Howdy, neighbor? A crowd of worlds in the habitable zone, this week on planetary radio.

Welcome, I'm Matt Kaplan, of the Planetary Society with more of the human adventure

across our solar system and beyond.

Why is Earth the only planet in our solar system that is smack dab in the middle of the habitable zone?

Okay, maybe Mars is on the edge, but really for life as we know it, the red Planet isn't in the same league.

Sorry, Martians.

This is the question that Stephen Kane wanted to answer,

and he does so in a new paper

about the conditions that put planets

where liquid surface water is likely.

Stephen even tells us where to look in our great conversation.

Later, Bruce Betts will catch me utterly off guard with this week's space trivia contest question.

Speaking of Mars, a beauty shot of its South Pole tops the August 14 edition of the Downlink.

And here are space headlines you'll find at

planetary.org slash downlink. Remember the dawn spacecraft and its discovery of

those crazy bright spots on dwarf planet series.

Scientists now believe were seen evidence of a liquid briny water reservoir about 40 kilometers below the surface.

I've invited Dawn Mission Director Mark Raymond to visit us again soon.

NASA's Osiris Rex successfully completed a final practice session for its descent to asteroid Benu in October.

The spacecraft team believes they are now ready to collect a precious sample for return

to Earth.

Then there's the bad news about the giant Arisibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, which has certainly

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