A little rocket company with big plans this week on planetary radio.

Welcome, I'm at Kaplan of the Planetary Society with more of the human adventure across our solar system and beyond.

Rocket geeks prepare to geek out as we tour interorbital systems with random mill iron.

She wants to put your satellite in orbit for as

little as the cost of a decent used car. Bill Nye hopes the Falcon Nine rocket

is about to return to orbit.

He also wishes outgoing NASA chief scientist Ellen Stofanwell.

Bruce Betts and I have yet another beautiful work of space art to give away.

This one has a Star Trek and Cosmos heritage. Senior

editor Emily Lachtoala is back. Happy New Year Emily. We're getting it off to a

good start with your look forward at what's coming up this year around the solar system.

Yeah, I can't say I'm sorry to leave 2016 behind and welcome 2017, but at the same time I'm so sad that this is the last year for the Cassini mission.

Sad, but proud, I'm sure.

Proud and also really looking forward to this year because it's going to be quite different to past years on the

mission. They're already in an orbit that passes really close to the F-ring.

That means they're getting amazing ring views. They're getting the closest ever looks

at several of the little tiny moons embedded in the rings and then in

April they're going to get into an even closer orbit with the spacecraft in between the

rings and Saturn they'll determine the mass of the rings directly for the first time.

They'll be probing Saturn's magnetosphere in the same way that Juno is probing Jupiter's

magnetosphere. It's going to be a really exciting year on Cassini and it just comes to a sad but proud like you say

end in September.

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