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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Mark Hempsell, Monday, 7-2-12 (44.07MB; download) -- Guest: Mark Hempsell. Topics: Reaction Engines, LTD & their Skylon space propulsion system. 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 Mark Hempsell for Skylon updates and progress reports since his last visit on August 6, 2009. During our first segment, Mark started with an update saying they are nearing the end of the technology development stage for their space vehicle system. We then went back to the basics and he described the Skylon project for us. Mark talked at length about the Sabre engine, the radiator, their SSTO plans, and more. Several listener emails came in wanting to know about the market and business plan model for Skylon, the space tourism module and profile, and if it could be used for point to point transportation. We learned that for cargo, Skylon flies without a crew. With passengers on board, there will be a crew. Also discussed were orbital characteristics for the vehicle, docking with the ISS and the new ISS docking standards which may present problems for Skylon. You can check out these standards at http://internationaldockingstandard.com. Mark mentioned the various rocket fuels, tonnage to LEO and GEO, crew and passenger configuration, and the two day turnaround period. In the second segment, we resumed talking about the vehicle operating costs. Michael called in to talk about emergency landing options given runway constraints discussed in the first segment. Next up was the thermal protection system (TPS) and we learned that the skin was a type of glass, silicon carbonate that can take1,000 C and that is why Skylon is black. Later, we talked about funding, government subsidies, & private investment. Mark got a question about using scramjet technology and he had much say about this. Another topic was the flight profile and G-loads to be placed upon Skylon occupants. Near the end, we talked about ITAR and potential U.S. investor investment. Skylon test flights will likely be in 2020. Our guest also talked about ESA and other organizational oversight. If you have comments/questions, please post them on The Space Show blog. Visit Skylon' s website, www.reactionengines.co.uk. Selected by: David Livingston [ stations ], Tue, 03 Jul 2012 16:58:15 UTC
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Open Lines, Tuesday, 7-1-12 (80.29MB; download) -- Guest: Open Lines with Dr. David Livingston. Topics: A wide range of space related topics over a 2.5 hour Space Show program. 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. Our initial discussion topic during our hour long first segment was with Charles Pooley who called in to talk about the NASA Nanosat Challenge and the website, http://challenge.gov/NASA/49-nano-satellite-launch-challenge. Charles was hoping listeners might have more information about this program. If you do, please post your comments on the blog. We also talked about the N-Prize and Charles described the basics of this program. Peter Platzer of Do It Yourself Space called in from Mtn. View, CA to talk about Do It Yourself Space, Nanosatisfi and their Kickstarter project. Websites to visit to learn more about what Peter shared with us include http://diyinspace.com and www.nanosatisfi.com. If you want to contact Peter about this project, you can email him at peter@nanosatisfi.com. As you will hear, this is an innovative build your own satellite venture designed to engage everyone in space activities. Our next caller was Frank Van Rensselaer, author of the recent Space News op-ed, What Will Be This Administration’s Legacy for NASA?, http://spacenews.com/commentaries/120618-administration-legacy-nasa.html. Frank talked about the NASA legacy, I tied in my KSC tour and what I saw in terms of the take down of so much of our HSF infrastructure, the shuttles, etc. I asked Frank about NASA budget and funding issues, the role of Congress, OMB and the OSTP. We also talked about commercial space, its importance moving forward for the future and robust civil and commercial space programs. I questioned Frank on differing views as to what our space policy should be, including perspectives contrary to his own. I believe this is a most interesting 20 plus minute conversation. In the second segment, we led off with a call from John in Atlanta who talked about SLS as a placeholder program, the ISS, Commercial Crew, and human rating the Delta and possibly the Atlas. After John's call, Kelly called in to talk about SpaceX from his perspective which is different than the perspective most of us have regarding SpaceX, the Falcon 9 and Dragon. See what you think of what Kelly had to say and post your comments on The Space Show blog. I'm sure many of you will want to challenge or disagree with Kelly. Have at it but please, keep it civil. While Kelly was talking, Jim sent in an email saying "Wow! Kelly seems to be living in a different dimension than the rest of us. I wonder what Kelly thinks about the Falcon Heavy?" Later, Terry emailed us about Sen. Hutchinson, her retirement, and the SLS. He also asked about the possibility of life for the ISS after 2020. Toward the end of the program, Terry called to address his concerns. Since we talked about economic issues and good programs being cut when an economy is weak, I read a sad announcement about the funding & program cancellation for the outstanding Center for Remote Sensing, Air, and Space Law at Ole Miss Law School. I hope to address the quality of this excellent Center in a future Space Show program. As the show ended, I went over the upcoming week's schedule and that I would be discussing my Florida Space Coast trip in some detail on this week's Friday morning program. If you have comments/questions, post them on the blog. If you want to email one of the callers, send your note to me and I will forward it to the person of your choice.
Selected by: David Livingston [ stations ], Mon, 02 Jul 2012 03:38:41 UTC
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John Batchelor "Hotel Mars, Wednesday, 6-27-12 (9.78MB; download) -- Guests: John Batchelor, Dr. Angie Bukley, Dr. David Livingston. Topics: International Space University and the ISU Summer Session 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. Written 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. During our 11.5 minute discussion, the three of us talked about the current ISU Summer Session in progress on the campus of Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne, Florida. Dr. Bukley talked about ISU in general, the specifics of the summer session, the countries represented by the students attending the session and the Space & Media Panel which I moderated on Tuesday evening. We also talked about the ISU Summer Session 2013 to be held in Brazil. If you have comments/questions for our guests regarding this program, please post them on The Space Show blog. Selected by: David Livingston [ stations ], Thu, 28 Jun 2012 13:41:52 UTC
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Dr. Paul Spudis, Sunday, 6-24-12 (63.33MB; download) -- Guest: Dr. Paul Spudis. Topics: Return to the Moon, lunar ice & water, space policy, NASA space program. 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. Paul Spudis back to the program. Visit his website and blog for additional information, www.spudislunarresources.com & http://globs.airspacemag.com/moon. We started out by discussing a new report claiming that there is a low amount of water ice at Shackleton crater on the Moon. Dr. Spudis explained this study/report and introduced other data points indicating the low amount of water theory is not a valid conclusion. This discussion led to questions about science & media reporting and how best for the public to follow up on a story to not be mislead. I asked Paul about the influence of such articles on policy makers and congressional staffers as well as those outside the U.S., citing the Chinese space program as an example. I also asked our guest if we were in a space race with China. Dr. Spudis had much to say about this issue. We talked about why American space leadership on the space frontier is important. See if you agree with what our guest had to say on this important subject. Dr. Spudis then talked about the difference with a PR stunt type of mission as compared to a mission which developed & enabled capabilities to move us forward in space development, exploration, and economics. This brought up a June 20, 2012 Space News op-ed (http://spacenews.com/commentaries/120618-administration-legacy-nasa.html) by Frank Van Rensselaer, What Will Be This Administration’s Legacy for NASA? This then led to a discussion about our not having a space vision direction or strategy for our civil space policy. Much was said about this with callers and email questions during the balance of the first segment and throughout the second segment. Our guest made a point of saying we need to ask what the purpose of the mission is, what are the goals, and what is the value of the mission? These are important questions to always ask about what we are doing with our civil space missions. This is an important discussion so do listen closely to what Dr. Spudis had to say. NASA budget issues were part of this discussion with Dr. Spudis making the case that money was and is not really the issue. Instead, its the politics of how we choose to spend tax payer money. In the second segment, Marshall called to ask about lunar lava tubes and water, along with the need for lunar rovers. Don't miss what Paul had to say about these topics. Paul was asked about his cislunar economic plans and he talked about NewSpace given the question he received from Wayne in Las Vegas asking him if he was in conflict with NewSpace. Later, Crystal from Tulsa emailed Paul with a question about space property rights. Paul said this was extremely important so do listen to the complete discussion on this topic. More was said about NASA budget issues & making sure taxpayers get something back for what they spend on space. Andrew sent in an email addressing the technology development problems going back decades with military airplanes & large engineering projects. Near the end of our two hour program, Dr. Spudis mentioned the tyranny of the rocket equation and what this means for space access and costs. We also talked about on orbit fuel depots. Reaching a critical mass for making a difference in space policy was our last discussion topic. If you have a comment/question for Dr. Spudis, please post it on The Space Show blog. Selected by: David Livingston [ stations ], Sun, 24 Jun 2012 22:42:44 UTC
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Tom Olson, Dr. John Jurist, Friday, 6-22-12 (33.85MB; download) -- Guests: Tom Olson, Dr. John Jurist. Topics: The return to life of the Space Cynic blog, http://spacecynic.wordpress.com. 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 Tom Olson and Dr. John Jurist to discuss our plans to reactivate the Space Cynic blog, http://spacecynic.wordpress.com. Tom started our Space Show discussion with an historical overview of why the Space Cynic blog was created by Shubber Ali and the three of us. We talked about some of the past programs, themes we wrote about, the goal of the blog, and the Walking Eagle Award. We mostly focused on the business side of issues, the engineering, human factors, and other issues that can make or break any venture, including a space venture. We each mentioned some examples that highlight the themes we respectively focused on with the blog, including asteroid mining and space solar power. We also talked about themes we have in common with one another. Each of us mentioned some new themes we are interested in once the blog becomes active again, probably by September at the latest. A new feature of the rebirth of the Cynics blog will be the opportunity to be a guest Space Cynic blogger. Details on this will soon be posted on the Space Cynic blog but we did mention of few of the obvious guidelines during our discussion. We also talked about making comments on the blog and opening up the Walking Eagle Award to a blog reader nomination process. Note that I will archive this program on Space Cynics as well as The Space Show blog but do understand that The Space Show has no formal relationship to Space Cynics other than as an individual, I am one of the four space cynic contributors. We welcome your feedback on bringing the Space Cynic blog back to active life. Post your comments on either blog or both of them. If you want to email either of the guests on this show or space cynic founder Shubber Ali, you can do so through me and I will forward your email to the person of your choice. Selected by: David Livingston [ stations ], Fri, 22 Jun 2012 19:40:48 UTC
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The John Batchelor Show "Hotel Mars," Wednesday, 6-20-12 (5.77MB; download) -- Guests: John Batchelor, Dr. Seth Shostak, Dr. David Livingston. Topics: SETIcon II Conference, science fiction & space science. 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. Written 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. During our 11.5 minute discussion, Dr. Shostak talked to us about the upcoming SETIcon II Conference sponsored by the SETI Organization. For details about the conference, visit www.seticon.org. The three of us talked about the programming, many of the guests and panels, but John also asked about the Kepler Space Telescope and finding exoplanets, the habitat zone, and life elsewhere off Earth. Dark matter, dark energy came up, along with the question which is addressed by this conference concerning if Earth is a miracle or if Earth is more common with life in other places even if not yet discovered by us here on Earth. In looking over the program agenda, you will recognize many of the speakers and panel members as Space Show guests and actual scientists and academics. You will hear me talk about why this is a special type of sci-fi conference. For those of you in the Bay Area or able to attend it this coming weekend, I strongly recommend you do so. It is affordable, it will be fun and above all, SETIConII will be information packed and educational. If you have comments or questions about this program, please post them on The Space Show blog. If you want to email either John or Seth, send your note to me and I will forward it for you. Selected by: David Livingston [ stations ], Thu, 21 Jun 2012 22:53:13 UTC
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Dr. Allan J. McDonald, Wednesday, 6-20-12 (50.41MB; download) -- Guest: Dr. Allan J. McDonald. Topics: "Truth, Lies and O-rings: Inside the Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster." 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. We welcomed Dr. Allan McDonald to the program to discuss the Challenger accident from the inside. Visit his website for more important information, http://ethicskeynotespeaker.com. If you order his book from Amazon with the following URL, Amazon will make a donation to The Space Show/OGLF: www.amazon.com/Truth-Lies-O-Rings-Challenger-Disaster/dp/0813041937/ref=onegiantlea20. During our fist segment, Dr. McDonald provided the background on why he wrote the book & his information sources. He mentioned some of the difficulties he faced getting it published & his decision to work with the famous historian & author, Dr. James Hanson. During the remaining part of this segment, he went over the real story of what happened before, during, & after the Challenger accident. He told us about the three part conference call the night before to determine if Challenger should be launched, the requirement by NASA management for the engineers to prove that what they were saying about the o-rings & cold temperatures would cause failure rather than asserting it was unsafe to do the launch given the prevailing temperatures & winds. We learned about NASA management intimidation & compromises eventually made by Thiokol to support NASA management contrary to the engineering data that existed. Dr. McDonald explained what was behind launch "go fever" & the most probable source for it. Our guest talked at great length about the temperature parameters, the evidence they had from recovered SRBs leading to severe cold weather safety concerns, all of which NASA management ignored. We also learned about extremely cold temperatures, 6-7 degrees at the launch site, & that it was not reported by NASA personnel the morning of the launch. We fielded several listener emails & phone calls. Some questioned NASA management about their engineering knowledge & competence. We also talked about the lack of accountability for decision making within NASA at the time. In the second segment, questions about liquid rocket engines as compared to solids were answered, supported by facts. For those of you who disagree with Dr. McDonald on this issue, why not post questions for him on the blog? Later I asked about making the SRBs without segments & if they were segmented only to please the Utah delegation back in the day. Our guest had much to say on this, talked about the very large un-segmented SRBs that were made & ground tested near the Cape, & he explained several of the trade decisions that must be evaluated were we to go to one large booster without segments. Dr. McDonald explained his redesign & the fix implemented after the accident. He also talked about the oversight involved in the redesign process & why it was nearly impossible to come up with an approved & effective fix for the o-ring problem. We talked some about the Challenger litigation, then our guest was asked for the new SRB cold weather operating parameters. In his closing comments, he pointed out the lessons to be learned with one of the main points being that many people against the launch for solid engineering reasons never spoke out given they were intimidated by NASA management wanting to do the launch no matter what. He said that it was an ethical obligation to speak out in these matters. People must not remain silent & that was & is today an essential lesson to be learned from Challenger. Please post your comments/questions on The Space Show blog. Selected by: David Livingston [ stations ], Thu, 21 Jun 2012 16:20:47 UTC
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Walter Cunningham, Tuesday, 6-19-12 (52.09MB; download) -- Guest: Walter Cunningham. Topics: An inside view of the American space program from Apollo to today. 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. We welcomed Walt Cunningham to discuss our space program from Apollo through today's developing commercial space industry. For more information, visit his website, www.waltercuningham.com. You can buy "The All-American Boys: An Insider's Look At The U.S. Space Program" from Amazon & they will make a contribution to The Space Show/OGLF if you use this URL: www.amazon.com/All-American-Boys-Walter-Cunningham/dp/1876963247/ref=onegiantlea20. I started the discussion by asking Walt about his perspective on Apollo 7 today, 44 years later. Walt had some interesting things to say about perspective, especially over the past 10-20 years as compared to when he actually carried out the mission. A few times during our discussion, questions came up about the so called "mutiny" with the crew & NASA ground control so listen to how Walt described what was mostly a non-event despite media & blog reports to the contrary. He did talk about Wally Schirra, his head cold & the Actifed commercials, but there was far more to the mission & to the significance of Apollo 7. Dr. Jurist asked about the ride on a Saturn 1B, professors & experiences while both were at UCLA. We discussed risk regarding his ride on the Saturn 1B. Walt had much to say about risk during the Apollo era as compared to now. We extrapolated from this discussion to Columbia's foam issues. We talked about commercial space. Walt suggested that today's commercial space efforts were not purely commercial given government funding & missions. He also said that retiring the shuttle when we did was a big mistake. He then took us through a cost analysis process to illustrate that space is & always will be costly. At the end of the first segment, one way trips to Mars & reality TV show funding were mentioned. In the second segment, Terry called with questions about Von Braun. Walt had high praise & much to say about Von Braun & his experiences with him. Commercial space came up again & I asked him about asteroid mining. He did not think it would be a good investment & talked about the need to pay attention to the laws of physics. We talked about He3 on the Moon, fusion energy possibilities & more. I read an email from a London listener asking about the Apollo rocket & mission sounds on Apollo 7. We talked some more about the problems on board Apollo 7, this time regarding Wally & the TV broadcast delay & the wearing of the newly designed helmets during reentry. Walt talked about climate change & global warming, urging people to do their own research & examine the data rather than believing what people had to say regardless of their position. John in Atlanta called in about global warming & said that there was no practical mitigation strategy. Our guest shared what he perceived to be the true motivation of global warming extremists. John also talked about having built a next gen space shuttle from the old space shuttle to avoid retiring it or having to build an entirely new & very costly program. Walt supported that idea but history proved otherwise. Toward the end we discussed the pros & cons of international cooperation & competition, Ares 1 as a safe rocket for HSF, & the cost of the ISS being more due to international cooperation. Our final topic was risk versus reckless behavior & the difference between the two. If you have comments/questions, please post them on The Space Show blog. Selected by: David Livingston [ stations ], Wed, 20 Jun 2012 14:55:21 UTC
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Rick Searfoss (Col. USAF RET), Monday, 6-18-12 (51.97MB; download) -- Guest: Rick Searfoss (Col., USAF, RET.). Topics: Rocket Flight, XCOR, Lynx, flight safety, leadership. 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 to The Space Show Rick Searfoss to discuss spaceflight flying, XCOR Aerospace, the Lynx, and much more. You can learn more about Rick Searfoss by visiting his website, www.astronautspeaker.com. For more about the Lynx and XCOR, visit www.xcor.com. We started our discussion with an overview of a successful test flight program. During this discussion, our guest made it clear that flight tests are supposed to detect the unknown and to catch problems in time for them to be fixed prior to surfacing during commercial operations. The test pilot is prepared for the unknown and this is why he later said that future XCOR pilots would need to have U.S. military test pilot school experience along with their military flight experience. Also, the testing starts out very slow and escalates based on the progress and analysis of the tests. One crawls before one runs, so to speak. I asked him to compare a spaceship test flight program to information I had on a new Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental Jetliner that Boeing was putting through 600 flight hours of flight tests (www.examiner.com/article/new-boeing-747-8-intercontinental-maiden-flight). Don't miss this discussion, its interesting, important, & relevant. Col. Searfoss received an email from Jeremy asking about humans riding on solid rocket boosters (SRB) and the safety in doing that. This resulted in another interesting discussion. We then talked about piston pump technology, suborbital flight, turbo pumps, and the XCOR program working with ULA regarding hydrogen pumps. I asked Rick to describe the Lynx flight from the passenger perspective. Doug wanted to know about the first flight timeline for later this year and then Christine wrote in asking if the Lynx cockpit would have dual controls similar to an airplane. A question came in about the Chinese rendezvous & docking per their current mission & Rick's take on the process given his space shuttle pilot experience. Rick talked about this with the shuttle in some detail. In our second segment, Terry called in to ask about the XCOR flight software. As you will hear, XCOR flight software means humans. Listen to what he had to say about this, including issues with space shuttle software. Our guest then talked more about the flight readiness process including the Technical Review Board and Safety Review Board process. Other topics discussed included citizen science on board the Lynx, ITAR issues, additional Lynx pilot qualifications, and defense dept. applications for Lynx and the suborbital industry. Lee called in to ask about an evolution to an orbital vehicle, other questions came in regarding runway requirements, passenger height & weight requirements, and spaceports. Near the end of our discussion, we talked about an emergency exit from the Lynx, spacesuits and bailout. Also discussed throughout the program were suggestions for the passenger to better prepare for his/her flight. If you have comments/questions, please post them on The Space Show blog. Selected by: David Livingston [ stations ], Tue, 19 Jun 2012 17:13:28 UTC
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Sir Martin Rees, Sunday, 6-17-12 (46.39MB; download) -- Guest: Sir Martin Rees. Topics: Science in our society, space development, political leadership, education & 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 back Sir Martin Rees to discuss his new book, "From Here To Infinity: A Vision For The Future Of Science." Please remember that if you order this book from Amazon using www.amazon.com/Here-Infinity-Vision-Future-Science/dp/0393063070/ref=onegiantlea20, Amazon will make a contribution to The Space Show/One Giant Leap Foundation. Lord Rees started our discussion by talking about the amazing things we have learned about the cosmos in a very short period of time. He also explained that this new book is based on a series of lectures he did with BBC Radio. We also talked about science reporting in the media but we focused on teacher issues, both in the UK and the U.S. Another topic covered in his book was religion and science conflicts. An example cited was creationism. We also talked about space as a spiritual experience. We then talked about commercial space development with companies such as SpaceX, the high risk averseness of NASA, and the fact that private companies can take on more risks. Lord Rees expressed the view that for human spaceflight for sure, we will see more and more of it being done by the private sector. Our guest was asked about science on the ISS & he said it was hard to justify the ISS on the grounds of science. Jack called in to ask talk about the outstanding history programs on the Royal Society website, http://royalsociety.org/Podcasts-of-Library-events. He also mentioned famous sci-fi author Neal Stephenson, www.amazon.com/Quicksilver-The-Baroque-Cycle-Vol/dp/0380977427. Jack's call was followed by John in Atlanta who talked about spirituality, consciousness, religion and the work of Roger Penrose. This led to an interesting discussion about the search for the unified theory and the difference in perspective with cosmology and fundamental physics. Our next topic was in response to a note from Fred about political leadership and space/science issues. Out last topic of the segment dealt with the Kepler Space Telescope (KST) and the search for extraterrestrial life. We asked questions about the impact on cultures were life off Earth discovered. Sir Martin had much to say about this subject. In our second segment, we started out talking about science fiction. Sir Martin is fascinated by the ideas in science fiction so don't miss his comments on this subject. Harold in Los Angeles asked if we might be slowing down in our rate of discovery of new science & space information. This is another terrific discussion. We then talked about the Earth's population growth and the intellectual shift to Asia away from the west. Lord Rees talked about the need to balance out science and development in the under developed regions, focusing on Africa for example Later in the segment, we talked about bringing space resources back to Earth & our guest said the economics of doing this are still up in the air. Space settlement and returning to the Moon came up as did private missions to Mars and the asteroids. Our guest suggested that one way Mars missions might be possible in the future, but the probability of doing it near term & funding such a mission remains somewhat low at this time. Our guest also mentioned genetic modification for those that do settle off Earth but thought the ethics of doing it on Earth would make it unlikely to happen here. If you have comments/questions for Sir Martin Rees, please post them on The Space Show blog. Selected by: David Livingston [ stations ], Mon, 18 Jun 2012 16:12:24 UTC
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