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Small Steps, Giant Leaps

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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Episode 162Sep 18, 2025

Small Steps, Giant Leaps: Episode 162: 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.

Episode 161Sep 3, 2025

Small Steps, Giant Leaps: Episode 161: 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.

Episode 160Aug 20, 2025

Small Steps, Giant Leaps: Episode 160: 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 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.

Episode 160Aug 6, 2025

Small Steps, Giant Leaps: Episode 159: StarBurst: Gamma-ray Hunter

StarBurst, a satellite the size of a washing machine, aims to detect the initial blast of gamma-rays, the most powerful bursts of energy in the universe. These cataclysmic explosions can occur when dense neutron stars collide, forging metals like gold and platinum.