Now Elon Musk wants to build a city on the moon before building a city on Mars. Biologist Scott Solomon, author of a new book titled "Becoming Martian," sizes up the prospects for building a city anywhere that's beyond Earth.
Why NASA is going nuclear on the moon
2026-1-30 | 46 min.
Aerospace consultant Roger Myers explains why space nuclear power will play a big role in the competition between the U.S. and China to establish bases on the moon in the 2030s.
Pluto shines as a science-fiction star
2025-10-31 | 33 min.
Space scientist Les Johnson tells the story behind his role in creating "Pluto," the last novel in sci-fi master Ben Bova's Grand Tour series and one of the first works of fiction to incorporate revelations from NASA's New Horizons mission.
Native American legends are woven into a UFO tale
2025-10-13 | 33 min.
Cherokee science-fiction author Daniel H. Wilson blends ancient tales about extraterrestrials with up-to-date speculation about alien visitations in a new novel called "Hole in the Sky."
'Rocket Dreams' and rocket realities
2025-9-26 | 39 min.
Washington Post staff writer Christian Davenport, author of "Rocket Dreams," discusses the parallel space races between America and China, and between Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos.
Cosmic Log's podcast from the place where science and technology intersect with science fiction and popular culture, hosted by science writer Alan Boyle and science-fiction writer Dominica Phetteplace. Become a supporter for less than (or more than) a dollar a month.