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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Rand Simberg and Bill Simon, Tuesday, 7-20-10 (49.43MB; download) -- Guests: Rand Simberg, Bill Simon. Topics: Evoloterra, 41st Anniversary of the Moon landing. We welcomed back Rand Simberg and Bill Simon, authors of Evoloterra to celebrate and talk about leaving Earth for the first time with humans setting foot on another world. Please view and download the ceremony at www.evoloterra.com which was modeled after the Passover Seder. As we started our first segment, our guests said that Evoloterra was about remembering the watershed event when humans first left Earth. At this point, Rand and Bill took us through much of the ceremony, answered questions about it, read relevant parts of it and talked about other doing the ceremony with family and friends. Later in this segment, I asked our guests about our past history as reflected by Evoloterra and the current space policy debate underway in the U.S. We spent considerable time discussing this and some of the information coming out from both the House and Senate NASA Appropriations Bills for FY 2011. You will certainly want to hear what Rand and Bill had to say, not just about our having gone to the Moon but today's space policy directions. We started the second segment by reading the Foreword which is the epilogue by Arthur C. Clark from his "First on the Moon." Also during this segment, both Bill and Rand talked about some of the challenges in getting Evoloterra out there as a ceremony that lots of people do around July 20th each year. Bill said there were energy barriers so listen to his explanation. Both our guests asked for feedback and suggestions throughout the program so don't be shy about offering your comments. Later in the segment, the poem in Evoloterra was read, and the three of us read the Apollo 11 landing dialog on air. Several listeners asked if Evoloterra was focused on the United States or if it had a global perspective. Evoloterra does have a global perspective and at the end there is a new addition identified as the List of Characters. This global list shows all those from recorded history over time that contributed something to enabling humans to leave Earth. That said, our two guests stressed that going to the Moon and leaving Earth for another world was a product of western civilization. They had much to say about this as the path to the Moon went through western civilization.' Toward the end of the program, Bill and Rand were asked about Evoloterra evolving once a lunar settlement was established regardless of who establishes it. Both guests thought such a settlement would be created but not by NASA, more likely by the private sector. That said, Evoloterra is fixed to remember and celebrate the single event so it would not evolve. However, other ceremonies might be written or there might be a Part 2 of the program. Please send your feedback, comments, and suggestions to me at drspace@thespaceshow.com and I will forward them to Rand and Bill. Selected by: David Livingston [ stations ], Wed, 21 Jul 2010 17:25:40 UTC
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Lucinda Land, Monday, 7-19-10 (59.86MB; download) -- Guest: Lucinda Land. Topics: The Mars Society Conference, Mars Society educational outreach. We welcomed Lucinda Land, Acting Executive Director of the Mars Society to tell us about the upcoming Thirteenth Annual International Mars Society Convention to be held in Dayton, Ohio from August 5-8, 2010. You can learn more by visiting the conference website at www.marssociety.org/portal/c/Conventions/2010-annual-convention. During the first segment of the program, Lucinda took us through the conference schedule, plan, keynote speakers, and special events such as the Mars Camp. You can follow along with her by checking out the information on their website. We also talked about registration, hotels and special tours such as the US Air Force Museum located at Wright Patterson AFB in Dayton. As we moved into the second segment, we led off with a call from listener Rick regarding the US space policy still being debated and the passage of the Senate authorization bill last week. Rick wanted to know if there would be any Mars Society Conference programming on the subject and Lucinda said yes and highlighted just some of the items on the schedule dealing with policy. Later in this segment, Lucinda was asked about Mars and space advocacy in Scotland. Lucinda told us that it was active, also in the UK, Italy where the Mars Society held their international conference last year and also Poland which is where their international conference will be later this year. She mentioned that one of the Glasgow universities was just starting a space studies program and that the University of Glasgow had an aeronautical space program. She talked about scientific innovation and leadership in Scotland. When asked if Nessie could have come from Mars, she said Nessie was a tourist trap. As we started the third segment of the show, Lucinda put out a call for volunteers to help in developing their new website. We also talked about Mars Society programs such as the University Rover program, MDRS and FMARS. As we approached the end of the program we talked about her teaching 8th grade science students at her school in San Jose, CA. Lucinda told how the middle school students are inspired but a listener asked her how to inspire adults. This led to a comprehensive discussion about methods of outreach to adults in the general population. Several ideas were suggested by both Lucinda and myself. As the show was about to come to an end, Lucinda received questions about Mars gravity and humans going to Mars. This discussion extended the program to two full hours as we talked about gravity, I referenced The Space Show Classroom Lesson 12 with comments made by Dr. Jim Logan, and Lucinda fielded gravity questions including one on how best to do experiments to see about humans reproducing in Martian gravity. As you will hear, Lucinda did not have any ideas on how to carry out the reproduction experiments. If you have questions about The Mars Society, joining it, starting a chapter in your area, the upcoming Dayton, Ohio conference or today's Space Show with Lucinda Land, send them to her at lucinda@marssociety.org. Make sure you mention The Space Show in your subject line. Selected by: David Livingston [ stations ], Tue, 20 Jul 2010 03:41:51 UTC
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The Space Show Classroom Lesson 12, 7-18-10 (60.72MB; download) -- Guests: Classroom featuring Dr. Livingston, Dr. Jim Logan, Dr. John Jurist. Topics: This is a summary and critique of The Space Show Classroom Series for this year. This program will also be archived on The Space Show Classroom Blog, http://spaceshowclassroom.wordpress.com. Please post your feedback, comments, and questions to the blog, do not send the to the three co-hosts. Anything we receive will be uploaded to the blog. We started this summary program with the three co-hosts critiquing the Classroom program. Dr. Jurist provided was first, followed by Dr. Logan, and then mine which turned into a minor rant. All of us agreed that the Classroom series was a mixed bag and we graded it and ourselves accordingly. We thought we missed our target audience, & our feedback so far was insufficient and disappointing given the effort put into the programming. I also described the rating system which I have mentioned on other shows re archives on Live365.com and noted that exceptional shows got horrible ratings, mentioning again that for the most part, the more fantasy driven a guest or program is, the higher the rating. We spent a considerable time talking about this aspect of the Classroom and our frustration. We stressed over and over again the need for feedback on the Classroom series, honest feedback, including feedback on the blog, especially if we are to consider another semester of the Classroom in January. Our co-hosts talked about how ideological we have become as a nation and how little thinking we now do and that critical thinking is not taught to students. Later in this segment, I asked both co-hosts what their favorite Classroom programs were and the rocket equation and flight dynamics programs were pointed out, mostly because those programs provided the root foundation for most of the others operating and visiting in space is based on those two components. For most of this session, we talked about some of the shortfalls we saw with the Classroom series and we integrated that into our culture and educational system because the problems that we detected by doing the Classroom were not just limited to space. Heavy lift was discussed as part of this critique and in talking about the rocket equation, Dr. Logan brought up Initial Mass in Low Earth Orbit (IMLEO) as an illustration point. We then talked about Congress and the difference between tactical decision making and enabling the strategic. Life sciences were then discussed and our co-hosts talked about why so many want to dismiss the findings of life scientists because they are seen as obstacles. Even engineers do this. We had several callers during this segment talking about a specific question, not so much the Classroom summary. As we started the second segment of this two hour program, all of us again stressed the need for useful feedback, a thumbs up or down on the Classroom programming. Jim talked about a possible point counter-point format for a future program and I asked about the likelihood of improving our ability to reach the target audience by doing the Classroom with video and webcams. Gravity became a topic in this segment with questions about going to an asteroid. We also talked about the ISS and the application of life sciences. As we concluded our program, Drs. Logan and Jurist said they wanted to know how listeners were impacted by the Classroom. For example, did anyone change their mind about an issue or subject based on a Classroom program. We concluded our summary program by reminding people about the written paper opportunity (contact me for details) and that if we are to continue the Classroom series in a following semester, we need meaningful feedback, plus or negative, and information from you that can help us do a better job. Also, what topics would you like covered should we resume the Classroom next semester. Please post all your comments, questions, etc. on the Classroom blog. Selected by: David Livingston [ stations ], Mon, 19 Jul 2010 15:34:53 UTC
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Dr. Pat Patterson and Niel Holt, Friday, 7-16-10 (45.85MB; download) -- Guests: Dr. Pat Patterson, Niel Holt. Topics: SmallSat Conference, small satellites, cubesats, student scholarships, Space Dynamics Lab (SDL). We welcomed Dr. Pat Patterson and the new director of SDL, Niel Holt, to the program to discuss the upcoming Small Sat Conference, August 9-12 in Logan, Utah, the home of Utah State University. Please visit www.smallsat.org for details. In our first segment, Dr. Patterson told us about the conference, we went through the agenda and learned how this year's program differed from previous years. Pat talked about the new logistics for this year's conference as the tents are gone and all the company booths are located in one place along with the conference room. Pat highlighted the keynote address on Monday to be delivered by Dr. Jean‐Michel Contant, Secretary General of the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA). We then talked about the follow-up program on Tuesday with sessions and panels pertaining to the keynote address. You can find out more about the keynote speaker and his address at www.smallsat.org/keynote. Pat also mentioned that as in previous years, there would be audience participation in the sessions. We discussed the full agenda, the social events, and the registration fees, including special student registration fees. We started the second segment with a description of the Space Dynamics Lab (SDL) and its relationship to the conference, Utah State, and the aerospace industry. Later in the segment, we discussed the hotel situation in Logan given that approximately 1,000 attend this conference of which 90% are from outside the local area. I asked the new SDL Director, Niel Holt, to summarizes the changes in SDL over the 20 years that he has been associated with the lab. In this context, we learned that SDL has launched or participated in five separate spacecraft over recent years, up from just one or two 15-20 years ago. We also talked about using secondary payload capacity on various launchers and how important this was becoming to the small satellite and cubesat industries. Student scholarships for SmallSat were explained and the 2011 key conference dates were provided for those interested in participating in SmallSat for next year. Our third segment began with a discussion about current employment opportunities for aerospace engineering students and our guests suggested those with a STEM education had the most opportunity. ITAR came up as SmallSat has many foreign participants. During this final segment, we went over the additional meetings held both before and after SmallSat. Find out more about these meetings at www.smallsat.org/meetings. Note that registration online is significantly less costly than registration at the door. If you have questions about this year's SmallSat Conference, please visit the Contact page on the SmallSat website for who to contact,
www.smallsat.org/contact-info. Finally, for Logan, Utah hotel information, visit www.smallsat.org/hotels.
Selected by: David Livingston [ stations ], Sat, 17 Jul 2010 16:40:54 UTC
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Dr. Ralph McNutt, Thursday, 7-15-10 (55.59MB; download) -- Guest: Dr. Ralph McNutt: American spacecraft and plutonium power sources, Mercury, Messenger, Cassini. We welcomed Dr. Ralph McNutt of the Applied Physics Lab to the program. We started our first segment with a discussion of the use of Plutonium 238 as a power source for American spacecraft, asking the questions about why there appears to be so much resistance to anything nuclear in space by broad groups of concerned people. As you will hear, Dr. McNutt said that by using Plutonium 238, we were and are able to do things in space with various missions that we could not do otherwise. Dr. McNutt provided us with a very brief history of radiation and the early use of radioactive isotopes in the early days of the space program. We also talked about the half life of plutonium at 88 years and what this means for the life expectancy of space craft. As Dr. McNutt mentioned some of the early missions that are still operating, we asked him about using the old technology with today's advanced technology by comparison. This was a very interesting discussion on what NASA and the science community has to do to interpret the old data, upgrade equipment and software here on Earth but still keep it communicating with spacecraft using much earlier technology from the 60's and 70's. Listeners started asking our guests about fusion so don't miss his comments on this subject. We started our second segment with a call from Bruce in Canada regarding nuclear propulsion and interstellar travel to the nearest start, Alpha Centauri which is 4.3 light years away. This is a discussion you will want to hear. After the call from Bruce, we talked about the Messenger spacecraft and Mercury. Most of the information from Messenger about Mercury is posted on the website, http://messenger.jhuapl.edu. Much is being learned about Mercury as you will hear and in mid-March 2011, Messenger should go into orbit around Mercury rather just flying by it. We then received a call from listener Dwayne who discussed the old Faster, Better Cheaper NASA program as Messenger was one of those programs. This led to a discussion about having launched Messenger using a Delta 2 but now that Delta 2 was no longer available, launch costs were significantly higher and being taking out of payload funding. We talked about lower launch cost options including the Space X Falcon 9 and learned that usually companies look for at least seven successful launches of a new rocket before there is sufficient confidence to use it. This is another very important discussion you will want to hear. Later, another caller brought back the fusion topic and our guest mentioned the once secret U.S. Project Sherwood which was a program focusing on controlled nuclear fusion under the Atoms for Peace program of President Eisenhower. As we neared the end of the program, I asked what was expected from Mercury as Messenger enters orbit around the planet about March 18, 2011. Dr. McNutt told us several things to be looking for so listen carefully as our discussion comes to an end. In addition, he told us that information gets posted with about a six month delay on the NASA Planetary Data System website, http://pds.nasa.gov. Its worth checking this site on a regular basis. If you have comments or questions for Dr. Ralph McNutt, please send them to me at drspace@thespaceshow.com and I will forward them to him. Selected by: David Livingston [ stations ], Fri, 16 Jul 2010 15:34:30 UTC
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Dr. Burton Lee, Tuesday, 7-13-10 (50.16MB; download) -- Guest: Dr. Burton Lee. Topics: European Commission Space Research Program (ECSRP) and European space consortia for American space companies. We welcomed back Dr. Burton Lee to discuss the European Commission Space Research Program for American space companies and the upcoming July 21, 2010 Stanford University Open Meeting for business and university researchers interested in applying for limited European Commission grant funds in areas such as cubesats, space transportation and propulsion systems, robotic exploration technologies, and NEOs. You can find out more information about his organization and its place in the FP7 European Commission CORDIS at http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/cooperation/space_en.html. In our first segment, Dr. Lee provided us with the basic information about the European Commission Space Research Program and the European Framework 7 Program (see http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/home_en.html). In this discussion, we learned about the relationship of this organization with ESA and the fact that the ECSRP has a total budget of about 200 million Euros as compared to ESA's budget of 3745 million Euros. We learned that American companies wanting to participate in the program need to work through a European consortium that manages the program, applies to the ECSRP with their version of an RFP and disburses the funding to the consortium members, including the American company. We also learned that maintaining geographical diversity is important in grant approval and allocation. As we started the second segment, a listener asked Dr. Lee what was in it for an American company to participate in the program given the level of funding was small and that a European company/university had to be the lead on the team and the project manager. As you will hear, Dr. Lee said that the European space community was developing, expanding, and growing. U.S. companies see this as a way to get a foothold in this emerging and important space market. Dr. Lee also talked about the Framework 7 Protocols. Listeners asked Burton about space entrepreneurship and the commercial sector in Europe. You will definitely want to hear what our guest had to say about this space sector as applied to European space development. We then talked about the upcoming July 21, 2010 conference held at Stanford University from 8:30AM to 12:30 PM with a networking reception following the session. Limited open seating is available so if you are interested in attending, you need to contact Dr. Lee by email as soon as possible to get the information and have it processed by representatives of the European Commission. If interested, please send your email to Dr. Burton Lee at blee@stanford.edu. Make sure you tell him you heard him on The Space Show. Dr. Lee was also asked about this program being made available to other space oriented nations. He said South Africa and Russia were involved in the program before the United States but did not know about other nations. Another topic Burton told us about focused on intellectual property (IP) brought to the consortium by the American company or developed in cooperation with the specific consortium members. In the third segment, we inquired about the use of a Non Disclosure Agreement (NDA) to protect the U.S. company IP. We also talked about the ECSRP having an interest in appealing to the general public rather than just the targeted organizations and companies. Toward the end of the program, I asked Burton for his assessment on the space economy in the U.S, specifically in the entrepreneurial and startup fields. His economic and financial assessment was most interesting and informative. You will certainly want to hear it. For questions and comments, please direct them to Dr. Lee's email address above. Selected by: David Livingston [ stations ], Wed, 14 Jul 2010 16:15:35 UTC
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Drs. Mark Lewis & Lance Chenault, Monday, 7-12-10 (45.77MB; download) -- Guests: Dr. Mark Lewis, Dr. C.F. Lance Chenault. Topics: AIAA Joint Propulsion Conference, current and advanced space propulsion. We welcomed Dr. Mark Lewis and Dr. Lance Chenault to the program to discuss this important AIAA Joint Propulsion Conference along with the 8th Annual International Energy Conversion Engineering Conference to be held July 25-28, 2010 at the Nashville Convention Center & Renaissance Hotel in Nashville, TN. For more information, please visit the conference website, www.aiaa.org/content.cfm?pageid=230&lumeetingid=2347. Our program was in two 45 minute segments with Dr. Lewis being the first guest followed by Dr. Chenault in the second segment. If you are interested in checking out the conference agenda which we talked about during this program, please visit the 56 page preliminary agenda at http://aiaa-mjpc10.abstractcentral.com/societyimages/aiaa-mjpc10/AIAA-MJPC10_Program_Matrix_2.pdf. We started our discussion with Dr. Lewis with a description of the conference and the sponsors to it, plus the joint conference sharing with the International Energy Conversion Engineering (IECE). We talked about the conference contents and the availability of advanced or out of the box future concepts being represented in the conference. Dr. Lewis said that there was such research included but such presentations and papers had to stand the basic test of adhering to the known rules of physics. Listener questions asked about chemical rockets and new solutions for space access. This prompted Dr. Lewis to talk about rockets, exotic fuels and more. We spent considerable time talking about the advantages of attending this conference for students including favorable student pricing. All students should definitely consider attending this conference and all AIAA conferences. Dr. Lewis highlighted some of the keynote speakers and we concluded this segment with a discussion about the need for heavy lift vehicles if we are to do anything beyond LEO and conference presentations on the subject. We started the second part of our show with an introduction to Dr. C.F. Lance Chenault who spent considerable time highlighting both keynote speakers and special panels on each day of the conference. You can follow this discussion and find out more about the keynote speakers and the special panels by using the above URL to the conference preliminary agenda. We talked about conference logistics and were told that there were about 700 papers accepted for the conference out of about 1200 papers submitted. Toward the end of this segment, we talked about hypersonics and scramjets, then conference logistics between the AIAA part and the IECE parts. As you will hear, they are completely interchangeable and transparent. Toward the end of the show, Dr. Chenault fielded questions about solids versus liquids for human spaceflight and solar sails. If you have questions or comments for our two guests, please send them to me at drspace@thespceshow.com and I will forward them to the guests or AIAA so you can get a prompt answer/response.
Selected by: David Livingston [ stations ], Tue, 13 Jul 2010 16:22:26 UTC
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The Space Show Classroom Lesson 11, July 11, 2010 (57.92MB; download) -- Guests: Classroom featuring Brian Weeden, Dr. Livingston, Dr. John Jurist. Topic: Space Sustainability: Environmental and Crowding Issues Across All Orbital Domains. Lesson 11 for The Space Show Classroom focused on Space Sustainability issues with guest instructor Brian Weeden of the Secure World Foundation. Brian's paper on this subject is on the Classroom Blog under Lesson 11 Presentation Materials and at www.secureworldfoundation.org/images/SWF_Space%20Sustainability%20Booklet.pdf. We started our first of two segments with a definition of space sustainability and where we as space-fairing nations were in terms of a pending disaster because of orbital debris pollution. We talked about human spaceflight and issues surrounding it. From our human spaceflight discussion, we evolved to satellites of all types and scientific payloads. One of the questions and comments brought up by Dr. Jurist was the difference between natural debris and man made debris. Brian also took us through Conjunction Assessment and we discussed it in terms of the US and the Russians who are the only ones that can do it at this time. A listener brought up issues about potential SSP systems. As you will hear, there is not much debris in the orbits that would be used for an SSP system. Listen carefully to what Brian said about this. We talked about GPS and its importance and how evolved economies would be adversely impacted without access to space resources. As we drew to a close in the first segment, Brian talked about the size of objects and said being hit by anything 7CM and larger would be catastrophic. From 1-6CM serious damage would be sustained. As we started the second segment, we summarized and addressed a few additional questions on orbital debris and GPS, including a discussion on the vulnerability of GPS to a hostile attack. We then focused our attention on Space Situational Awareness (SSA)which implies one knows what is going on in space all the time. So far, the US and the Russians are the strongest nations applying SSA but more and more countries are starting to use it. SSA also implies the use of Space Traffic Management. Some of the questions Brian brought to our attention included who pays for these services and who makes important decisions. He said the UN Treaties were OK but were based on the framework of the Cold War. What is happening now is more in line with voluntary agreements. Brian also said there was no legal definition for space debris so legally there no way to discriminate between valuable space hardware and useless space debris. We talked about which countries are getting more and more involved in these discussions and as it turns out, most do, even those nations considered rogue. Toward the end of the program, a question came in about the use of a nuclear bomb to deflect or destroy an incoming NEO. Brian said it was not allowed by current treaties but that the problem would not be solved until a real incident was upon us and a nuclear nation had to make such a decision. We talked about the role of the UN COPUOS, the UN Action Team 14 and the Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee (IADC). For your questions and comments, please post them on The Space Show Classroom Blog under this post at http://spaceshowclassroom.wordpress.com. All questions sent to me will be posted on the blog. Selected by: David Livingston [ stations ], Mon, 12 Jul 2010 15:48:36 UTC
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Dr. Clive Neal, Monday, 7-5-10 (46.90MB; download) -- Guest: Dr. Clive Neal. Topics: Lunar exploration, space vision and space policy. We welcomed Dr. Clive Neal who is the chair of NASAs Lunar Exploration Analysis Group (LEAG) to the show. Please visit their website at www.lpi.usra.edu/leag. In our fist segment, we started out talking about water on the Moon, how much and where. This discussion evolved into the vision for returning to the Moon and the need for a lunar exit strategy so we don't get bogged down and not go anyplace else in the solar system. Dr. Neal then spoke of the roadmap for solar system exploration, our new National Space Policy, and leadership issues, goals, and clarity. When asked why the Moon, he said it was important due to its proximity to Earth, it was a hostile environment, that we needed to learn to live off world, and that we could see it. We talked about the need to learn to do insitu resource utilization and if we did not do it, other nations probably would. A listener asked him a question about the Thatcher ban of human spaceflight in the UK, a ban that was only recently lifted. Another listener asked about the Apollo era lunar seismographs left on the Moon and Dr. Neal had much to say about this project and what learned about moonquakes and the Moon. We talked about lunar caves and the Moon as a source of inspiration for students and others. Toward the end of the segment, Dr. Neal said he wanted to dispel the myth that was also cited by President Obama when announcing his policy regarding the Moon that we had been there and done that. In the second segment, I asked our guest to explain why we needed to go to the Moon as if he were fighting for the program in front of members of Congress. Dr. Neal spoke about the payback for returning to the Moon and space exploration. He also talked about the Moon being a jobs creating program. Listen carefully to what he had to say about this. We also talked about options of going to a NEO or Mars and of using the Moon for SSP beamed back to Earth. Dr. Neal focused on building synergies rather than competing and handling problems. A listener asked him for the next step in lunar exploration and he said there would soon be a mission plan on the LEAG website. Listener Trent asked about comparing robots on the Moon to humans and this sparked a good discussion. Listener Jim inquired into the behind the scenes meaning for the statement made by President Obama about been there done that. This also promoted a good exchange with our guest. In our third and final segment, we talked about the cancellation of Constellation and what this meant for going anyplace beyond LEO. Dr. Neal focused on the need for heavy lift. I then discussed the arguments used by many who are not supportive of heavy lift. Dr. Neal was asked if he thought the private sector would go to the Moon, not the government. He said not without a commercial reason and ultimate payback. We then talked about the need for a long term vision transcending many different administrations, perhaps a 40 year vision. As he explained, there is very little payoff for a President or member of Congress to be supportive of such a long term goal but that such long term funding and visionary leadership was essential since space was costly and cannot be done overnight. Project M came up regarding HD cameras on the Moon. I then summarized some of the questions asked by Evon regarding the philosophical differences between scientists and explorer/developers. As you will hear, Dr. Neal again stressed synergy, not the differences. Dr. Neal left us with important closing comments which really were Pearls of Wisdom. Don't miss them. If you have a question for Dr. Clive Neal, please email him at neal.1@nd.edu. Selected by: David Livingston [ stations ], Mon, 05 Jul 2010 23:38:02 UTC
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Robert (Bobby) Block, Friday, 7-2-10 (49.55MB; download) -- Guest: Bobby Block. Topics: space journalism, space policy news, Florida Space Coast. We welcomed Bobby Block, Space Editor for the Orlando Sentinel to the show. We started our first segment which was one hour by asking Bobby about his transition to space journalism from his previous journalistic assignments at the Wall Street Journal, as a foreign correspondent, even covering various global hot spots. You will find his transition story interesting. Bobby offered us his opinion on Florida space policy and politics and some of the positions being articulated by Senator Nelson in the state. He spent considerable time describing the state of the current situation regarding space policy, NASA, the government, Florida, etc. One word he used was "messy." He did say two things were certain: Payments to Russia for flights on the Soyuz and the Cots program. We talked about the Space Coast job layoff situation and asked the hard to answer question about the balance between space as a jobs program and space for the best space program the nation can have. We talked about new technology and job creation, not just in space. Toward the end of this particular discussion I asked if the commercial sector could create a sufficient number of new jobs to compensate for the jobs being lost. You might be surprised by his response. Toward the end of this segment, a caller asked about the Orlando Sentinel reporting on the 2009 article about a preliminary 45th Space Wing AF study showing that the crew of Orion "will not survive" an explosion of the Ares I rocket within the first minute of launch because blazing chunks of solid-rocket fuel would melt the parachutes on the crew-escape system (http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_space_thewritestuff/2009/08/nasa-begs-to-differ-on-ares-i-launch-aborts.html). This was an important discussion, not just in terms of Orion and Ares 1 crew safety and abort, but in terms of Air Force reports and the reporting carried out by the Orlando Sentinel. You can read the controversial report at http://www.scribd.com/doc/17465006/USAF-Report-Ares-I-Abort-Will-Kill-Orion-Crew. I urge you to seek out the counter arguments to the engineering and physics of this report. Several Space Show programs have even addressed problems with this report. As we started the second segment, a caller discussed sustainability and the challenges to anything new represented by those supporting the status quo. During this segment, a listener suggested that the space program new policy had the mark of Lori Garver, Deputy Administrator. Bobby commented on that assumption and refuted it by calling our attention to the new U.S. Space Policy released earlier this week with a significant focus on national security and DOD. Listen to his full explanation. Another listener addressed the loss of a skill set of needed employees that would impact our ability to go to deep space. Bobby reminded us that civil space was not a national security program, its part of the discretionary budget, and its treated as such. A listener from Italy asked about NASA stories leaked to the press. Bobby said this was natural across all branches and activities of the government. In summarizing his comments, Mr. Block said the new space policy had some good points in it but portions of it were not good politics. Civil space was not a defense program. He did not know what the outcome would be for FY 11 due to the confusion and mess in the debate. He said in the background, the arguments are solids versus liquids and there is no leadership to pull any idea or school of thought together. If we have a year of fighting and CR, the risk is the NASA budget might be reduced and human spaceflight might be deferred or undermined for years to come. If you have a question or comment for Bobby Block, you can reach him at RBlock@orlandosentinel.com. His blog, The Write Stuff, can be found at http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_space_thewritestuff. Selected by: David Livingston [ stations ], Sat, 03 Jul 2010 00:57:19 UTC
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