The Space Show
The Space Show
The Space Show focuses on timely and important issues influencing the development of outer-space commerce, space tourism,space exploration and space development. The Space Show is committed to facilitating our becoming a space-faring nation and society with a growing and self-sustaining space-faring economy. The Space Show also focuses on other related subjects of interest to us all.
Station feed:  Created by: David Livingston |
Created on: 12 May 2005 Language: English |
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Henry Vanderbilt, Thursday, 3-22-12 (40.29MB; download) -- Guest: Henry Vanderbilt. Topics: Space Access Society Conference, Phoenix, Arizona April 12-14, 2012. You are invited to comment, ask questions, and discuss the Space Show program/guest(s) on the Space Show blog, http://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments, questions, and any discussion must be relevant and applicable to Space Show programming. Transcripts of Space Show programs are not permitted without prior written consent from The Space Show (even if for personal use) & are a violation of the Space Show copyright. We welcomed back Henry Vanderbilt to the program to discuss the upcoming Space Access Society Conference, April 12-14, 2012 to be held at the Grace Inn in Phoenix, Arizona. For the conference agenda, registration and full hotel information, visit www.space-access.org. During the first part of our initial segment, Henry provided us with an historical overview of not only the development and evolution of the Space Access Society meetings and conference, but also his own personal work in the space arena leading up to his excellent space activism of today which focuses on the space transportation issue. This is a comprehensive look at activities that have brought space exploration and development to today since about 1986. While Henry has been a frequent Space Show guest, this is perhaps the most detailed look we have had from him regarding his space evolution and the rise in importance of the Space Access Society (SAS). Later in this nearly hour long segment and until our break, Henry highlighted many of the speakers that will be at the conference. You can see the full list and the three day agenda at www.space-access.org/updates/sa12info.html. In our second segment, we talked about more of the speakers but mainly focused on those that would address policy and budget issues as not all of the SAS speakers are on the business/entrepreneurial side of space development. Some of the highlights included the NASA Chief Technology Office, ULA, policies for going beyond LEO, and advocacy on issues supported by SAS. As part of this discussion, we talked about SLS, ISS, Space X, depots, and budgetary pressures on NASA and key members of congress. If you have comments/questions, please post them on The Space Show blog URL. If you have questions for Henry about SAS, you can email him at space.access@space-access.org. Selected by: David Livingston [ stations ], Fri, 23 Mar 2012 16:05:54 UTC
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Michael Laine, Tuesday, 3-20-12 (52.19MB; download) -- Guest: Michael Laine. Topics: Lunar space elevator, general space elevator discussion. You are invited to comment, ask questions, and discuss the Space Show program/guest(s) on the Space Show blog, http://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments, questions, and any discussion must be relevant and applicable to Space Show programming. Transcripts of Space Show programs are not permitted without prior written consent from The Space Show (even if for personal use) & are a violation of the Space Show copyright. We welcomed Michael Laine for updates on his company LiftPort & their latest space elevator plans. Michael started the discussion with an overview of his involvement in the space elevator project, his company LiftPort up through its fiscal problems, the reestablishment of the company with intellectual property, & a lunar space elevator study from 2010-2011. He brought us current with LiftPort plans into 2012 plus what the company & his team have planned for the balance of the year. Michael talked about his team, issues relating to a lunar space elevator, how the Moon rotates/spins differently than the Earth, & how an elevator would be different than an Earth-based elevator which he said cannot be built at this time. He made the point that the lunar elevator could be built now, does not need a carbon nanotube ribbon & will likely go from Sinus Medii on the Moon to an orbiting spaceport at the Earth-Moon L1 point where there might be a Bigelow station with EELV or Falcon 9 flights coming up from Earth. He also said the early flights would be robotic but that both capability and capacity would expand to include humans. He was of the opinion that the basic lunar space elevator could be completed within a decade. Eric called in to challenge some of Michael's technical analysis. Michael offered to send the math analysis of the project to anyone requesting it. His email address can be found at the end of this summary. Later in this hour long segment, I asked Michael about business issues, the market, financing (public, private, both), ROIs, & more. As you will hear, this part of the LiftPort plan is unfinished. Michael's team has been confirming the math analysis for the project & has yet to refine their business plan/due diligence analysis. When pressed, he said the cost might be around $700-$800 million but they were increasing that to $1.5 billion to be a bit conservative. He also said this was for a small elevator with a payload capacity of 40-240 kg. In speaking about the commercial aspects of the project, he repeated many times throughout our discussion that they were focused on cash flows and the commercial aspects but first they needed certainty about reaching the technical "go" point. In our second segment, Michael continued his theme that they do not yet have the business plan components in place. I then asked if this was nothing more than a feasibility project? That seemed to summarize our discussion so far. Michael did point out that LiftPort already had two intellectual property (IP) assets so the company was positioned to make money even before the elevator project got going beyond the study phase. I pressed him for his public finance plans. His idea was based on the Railroad Acts which included bond sales guaranteed by the government with the government providing sufficient business revenues to support the bond guarantee. A listener brought up the issue of space debris & climbers. Michael pointed listeners to their YouTube channel to see their climber in action. Mars elevators were mentioned near the end of the program as well as LiftPort internships. We also talked about the recent Japanese company's announcement of their own elevator plans (Obayashi Corp.). Michael also suggested the space elevator conference (http://spaceelevatorconference.org). Please post your comments/questions on The Space Show blog URL above. You can email Michael Laine at laine@liftport.com). Selected by: David Livingston [ stations ], Wed, 21 Mar 2012 16:58:32 UTC
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Duane Hyland, Monday, 3-19-12 (45.32MB; download) -- Guest: Duane Hyland. Topics: Guidelines for the Art of Persuasion in taking the case for space beyond the space community. You are invited to comment, ask questions, and discuss the Space Show program/guest(s) on the Space Show blog, http://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments, questions, and any discussion must be relevant and applicable to Space Show programming. Transcripts of Space Show programs are not permitted without prior written consent from The Space Show (even if for personal use) & are a violation of the Space Show copyright. We welcomed Duane Hyland to the program to discuss the guidelines for persuading others in an argument or debate. Mr. Hyland, a winning debate coach, provided us with important guidelines for making a persuasive argument. Our guest started with Aristotle and the three elements needed for winning the argument: Ethos (authority, credibility), Logos (logic), & Pathos (emotional). You can find out more from this concise summary: http://courses.durhamtech.edu/perkins/aris.html. Another statement of the argument was provided by Stephen Toulmin of Austria who later came to the U.S. In the 1960s, he developed CWI Model (Claim, Warrant, &Impact). Listen how Duane describes the Toulmin Model of Argumentation. You can read more about it on the web but here is a brief summary: www.forensicsonline.net/forum/uploads/1/827212498280123410.pdf. Check the section titled "Instruction." Once Duane explained the basic components of a winning argument, we talked about specific examples in the space enthusiast community as well as Space Show interviews some of my experiences in public speaking & in being part of panel discussions. One of the early points Duane made was that we can easily get carried away by our emotions, forgetting to properly frame the argument. Another point made was about the overuse of technology. I asked him about rants & Duane strongly advised against them. He talked about supporting the claim with facts, controlling an audience, & the effective & important use of humor/laughter. Duane talked extensively about needing a strategy & practicing your speech to make sure you speak naturally not robotic-like. In our second segment, we discussed more situations & the tools needed to counter them, but keep in mind that it starts with your awareness of these situations. Other issues discussed were age & differences in an audience, do we target a segment of the audience, do we engage in partisan politics & if so, how do we do it to be most effective. Duane pointed out that personal attacks don't have a place in winning debates & persuading others. A listener brought up writing Op-Ed articles & we learned the guidelines apply to this discipline the same as in debating & speaking. Other listeners asked Duane what he thought the most effective space speech was plus they wanted examples of effective space speakers today. We talked about the use of references as is done in debates. References or evidence, are important but note how Duane suggested evidence be used when we talk to others about space. The issue of pork as in NASA projects came up. The use of loaded language was discussed & our guest said we should always avoid using it. Another listener asked Duane for his top five debate topics. Space was not included but when I pressed him, he said space would have been a topic in the next five. In summarizing, he said we should rehearse our argument but remember to deliver it in a natural style. He suggested a few books at the end for those wanting more information. The primary title he recommended was "Argumentation and Debate: Critical Thinking for Reasoned Decision Making" by Austin J. Freely, 1999. You can get this book on Amazon using the following URL & Amazon will then make a contribution to The Space Show/OGLF: www.amazon.com/Argumentation-Debate-Critical-Wadsworth-Communication/dp/0534561152/ref=onegiantlea20. Don't miss his closing suggestions. Selected by: David Livingston [ stations ], Tue, 20 Mar 2012 17:23:02 UTC
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NASA Centennial Challenges & Night Rover, Friday, 3-16-12 (42.19MB; download) -- Guests: Josh Neubert, Dr. Larry Cooper. Topics: NASA Centennial Challenges and the Night Rover Challenge. You are invited to comment, ask questions, and discuss the Space Show program/guest(s) on the Space Show blog, http://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments, questions, and any discussion must be relevant and applicable to Space Show programming. Transcripts of Space Show programs are not permitted without prior written consent from The Space Show (even if for personal use) & are a violation of the Space Show copyright. We welcomed back Josh Neubert and for the first time, Dr. Larry Cooper, Program Executive for the NASA Centennial Challenges program. You can learn more about Centennial Challenges by visiting www.nasa.gov/challenges. For more specific information on the Night Rover challenge, visit http://nightrover.org. In our first segment, Dr. Cooper went over the history of NASA Centennial Challenges with a specific focus on the Night Rover Challenge. We also talked about the two other challenges going on at this time, the Sample Return Robot Challenge and the Nano-Satellite Launch Challenge. You can access the websites for these additional challenges from the NASA Centennial Challenge home page. Dr. Cooper talked about some of the successes of the program, including the glove challenge won by Peter Homer who has been a guest on The Space Show. Josh went into some of the details regarding Night Rover, specifically the draft Rules which are now out and open for comment. Josh also talked about the Team Agreement. He described the $1.5 million prize and the eligibility requirements for winning this prize. He then talked about the three levels of storage battery density in terms of winning the prize. In our second segment, Josh said it was opened for everyone from a garage entrepreneur to a large company. Larry talked about ideas for future challenges and asked listeners to suggest ideas to NASA. He then told listeners about the process for submitting future ideas, especially for the next five year. Larry and Josh both referenced earlier successful Challenge programs plus a few that were retired without anyone winning them. Several Challenge ideas came in from listeners including one on debris removal and Larry said that NASA Centennial Challenges was authorized to issue up to a $50 million purse! We talked about ITAR issues and partnerships for prizes with other space agencies such as ESA. Later in the segment, I asked about the history of prizes and our guests went as far back as the Longitude Prize regarding ocean navigation which was actually won by a clock maker. Other prizes and awards were mentioned in this historical review of the subject. When asked for closing comments, Josh reminded us to provide feedback on the draft rules and Larry spoke highly of prices having a positive impact on entrepreneurs, being a plus for tax payer funding, and for pushing the envelope for discovery and advancements with technology. If you have comments or questions for our guests, please post them on The Space Show blog URL above. If you want to email either guest, please send your note to me and I will forward it to the person of your choice. Selected by: David Livingston [ stations ], Sat, 17 Mar 2012 15:40:46 UTC
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AIAA Space Policy Program, Thursday, 3-15-12 (28.95MB; download) -- Guests: Steven Howell; John Rose. Topics: AIAA Space Policy Activities. You are invited to comment, ask questions, and discuss the Space Show program/guest(s) on the Space Show blog, http://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments, questions, and any discussion must be relevant and applicable to Space Show programming. Transcripts of Space Show programs are not permitted without prior written consent from The Space Show (even if for personal use) & are a violation of the Space Show copyright. We welcomed Steve Howell and John Rose to this special hour long American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) program on key issues of space policy for the U.S. Please note that about 17 minutes into the discussion, our conversation was interrupted by music from an unknown source. I had to remove about a three minute section from our discussion due to the unwanted music which is why you will hear a rough edit in the recording. We started the discussion with Steve giving us an overview of AIAA and its role in both aviation and space policy. We talked about public space policy, Congress, and the role of industry. In response to my asking him for the main areas of AIAA policy focus, he listed for us the key issues that have the attention of AIAA. Don't miss what he listed and said about each one. We also talked about the fact that most of the key issues were long term issues. I focused in on human spaceflight and our guests said we needed a sustainable human space transportation system that was safe and cost effective. Also such a system should be a high priority. Our guests were asked if they addressed specific projects such CCDEV or SLS. As you will hear, the AIAA focuses more on the policy, it does not attempt to pick the winners or specific programs relating to a policy. One of the main discussion points from our guests dealt with workforce issues and making sure we do not lose vital skill sets for both the industry and our nation. In response to other questions, our guests said that there was a "perfect storm" in Washington, DC regarding space policy, research programs, & civil space. The lack of a vision was mentioned along with there being no defined mission, goals, or timelines. Our guests then told us about the AIAA Congressional Visits Day which is open for your participation. Find out more about it and their plans to personally lobby members of congress by visiting www.aiaa.org/cvd2012. Listener Mike Snead asked our guests about AIAA policy regarding NASA human spaceflight standards & the NASA level of acceptable risk. Both our guests had much to say in response to Mike regarding this issue, but for the most part they said AIAA provides technical support and analysis for the policy makers to use in making policy. This is an important discussion you do not want to miss. Space workforce issues came up again in our conversation. Both John and Steve pointed out the key issues, including how the market has changed over the years. Also, how we now compete with countries that used to provide us with much of our special workforce labor. We also talked about other fields of engineering being more popular with students than space. Near the end, Dale called in on a bad phone line but he was able to ask about using modern green rocket technology, engines, and fuel rather than old technology and outdated chemical rocket propulsion. I'm sure you will find the response to be interesting. If you have questions/comments, post them on The Space Show blog URL above. If you want to email either of our guests, send your note to me and I will forward it. Selected by: David Livingston [ stations ], Fri, 16 Mar 2012 02:26:59 UTC
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The John Batchelor Show "Hotel Mars," Wednesday, 3-14-12 (4.83MB; download) -- Guests: John Batchelor, Andrew Nelson, Dr. David Livingston. Topics: XCOR Aerospace and suborbital spaceflight/research. You are invited to comment, ask questions, and discuss the Space Show program/guest(s) on the Space Show blog, http://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments, questions, and any discussion must be relevant and applicable to Space Show programming. Transcripts of Space Show programs are not permitted without prior written consent from The Space Show (even if for personal use) & are a violation of the Space Show copyright. This program is archived on The Space Show website, podcasting, and blog sites with permission from John Batchelor. Please visit the John Batchelor Show website for more information about this fine program, www.johnbatchelorshow.com. The topics in this 11 minute plus segment focused on XCOR Aerospace, their Lynx vehicle, space tourism, and suborbital research missions. Mr. Nelson, the COO of XCOR, spoke about their wanting to fly up to four times a day, vehicles that go to 200,000 feet as well as to 350,00 feet, the views that can be seen from the edge of space and much more. We talked about the great success XCOR has had in gaining international interest and partners with their Lynx and their business model. In response to questions, Andrew talked about microgravity and oncology research. At one point he suggested that research revenues might come in around 60-70% of their total gross revenues. Andrew also talked about ticket sales and prices and said that the $95K price includes the training, testing, and the flight. If you have comments or questions, post them on The Space Show blog URL above. If you want to email either Andrew Nelson or John Batchelor, please send your note to me and I will forward it to the person of your choice. Selected by: David Livingston [ stations ], Thu, 15 Mar 2012 15:35:28 UTC
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Open Lines, Tuesday, 3-13-12 (70.63MB; download) --
Guest: Open Lines with Dr. David Livingston. Topics: An Open Lines program covers a wide variety of topics of interest to the listeners. You are invited to comment, ask questions, & discuss the Space Show program/guest(s) on the Space Show blog, http://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments, questions, & any discussion must be relevant & applicable to Space Show programming. Transcripts of Space Show programs are not permitted without prior written consent from The Space Show (even if for personal use) & are a violation of the Space Show copyright. Welcome to this 2 hour 20 minute Open Lines discussion largely driven by listeners calling the program. In our first hour segment, I listed the usual possible discussion topics which I won't repeat here. As to be expected, listeners had their own ideas as to what they wanted to talk about though we did address some of the issues I previewed including NASA & the treatment of their chimps in the early space program given that PETA wants to establish a chimp empathy museum at KSC, NASA budget cuts & the recent congressional hearings, the Defense Intelligence Agency Chinese space program wake up call, & more. The congressional hearings of last week made it to our discusses as listeners focused on what was said by Senator Nelson, Senator Hutchinson, NASA Administrator Bolden, & Dr. Tyson in his short presentation. Listeners also talked about the comments by Texas Congresswoman Eddie Johnson regarding commercial space/crew on the House side. Also in the first segment, Tim called in to inquire about a possible IPO for Space X.
In our second segment, Dr. Jurist called in to express his disappointment at the elimination of funding for the Operationally Responsive Space office/program. This took us to a discussion about national security space & I asked Dr. Jurist about the Defense Intelligence Agency wake up call regarding the Chinese space program as expressed by their director Ronald L. Burgess. Somehow we then got off on the topic of the planned retirement of the B-52 in 2040, about 88 years after it became operational. While Dr. Jurist was talking with us, Tim sent in several email questions for him on microgravity experiments to determine what level of gravity was needed for humans for space settlement & long duration flights. John Hunt followed with comments about VASIMR, nuclear propulsion, & even fusion powered spacecraft down the road in our future. Tom Hanson of the Living Universe Foundation called in to let people know they are seeking Foundation board members (www.luf.org/contact). I then introduced another topic from a current article in Popular Science, a 20,000 mph train to space (www.popsci.com/technology/article/2012-03/all-aboard-20000-mile-hour-low-earth-orbit-express). This article refers to a newer version of StarTram & this brought in several more callers including Trent from Australia. Other listeners chimed in on the train to space idea as well though most did not take the article very seriously. I introduced the news that Turkey had agreed to the Moon Treaty & then Terry called in at the end to talk about the X-37C & that it might become a crewed vehicle. Please post your comments/questions on The Space Show blog URL above. If you want to contact any of our callers, send your note to me & I will forward it for you. If you want more info on any of the news stories I mentioned, let me know & I will send it to you.
Selected by: David Livingston [ stations ], Wed, 14 Mar 2012 17:05:02 UTC
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Dr. Ryan Kobrick, Monday, 3-12-12 (44.09MB; download) -- Guest: Dr. Ryan Kobrick. Topic: Yuri's Night Celebration 2012. You are invited to comment, ask questions, and discuss the Space Show program/guest(s) on the Space Show blog, http://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments, questions, and any discussion must be relevant and applicable to Space Show programming. Transcripts of Space Show programs are not permitted without prior written consent from The Space Show (even if for personal use) & are a violation of the Space Show copyright. We welcomed Dr. Ryan Kobrick to the program to discuss Yuri's Night 2012 with us. According to the Yuri's Night website (www.yurisnight.net), "Yuri’s Night is a global celebration of humanity’s past, present, and future in space. Yuri’s Night parties and events are held around the world every April in commemoration of April 12, 1961, the day of cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin’s first manned spaceflight, and April 12, 1981, the inaugural launch of NASA’s Space Shuttle." Please note that today's program review will not be by segments given our discussion was ongoing throughout the show and the subjects and topics discussed did not change that much per segment. Dr. Kobrick started us out with a brief history of Yuri's Night but we soon got into the global parties and events, how to find a party or event near you, and how to host an event. As you will hear, if you contact Yuri's Night through their website, many people are willing to help you organize an event and there are lots of supporting materials for you to use. We also talked about Yuri's Night educational outreach for students of all grades. Previous Yuri's Night celebrations were discussed, we took a look at the different countries where events are held, and our guest fielded several listener questions on these issues. One question Ryan received from Chuck asked why a Yuri's Night and not a similar celebration for Apollo 11. Don't miss what both Ryan and I had to say about this in our response to Chuck. This particular question brought up the subject of NASA support for Yuri's Night and our guest had much to say about this as well. Another program Ryan talked about was Yuri's Night Live (http://live.yurisnight.net). Listeners also wanted to know if Yuri's Night was supported by other national space agencies and why there were no events in China. Later in the program near the end, we asked Dr. Kobrick about his own background in space, how he got his space interest, and what he hoped to be doing in the future. Visit his personal website, www.ryinspace.com. As you will hear, he has been involved in some interesting projects, spacesuit engineering and design projects, lunar dust studies, and he wants to go on to be a university professor when he finishes his Postdoctoral Associate program at MIT. After talking with him on The Space Show and having met and talked with him in person at conferences, I can honestly say that there are going to be some very lucky college students out there who end up in one or more of his classes. Before our program ended, we returned to discussing Yuri's Night and Ryan urged us all to register to attend an event or host one. With one month to go before Yuri's Night 2012 is here, the time is now to either plan and host an event or make arrangements to attend an event and participate. If you have comments/questions, please post them on The Space Show blog URL above. To contact the Yuri's Night 2012 team, use http://yurisnight.net/contact. Selected by: David Livingston [ stations ], Tue, 13 Mar 2012 16:15:37 UTC
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Dr. Erik Seedhouse, Sunday, 3-11-12 (46.04MB; download) -- Guest: Dr. Erik Seedhouse. Topics: We discussed his book, "Interplanetary Outpost: The Human and Technological Challenges of Exploring the Outer Planets," the human factors issues & the technical issues for such missions. You are invited to comment, ask questions, and discuss the Space Show program/guest(s) on the Space Show blog, http://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments, questions, and any discussion must be relevant and applicable to Space Show programming. Transcripts of Space Show programs are not permitted without prior written consent from The Space Show (even if for personal use) & are a violation of the Space Show copyright. We welcomed back Dr. Seedhouse to discuss his new book on interplanetary missions. Remember, if you buy the book using the following Amazon URL, Amazon will make a contribution to The Space Show/OGLF (www.amazon.com/Interplanetary-Outpost-Technological-Challenges-Exploration/dp/1441997474/ref=onegiantlea20). Dr. Seedhouse began our discussion by talking about the interplanetary mission research that has been done over the years and is still continuing though in a greatly reduced mode. In this discussion, he referenced the HOPE Study for mission architecture to travel to Callisto, one of the moon's of Jupiter. He also talked about research going on with ESA regarding human hibernation and on this subject, we spend a considerable amount of time. Artificial gravity and radiation were discussed along with vision problems for astronauts having spent at least four months on orbit. As we started the second segment, Marshall called in and wanted to know about athletic and sports games to pass the time for the crew on long spaceflights. Dr. Seedhouse thought more of the idea to have some sort of sport or athletic game at the destination rather than on the spaceflight. We also talked about what it would take to change attitudes and policy to undertake an interplanetary mission. At one point in the discussion, our guest suggested we might be too soft in modern times to explore and that we were no longer as interested in exploring as we once were. Make sure you hear this entire conversation. We fielded more listener questions and calls, talked about humans being able to adapt to the space environment over a long period of time and genetic screening for crew selection. We covered crew selection in some detail which then took us to the subject of bioethics which do not yet exist in any formal way for an interplanetary mission. Erik did include his version of an Interplanetary Bioethics Manual as Appendix II. We talked about pregnancy, pre-emptive surgery, death of a crew member, death of a family member back on Earth, waivers that would need to be signed by both crew and family members, and much more. Toward the end of the program, our guest was asked about interplanetary propulsion systems and multigenerational crews. Erik talked about the VASIMR and we asked lots of questions about the 2nd and 3rd generation members of the multigenerational crew and how to be sure they become doctors, engineers, and other positions needed for the crew's survival and success. We also talked about modernizing space suits and Erik told us about Blue Suit Days as a requirement for Canadian astronauts for space outreach support. Please post your comments/questions on The Space Show blog URL above. Selected by: David Livingston [ stations ], Mon, 12 Mar 2012 03:43:35 UTC
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Stewart Money, Friday, 3-9-12 (58.12MB; download) -- Guest: Stewart Money. Topics: We discussed EELV issues, the Air Force desire for a bulk buy of EELV services, Space X and more. You are invited to comment, ask questions, and discuss the Space Show program/guest(s) on the Space Show blog, http://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments, questions, and any discussion must be relevant and applicable to Space Show programming. Transcripts of Space Show programs are not permitted without prior written consent from The Space Show (even if for personal use) & are a violation of the Space Show copyright. We welcomed Stewart Money to the program to discuss his recent Space Review articles. The primary article he wrote which was the subject for today can be found at www.thespacereview.com/article/1990/. Stewart has Part 2 to this article coming up on The Space Review so be sure to look for it and read it when it is available. During our first segment, Stewart talked about ULA and the proposed bulk buy of ULA rockets for the Air Force and the rising prices for EELV launches. This block buy has been raised into question by many including the GAO study with the thought that it should be expanded to allow for additional purchases from competing companies such as Space X or Orbital. Google ULA Air Force bulk buy" for a list of news articles about this story. Stewart received many questions about this because Falcon 9 is not yet operational and Falcon Heavy has not been built. Stewart talked about this in the context of Air Force requirements for availability, reliability, and the launch cost. Our guest felt that since there was a gap of several years in the Air Force program, there should be time for Falcon 9 to prove itself without much of a downside to the Air Force or ULA if they needed to add in more EELV purchases due to any Space X problems that may arise. Part of our discussion centered on risk but as you will hear, Stewart was mostly focused on launch cost and believes that Space X will be a driving force to lower the cost of access to space. Near the end of this segment, the stored Triana Satellite came up (It is now named the Deep Space Climate Observatory or DISCOVR) and how the Air Force might launch it on the Falcon 9. During this segment, Stewart also referred to the Aerospace Corporation 3/7 Reliability Rule which says that if a failure occurs during the first three launches, the problem is probably a design issue. If failure occurs after the third successful launch but before the seventh, a production process issue is probable. Once a launch vehicle configuration launches successfully three times, its design has demonstrated maturity. If successfully launched seven times, the design & production process maturity are likely demonstrated. Check out this document for more detailed information on the 3/7 Reliability Rule: "Space Acquisitions: Uncertainties in the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle Program Pose Management and Oversight Challenges" by the GAO at www.gao.gov/new.items/d081039.pdf. In the second segment, we talked about the recent congressional testimony on the FY 13 budget with Congress and Administrator Bolden plus the testimony of Neil deGrasse Tyson. Stewart boiled the problems down to the cost of space access and remained with the theme of solving that problem for the balance of our discussion. We then talked more about testing, high priority payloads and normal payloads, how many flights would be needed for the Falcon 9 to fly a high priority payload and more. We also talked about the difference in theory with a yet to be proven, operational launch vehicle being considered real as compared to an actual operating and flying vehicle as many confuse the two, counting the first one as real with real pricing when it is not even operational. Please post your comments/questions on The Space Show blog URL above. If you would like to email Mr. Money, you can use the address at the end of his Space Review articles. Selected by: David Livingston [ stations ], Sat, 10 Mar 2012 19:04:10 UTC
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