on…

  42. Artemis II: What NASA Learned From Launching Artemis I

    · 30 min · S11 E3

    In 2022, NASA launched Artemis I, an uncrewed test flight of the rocket and spacecraft that will send humans to the Moon. Go inside Firing Room 1—the nerve center for Artemis launches—and hear from the engineers who…

  43. Artemis II: Inside NASA’s New Ride to the Moon

    · 35 min · S11 E4

    During Artemis II, humans will fly Orion—NASA’s next-generation spaceship designed to take us to the Moon and beyond—for the first time. Tour Orion with Branelle Rodriguez, the vehicle manager for Artemis II, to hear…

  44. Artemis II: How NASA Will Study the Moon—And the Astronauts Going There

    · 53 min · S11 E5

    During Artemis II, four astronauts will see the lunar surface as few humans have—and possibly, parts of the Moon’s far side that no one has seen before. Learn what lunar science questions NASA hopes to answer through…

  45. Artemis II: The Ground Teams Powering NASA's Moon Mission

    · 33 min · S11 E6

    Behind NASA’s Artemis II mission and the astronauts who will fly around the Moon, teams on the ground are essential. Explore some of the epic equipment that makes Artemis II possible—the mobile launcher,…

  46. Artemis II: How NASA’s Moon Mission Returns to Earth

    · 26 min · S11 E7

    Liftoff! NASA’s Artemis II mission launched on April 1, 2026, carrying four Moonbound astronauts. After an approximately 10-day mission, Artemis II ends with a splash. Lili Villarreal, the recovery and landing director…

  47. Update: Artemis II Crew Flies Around the Moon

    · 40 min · S11 E8

    NASA’s Artemis II mission has flown around the Moon, and its four astronauts traveled farther from Earth than anyone in history. Relive this historic mission through the astronauts’ own words, including their…

  48. Update: Artemis II Crew Comes Home

    · 16 min · S11 E9

    NASA’s Artemis II astronauts are back home. Hear reactions from the Artemis II crew—Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen—as they returned to Earth. For more information about Artemis II,…

  49. Bonus: Behind the Scenes of Artemis II with NASA Experts

    · 31 min · S11 E10 · Bonus

    In this bonus episode, go behind the scenes of key moments from Artemis II with NASA experts who made them possible. Engineers who launched the rocket describe the hours-long process that led to a successful liftoff.…

  50. Catching Up With Perseverance on Mars

    · 40 min · S12 E1

    NASA’s robotic explorers are looking for signs of ancient life on Mars. In its five years and counting on the surface of the Red Planet, the Perseverance rover has collected dozens of rock samples, including…

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