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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Randa & Rod Milliron, Sunday, 4-24-11 (45.43MB; download) -- Guests: Randa and Roderick Milliron. Topics: Interorbital Systems company and rocket launch program updates. Please note that 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. For more information, please visit the Interorbital Systems website as much of the information discussed on this program is highlighted on their website, http://interorbital.com. We started our discussion with an update on Interorbital rocket and launch programs. We spent the majority of the first segment going over the Neptune modular rocket, potential launch sites, and missions as well as a discussion about their selected rocket fuel. During this first segment, our guests were asked about their launch history which they provided going back to the days of the Pacific Rocket Society. In the second segment, Tim from Huntsville asked a series of questions about the cost of their selected fuel chosen by Interorbital and why other specific fuels were not selected. Jim Davis sent in an email series of questions inquiring about static tests versus flight tests as well as making plans and time lines public rather than keeping them more or less confidential. We also talked about space conferences in this section with a focus on the SmallSat conference held each August in Logan, Utah. In our third and final segment, Randa spoke about their Google Lunar X-Prize entry, Synergy Moon. Also in this segment, they broke the news about their working with skydiver Olav Zipser to break the world sky diving record of AF Captain Joe Kittinger. Olav was listening to the program and sent us an email and we hope to be able to do a Space Show program with him later in the year upon his return from Russia. At the end of the program, our guests were asked about suborbital flight. They had much to say about this though the focus of Interorbital Systems is clearly orbital. Our guests were also asked about taking government money and they said they did not though they sell to the government. During this discussion, they did explain their source of funding to listeners. If you have questions or comments for our guests, please post them on The Space Show blog at the above URL. You can also email them through their website, http://interorbital.com/Contact%20Page_1.htm, or by using ios@interorbital.com.
Selected by: David Livingston [ stations ], Mon, 25 Apr 2011 15:15:06 UTC
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Dr. Jeff Bell, Friday, 4-22-11 (76.94MB; download) -- Guest: Dr. Jeff Bell. Topics: Space policy, commercial space, space advocacy, NASA human spaceflight program, the Cold War, and more. Please note that 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. Welcome to this classic vintage Dr. Jeff Bell 2.5 hour program! For those of you not familiar with Dr. Bell, you might have a rough ride listening to this discussion. For those of you familiar with his hard hitting views and reality as he sees and understands it, you will know why I said this is classic vintage Bell at his best. During our first of two very long segments, Dr. Bell opened the discussion with an overview saying that the traditional NASA man space program was dead. He said it looked backed to 1957 and he attributed our space policy to none other than the former head of the old Soviet Union, Nikita Khrushchev. Dr. Bell explains himself throughout most of this segment and the second segment as well, but you should carefully listen to what Dr. Bell shared with us. Many times throughout our discussion, he talked about STEM, science leadership, the Cold War, facts, and fiction, and how this drove our space policy to where it is today. As he said many times over, the Cold War is over but not the remnant of it, our NASA human spaceflight program. You do not want to miss his examples, the details he provides, & the supporting information he provides. During this segment, we talked about congressional funding of space programs including the VSE that has been ended. He talked about the need for congress to give up its power over NASA as it did in closing military bases through the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission (BRAC). We talked about NASA oversight and regulations and how it might end up overwhelming commercial human spaceflight development. This description pertains to just a fraction of what Jeff and listeners discussed during this segment so be prepared for a discussion you don't normally hear regarding space affairs. In the second segment, we talked about cheap space access, Space X, capitalism, the ISS, and space advocacy. In the context of space advocacy, we talked about the space visionary leaders and the world they strive for versus where we are today. As you will hear, Jeff and I departed from one another on the space visionary leaders and the work they do. Our discussion then evolved to talking about the absence of understanding technology as part of the vision presentation. I'm quite sure that this part of our discussion will rile many listeners but that is what The Space Show blog is for so have at it. I'm sure many of you will take exception to some of the comments I offered given my ten years of experience with the program & for example, business plans. Jeff talked about and critiqued NewSpace and some of the companies involved such as Virgin. Later he said that the space advocacy community was like a "messianic" program. During both segments, we discussed the aerospace workforce and Jeff said the size of it was not needed and it was in essence a throw back to the Cold War. Listeners participated in the program via email only (a true disappointment as you will hear me say over and over again). Jeff was challenged on the need for an aerospace workforce as well as technology R&D. Jeff also suggested that money would have been better spent over the decades developing a viable electric car rather than on human spaceflight. Near the end of the discussion, I referenced the Michael Lind article on Salon.com, "Why We Should Embrace The End Of Human Spaceflight," www.salon.com/news/politics/2011/04/12/nasa_spaceflight_future_government_robots. Please post your comments and questions for Dr. Bell on The Space Show blog URL above. Selected by: David Livingston [ stations ], Sat, 23 Apr 2011 15:36:23 UTC
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Dr. Alan Stern & Wayne Hale, Sunday, 4-17-11 (45.58MB; download) -- Guests: Dr. Alan Stern and Wayne Hale. Topics: Commercial space development, human spaceflight, NASA, rocket issues. 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. Note the audio recording of this program has static throughout the entire program which could not be filtered out. I do apologize for this but sometimes these issues come up with remote broadcasts dependent on hotel facilities not designed for broadcasting. If you have not done so, I suggest you visit Wayne Hale’s blog and subscribe to it (http://waynehale.wordpress.com). In our first segment, we discussed the role of commercial space and its importance, especially in tight budget times like we have today. Both of our guests made very strong statements about this issue and the potential through commercial space development. Several listeners asked our guests about NASA’s human rating standards for EELV, Falcon 9, etc. NASA has not yet provided us with final human rating standards. We talked about the possibility of excessive regulations overwhelming the commercial industry. Another topic discussed in this segment dealt with the probability of continued congressional funding of commercial space. Heavy lift rockets were also discussed and both our guests commented on the congressional requirement for NASA to build the heavy lift rocket. Both Alan and Wayne agreed that the worst situation would be for NASA to start and not finish the heavy lift rocket. Another topic discussed focused on the NASA and Congressional relationship and the issue of trust. Listener Even brought up a series of questions dealing with astronauts and we looked forward to see what the astronaut situation might be like ten years out with a thriving commercial and suborbital space industry. Rocket reusability came up along with high flight rates. Wayne had much to say on this issue, especially on the point that high flight rates were needed to make the reusable economics attractive. We started the second and final long segment of the program with a question from Helen about the idea to keep the shuttle flying for two flights a year for several more years as a private sector investment project. Much of the needed labor force has been dispersed and our guests did not think this idea would take hold. I asked our guests about space workforce issues, specifically along the lines of the discussion Jim Maser and others have brought to our attention over recent weeks. We talked about the transitioning space work force and the future, but acknowledged the challenges and difficulties for many during this period of change. We talked about the developing commercial industry being leaner than the government space industry but with the likelihood of more opportunity in the future as the industry develops. Our guests had much say about the ISS and using it to enhance and support both commercial and suborbital development. Andrew brought up space shuttle bottlenecks and we discussed thermal protection system (TPS) issues along with other matters impacting turnaround. More was said about congressional staffers and their space expertise along with the congressional micromanagement of NASA. The three of us addressed the cost of space access and if R& D could be done by the private sector. At the end of the program, we fielded a question about the many voices and opinions in the space community and if we would be better off speaking with a more united voice. In closing, Alan and Wayne said that we had exciting space times ahead of us and Wayne closed out saying that space exploration was the future of humanity. If you have questions or comments for Dr. Alan Stern and Wayne Hale, please post them on the blog URL above. You can also send them to me and I will forward them to Dr. Stern and Wayne Hale. Selected by: David Livingston [ stations ], Mon, 18 Apr 2011 12:04:12 UTC
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Dr James (Jim) Wertz, Monday, 4-11-11 (53.59MB; download) -- Guest: Dr. James (Jim) Wertz. Topics: Reinventing Space Conference, the new Space Mission Engineering text book, responsive space updates. Please note that 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. For additional information supplemental to our discussion, please visit the Microcosm website (www.smad.com) and the bookstore mentioned during our discussion at http://astrobooks.com. To learn more about the NanoEye project, visit www.spacenews.com/military/100312-microcosm-designing-low-cost-imagery-sate.html. For information on composite tanks, check out www.smad.com/ie/ieframessr2.html and for the Scorpius launch vehicle, visit www.smad.com/ie/ieframessr2.html. During our first segment, Dr. Wertz talked about the upcoming Reinventing Space Conference to be held at the Westin Hotel in Los Angeles, CA from May 2-6, 2011. All conference information can be found at www.reinventingspace.org. Jim explained why the name of the conference changed from Responsive Space to Reinventing Space and proceeded to hit some of the highlights planned for this year’s program, including keynote speakers, added events and even the new Classified Annex for those with a DOD security clearance and U.S. Citizenship. As you will hear and also you can see it on the website, the conference agenda is loaded with power house speakers and cutting edge relevant topics addressing responsive space issues. In responding to listener questions about responsive space, our guest described the Soviet Union responsive space capabilities during the Falklands War, capabilities that the U.S. still does not have today. He also mentioned Chinese responsive space capabilities. In our second segment, we focused on the upcoming release of the new text book, “Space Mission Engineering-The New SMAD.” Jim described the contents of this book, why it was needed as an update to the earlier SMAD text book, and some of the new features of the book including an online interactive section that allows readers to use the variables for their own space missions with the formulas in the book so they can plan, design and implement their own missions. Don’t miss this discussion about this exciting new book which will be available this summer. Of course The Space Show will report its availability on the program. Dr. Wertz also talked about the well known book, “LEO On The Cheap” which is a free download on the web at www.dunnspace.com/leo_on_the_cheap.htm. As you will hear, this book is still considered one of the best there is for obtaining low cost space access. In our final segment, Dr. Wertz talked about the Microcosm project with the Army, NanoEye, along with information on composite tanks . You do not want to miss his NanoEye discussion, its use of off the shelf CubeSat components, and its exciting capabilities with 2.5km/second of DeltaV, plus recurring costs less than $2 million each. Our composite tank discussion was comprehensive stressing the tank’s advantages, the light weight/mass benefits, and we even addressed how to avoid problem with the tank interfacing with other materials/metals. If you have questions or comments for Dr. Wertz, please post them on the blog URL above. You can also email him about the conference or other matters at jwertz@smad.com. Selected by: David Livingston [ stations ], Tue, 12 Apr 2011 14:15:41 UTC
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Robert (Bob) Zimmerman, Friday, 4-8-11 (60.81MB; download) -- Guest: Robert (Bob) Zimmerman. Topics: Space X, commercial space, human spaceflight, government regulation, government space programs. Please note that 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. Bob began our discussion with a reference to the Space X announcement about Falcon 9 Heavy made by Elon Musk on Tuesday, April 5, 2011. The entire first half of the first segment which was an hour long focused on Space X, its vision, its accomplishments, and Bob's assessment of how it is influencing, even driving the market. We had many questions come in about man rating and Bob said that Space X was in such a strong leadership position that it could resist excessive NASA paperwork killing requirements. What do you think about Bob's analysis on this issue? Later in the segment we talked about the looming federal government shut down and what it might mean for NASA and the space program. Questions came in regarding Congress directing NASA to build the heavy lift rocket and Bob definitely had much to say about this about this matter. We also talked about the possibility of foreign markets for Space X, Bigelow options and ITAR. In our second hour long segment, Bob updated us on how the James Webb Space Telescope was consuming the NASA astrophysics budget due to delays and cost overruns. In this discussion, he mentioned that announced earlier today NASA was pulling out of the joint project with ESA regarding the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) project to measure gravitational waves, all because of budget issues (http://news.discovery.com/space/a-farewell-to-lisa-110408.html). Bob provided additional examples of the science budget being crowded out the Webb cost overruns. Later on in this segment, space tourism was discussed, as well as the idea to do something useful with the ISS like a simulated humans to Mars mission. We switched to research and development discussions and Bob again suggested that the private sector could handle and historically has handled R&D and that this should necessarily be a function provided by government. I then asked Bob if he thought academia was in sync with the trend away from government spaceflight programs to commercial and private sector programs. This prompted a passionate discussion with Bob, caller John, and myself. Toward the end of the program, I did my best to get Bob to tell us if the government would shut down tonight but he straddled the fence and would not take a position. That said, throughout the program he argued for a much smaller government, very serious budget cuts, and a largely private sector driven commercial space program, not a government program. He frequently cited our economic condition and that cutbacks were needed to avoid taking the nation into bankruptcy. This was an overriding theme our guest brought up throughout our two hour program. Please post your questions and comments for Bob Zimmerman on the blog URL above. You can also contact Bob through his website, www.behindtheblack.com. He accepts email at zimmerman at nasw dot org. All of Bob's books are available at www.onegiantleapfoundation.org/books. If you buy them from OGLF, Amazon makes a contribution to The Space Show/OGLF. Selected by: David Livingston [ stations ], Fri, 08 Apr 2011 21:24:08 UTC
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CLASSROOM Lesson Two Advanced Depot Discussion, Tuesday, 4-5-11 (65.07MB; download) -- Guests: Classroom: Dan Adamo, John Goff, Dr. John Jurist, Dr. Jim Logan. Topics: This Classroom program was an advanced in-space propellant depot discussion. Please note that you are invited to comment, ask questions, and discuss the Space Show Classroom program/guest(s) on the Space Show Classroom blog, http://spaceshowclassroom.wordpress.com. Comments, questions, and any discussion must be relevant and applicable to Space Show Classroom programming. We welcomed back our Classroom co-hosts Drs. Logan and Jurist and our two propellant depot experts, Jon Goff and Dan Adamo for a comprehensive graduate school level two hour discussion about propellant depots. Also note that that as part of our upcoming Space Show webinar series, we did test video streaming during this program but as I said, we did not archive the video stream. We will let you know when our next video streaming test will take place. During our first segment, Dr. Logan set the tone with his opening statement when he said that resource pre-emplacement was essential if we were to go beyond LEO with chemical rockets. Dan said the ISS was already a depot that transferred hypergolic bipropellant fuels. This opened the door to cryogenic fuel transfer and a comprehensive discussion about boil off and the goal of reaching Zero-Boiloff Cryogenic Storage of the fuels in space. Much was said about this, the energy needed to separate hydrogen and oxygen and why cryogenic storage was necessary in space. We discussed some options were a depot to be located on the surface of the Moon but the issue of having sufficient power available for the separation is a significant one. Launch windows, departure schedules, and depot locations were discussed. We also talked about the idea of placing the depots in convenient places to attract multiple suppliers though this presents significant challenges with space traffic management problems. In our second segment we started with a listener question about using NOFBX and would it significantly help to reduce the complexity of a depot. Jon Goff responded to this question. Dr. Jurist brought up the issue of launch schedule reliability were it necessary to have between three to six flights including crew rendezvous happening within a specific time frame. Both Dan and Jon referenced the Target NEO conference from February 2011, specifically the Chel Stromgren paper, "Getting to the Starting Line -Launch and Assembly Reliability for Deep Space Missions" (www.targetneo.org/Sessions/Session%203/TargetNEO-Session3-Stromgren.pdf). During this segment, we discussed boil off rates and what this actually means regarding propellant losses and economic hits. One of the recurring issues during our discussion focused on NASA Technology Readiness Levels (TRL). SpaceX heavy lift was discussed in the context of propellant depots as was heavy lift in general. Bigelow hotels were also mentioned in the context of depots but there was also a discussion of why it might be too risky to put depots too close to human operated space hardware. As our discussion was drawing to a close, our guests talked about the road forward. Each of our experts and our co-hosts provided short summary statements and as you will hear, each differed so don't miss what each said. We welcome your comments and questions so post them to our Classroom blog for this program. If you want to email a specific guest, send your note to me and I will forward it to the person of your choice. Selected by: David Livingston [ stations ], Wed, 06 Apr 2011 16:27:52 UTC
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Bill Richardson, Monday, 4-4-11 (46.66MB; download) -- Guest: Bill Richardson. Topics: Middle school students launch balloon to 93,000 feet, STEM education, AARL support and more. Please note that 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. To support this discussion with Bill Richardson, 8th grade history teacher at the Old Town Middle School, Madison School Systems in Ridgeland, MS, please refer to these websites: www.madison-schools.com/otm/site/default.asp; www.arrl.org; www.eham.net/articles/25605, and www.madison-schools.com/18912081810027520/site/default.asp. We covered many topics with Mr. Richardson over this 90 minute three segment program but this summary skip the traditional three segment summary since we had recurring themes throughout the entire discussion. Mr. Richardson leads a radio club at his middle school and along with support from the science department, the radio club recently launched a weather balloon to 92,098 feet. Mr. Richardson described the hardware and the infrastructure needed to do it, the student experiments on board, the camera system used to take hundreds of digital pictures, the tracking system, and the recover of the balloon. He explained the flight characteristics of the balloon including its bursting at altitude and the recovery. We talked about the students, other middle school programs of a similar kind around the country, and the support and value of the American Radio Relay League (AARL) and ham radio operators in making such programs available. Later in the discussion, we focused on the AARL, what it takes to get a license, the use of Morse Code, and spectrum allocation for users with cubesats or other needs that happens to be free for AARL members. We discussed student perspectives and their having a continued interest in space, engineering and related subjects on into high school and college. Later in the discussion, Bill described some of the future projects his radio club will be undertaking in partnership with similar clubs at other schools around the country. I also asked him about the degree of support for these programs with other teachers in the school and throughout the school system. You might be surprised by this discussion which was started as a result of a listener question. Bill said that one of the most important requirements for doing this is for the teacher to have a passion for what he/she was teaching and undertaking with the students. If you have questions or comments for Bill Richardson, please post them on the blog URL above. You can also email Mr. Richardson at m5vei@aarl.net. Selected by: David Livingston [ stations ], Tue, 05 Apr 2011 16:18:12 UTC
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Dr. Paul Spudis, Sunday, 4-3-11 (47.34MB; download) -- Guest: Dr. Paul Spudis. Topics: We discussed his new book, "Blogging The Moon: The Once & Future Moon Collection," plus lunar policy and science. Please note that 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. You can purchase "Blogging the Moon" from the OGLF Amazon partners website using www.amazon.com/dp/1926837177/ref=as_li_tf_til?tag=onegialeafou-20. Remember, when you buy the book through OGLF, Amazon makes a contribution to The Space Show/OGLF. You can follow the blog articles for Dr. Paul Spudis at http://blogs.airspacemag.com/moon. Paul's website is www.spudislunarresources.com. Also check out his "Rationale for Cislunar Space on his website at www.spudislunarresources.com/Rationale.htm. In our first segment, Dr. Spudis explained the format and structure of his new book which is made up from essays he has written on his blog. That said, it did not take long before the listeners started asking Dr. Spudis policy question after policy question regarding our Moon program or lack of a Moon program. In fact, our first question asked Dr. Spudis to clear up the confusion about our return to the Moon with humans given the confusing media, policy statements, and behavior coming from Congress, the Administration, and NASA. This discussion was dominant during our full program today. In responding, Dr. Spudis talked about budget issues, the FY 11 CR and lack of a final budget, the challenges in planning when nothing is final thus making it difficult to move forward. Paul talked about the lack of a cohesive strategy and the lack of leadership. John called asking how foreign space agency competition might impact US space policy. Dr. Spudis did not think it would but listen to his full discussion on this important issue. Dr. Spudis said he was holding out hope that we would eventually influence a critical mass that would realize we need space in our economy just as we need other things and when that happens, policy and programs will move forward. Heavy lift launchers were discussed so don't miss what was said about them. Additionally, he mentioned that claiming to have insufficient funds for parts of our human spaceflight program were not true because he and others have shown in plans on his blog and elsewhere that the shuttle side mount plan meets all the needed congressional, policy, technical and mission requirements, and is affordable. We finished this segment with Dr. Spudis saying how space has always been a bipartisan issue. We started the second segment with Paul talking about his blog article referenced above on propellant depots. Much of this segment was focused on the subject of depots. Later in the segment, I gave in to temptation and went on one of my anti-Kool Aid fantasy land rants about knowing the difference between reality and something that may be real at some point in the future is not yet in existence today, often not even beyond Power Point Level 1 today. Paul offered gentlemanly comments on my rant, then we went to break to start the final segment. In our third segment, we talked about the mutual interaction with science missions and policy. Dr. Spudis talked about exciting lunar science concerning the lunar poles and the mapping of near sunlight areas on the Moon. Listeners asked about international cooperation for lunar space projects which Dr. Spudis has both supported and participated in. Near the end, I asked him how lunar missions ranked in terms of NASA priority with outer planet missions. As the program ended, I asked our guest for a rating on his level of optimism for the near term for returning to the Moon and human spaceflight. If you have comments or questions for Dr. Paul Spudis, post them on the blog URL above. You can also email Dr. Spudis at spudis@lpi.usra.edu. Selected by: David Livingston [ stations ], Mon, 04 Apr 2011 03:51:57 UTC
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Taylor Dinerman, Friday, 4-1-11 (66.29MB; download) -- Guest: Taylor Dinerman. Topics: Nuclear power, Japanese accident civil & commercial space programs, DOD space programs. Please note that 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. We welcomed back Taylor Dinerman for this one hour special discussion, followed by a look ahead at some upcoming unique Space Show programs. We started our discussion talking about the Japanese nuclear power plant accident, the risks for the United States and what this might mean for the need for power in the United States as well as around the world. Taylor talked about the likely impact on expenditures for the Japanese space program along with the relationship of this accident to the R&D for space solar power. Our guest had much to say about SSP so you will certainly want to listen to this segment. Concerning our discussion about SSP, we talked about unique markets for it, including remote locations and military applications. Listener Steve asked our guest about the estimate for the dollar cost per kilogram to GEO to make solar space power practical and if Space X had any medium term prospects to meet this cost estimate ? You might be surprised by Taylor's response to this question. In the second segment, we discussed the potential US and global impact on the emerging private sector space development industry. Mr. Dinerman spoke about the need for capital and the fact that NASA is now supporting the suborbital industry. He talked about having triggers of the kind when Dennis Tito became the first tourist suggesting that the private space community needs its own trigger. He suggested seeing Virgin, XCOR or others start flying might just be that trigger. We talked about the disarray facing NASA and what we might expect regarding the budget and policy for 2011 and 2012. When we came back from our break, I used the remaining time to mention some of our upcoming Space Show programs so don't miss the exciting schedule planned for The Space Show over the next few months. I also explained the down time for the program as I am about to travel back to Grand Forks for nearly two weeks of on campus teaching and some Space Show dates will need to be cancelled. Please post all your comments and questions for Taylor Dinerman on the blog URL above. You can also email them to me at drspace@thespaceshow.com and I will forward your message to Taylor. Selected by: David Livingston [ stations ], Sat, 02 Apr 2011 02:56:26 UTC
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Dave Ketchledge, Tuesday, 3-29-11 (93.15MB; download) -- Guest: Dave Ketchledge. Topics: Nuclear power reactors, facts, radiation & issues related to the Fukushima accident, plus space nuclear propulsion. Please note that 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. We welcomed Dave Ketchledge to this special three hour program which offered a comprehensive discussion of nuclear power issues, the Fukushima accident in Japan, radiation, atmospheric dispersion of radiation, and the use of nuclear power for space transportation, particularly long duration space missions. Our program had two very long segments to it. The best way to describe this program, especially from the feedback that came in from those listening live and participating in the show was "awesome." Dave Ketchledge, with his years of experience in the nuclear navy and working for commercial nuclear power plants, took us through the basics of how nuclear power plants works, how they are cooled, what happens when things go wrong, waste issues, the safety systems in place & the regulatory world controlling such plants. Dave, being on a submarine in Scotland at the time of Chernobyl, provided us with first hand information on the Chernobyl accident, the radiation their sub detectors picked up, what it meant, what actually happened and how it happened, and what the actual results were of that accident. He then explained why what was going on at Fukushima was not a Chernobyl and why such an accident won't happen in the United States. He also talked at length about the Three Mile Island accident and he likened it to what is happening in Japan. We spent a considerable time talking about media and press reports, radiation coming over to the West Coast of the United States, taking iodine pills and all matters related to what has been reported in the media/press since this accident and the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Dave talked to us about what we have learned about radiation dispersion from the atmospheric H Bomb tests prior to the test ban treaty, plus what we know from the two bombs used in WW 2 in Japan and the one blown up at Trinity Site in New Mexico, plus some of the leakage from the underground H Bomb tests at the Nevada Test Site. Later in the program we talked about using nuclear rocket engines for space travel. We talked about the ISP values and importance of using nuclear thermal propulsion and what it would mean time wise as well as for less radiation than using a chemical rocket in a round trip to Mars. We cannot thank Dave enough for sticking with us for the full program to help us understand nuclear power and why it is important that we continue using safe nuclear power. Dave talked about the role of the regulatory agencies, specifically the NRC and the IAEA. In addition, at one point he was asked what the ordinary person was to do to be accurately informed since the media reports have been so confusing. He did recommend visiting the websites for the NRC and IAEA for their news and updates and he explained why these sources were credible. Please post any questions or comments you may have for Dave on the blog URL above. You can also email Dave Ketchledge at sketchledge@sbcglobal.net. While nuclear powered space propulsion was not the main topic of this program, what Dave had to say about it was important so do pay attention to the space discussion themes which were mixed into our overall nuclear power discussion. Selected by: David Livingston [ stations ], Wed, 30 Mar 2011 15:51:22 UTC
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