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 |
| << < 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 > >> | |
| Add this to another station |
Veronica Ann Zabala-Aliberto, Monday, 4-12-10 (39.51MB; download) -- Guest: Veronica Ann Zabala-Aliberto. Topics: Space Access conference, ISDC, Yuri's Night, suborbital flight, Astronauts For Hire. Veronica Ann Zabala-Aliberto returned to discuss several subjects including a review of the recently concluded Space Access Society conference, Yuri's Night celebrations, the upcoming Space Investment Summit and the ISDC, plus the newly formed group Astronauts For Hire (www.astronauts4hire.org). In our first segment, Veronica summarized the recently concluded Space Access Society Conference and told us about Yuri's Night parties and how to find one near you by visiting www.yurisnight.net. The Space Access focus was on suborbital spaceflight and she summarized many of the presenters and their talks including John Carmack of Armadillo Aerospace and others. Veronica mentioned many of the opportunities developing from suborbital spaceflight which she said was finally coming into its own. The NASA CRuSR program was mentioned, space tourism was mentioned and more. Toward the end of this segment, I asked her for a quick update on her LRO camera project. Veronica suggested we check out the photos at http://lroc.sese.asu.edu. As we started the second segment, Veronica described the upcoming ISDC which will be in Chicago from May 27-31. For ISDC information, visit http://isdc.nss.org/2010. Veronica went through the list of both keynote and main speakers, the programming, and she also talked about the Space Investment Summit 8 which will take place the day before ISDC on May 26, also in Chicago. In our third segment, Veronica told us about the new organization that she and others formed, Astronauts For Hire (see www.astronauts4hire.org). As you will hear, these participants have formed a group that will be specially trained to tend to upcoming scientific suborbital payloads. She described the training they will go through to be qualified for the tasks, the types of payloads that will be launched on the suborbital flights, and how others can apply to be an Astronaut For Hire. This is a truly creative business concept that you will want to pay careful attention to now and as it develops along with the suborbital industry. Several times during this discussion, Veronica talked about the public support for upcoming human spaceflight and referred to the suborbital programs as the People's Space Program. If you have comments or questions for Veronica Ann Zabala-Aliberto regarding this program or Astronauts For Hire, please send your note to her at veronica.zabala@astronauts4hire.org. She can also be contacted through her Facebook site and Twitter. Selected by: David Livingston [ stations ], Tue, 13 Apr 2010 16:29:46 UTC
|
| Add this to another station |
Dr Alan Stern, Dr. John Pojman, Saturday 4-1-010 (43.51MB; download) -- Guests: Dr. Alan Stern, Dr. John Pojman. Topics: Commercial Reusable Suborbital Research. We welcome Dr. Stern and Dr. Pojman to this program. I suggest you visit the following websites for more information on the subjects discussed in today's program: www.commercialspaceflight.org; www.pojman.com;
www.commercialspaceflight.org/suborbital_researchers_group.shtml; http://suborbitalex.arc.nasa.gov; www.blueorigin.com. In our first segment, our guests explained commercial suborbital research and they provided us with at least three distinct advantages of commercial suborbital reusable rockets over existing suborbital sounding rockets. In summary, these reasons focused on high flight rates, the use of people if needed, and substantially lower flight costs. We then spent some time discussing the types of experiments one could do, either tended or automatic, and what would be required from the experimenter as well as the company. We then talked about the LSU Blue Origin Suborbital Demonstration Flight PI Dr. John Pojman as the PI. He described his experiment and even referenced the quick turnaround, costs involved and the students working on the project. We talked about the use of spacesuits on the vehicles and learned that the plan is to fly in a shirt sleeve environment much the way we fly in airplanes. One listener asked about taking her pet on a ride or even doing some suborbital experiments on her dog or cat. This question led to a discussion about animal research, the need for IRB for some research projects, animal or human. Our guests discussed experiments within the vehicle and special accommodates for experiments outside the vehicle. Toward the end of this segment, commercial time lines were brought up and Dr. Stern suggested that some equipment flights might start in 2011 with human flights the following year. As we started the second segment, we talked about the Suborbital Applications Research Group (SARG), training for going on these missions, and more about the types of experiments that might be done. We talked about purely commercial experiments by various businesses and we agreed that this would be an evolving area of interest and commerce. The NASA CRuSR program was talked about, its out of NASA Ames and you can check it out at the above URL. One of the subjects that a listener introduced to the discussion had to do with the difference in working on a government project over a purely commercial one. I commented that even talking with our guests from a completely commercial mindset required setting aside many perceptions of how we do things as government programs have dominated our thought process. We talked about this with both guests and John gave us an example or two of his working on government projects including his referencing of thousands of emails to do a simple ISS project. Listener Todd asked about ITAR and suborbital research and yes, its a force to contend with, no doubt about it. Alan told us about some of his training, you will certainly want to hear about it. As we moved to the end of the program, we asked Alan for updates on the New Horizons Mission to Pluto, LRO and more. We also talked about Pluto's non-status s a planet and you might be surprised by what Alan had to say on this subject. If you have questions or comments for our guests, you can contact Dr. Pojman at john at pojman dot com. For Dr. Stern, he can be contacted through his Facebook and other social networking sites, his Southwest Research Institute Investigator site, or by using alan dot stern at swri dot org.
Selected by: David Livingston [ stations ], Sun, 11 Apr 2010 15:35:03 UTC
|
| Add this to another station |
Marcia Smith, Friday, 4-9-10 (60.08MB; download) -- Guest: Marcia Smith. Topic: Space policy and the workings of the U.S. budget and congress. Marcia Smith, the founder and editor of www.spacepolicyonline.com was our guest for this Space Show program. During our first segment, Ms. Smith told us about her background and space policy experience. We compared today's space programs/policy to what she has seen over the years. You might be surprised by this comparison. I then asked Ms. Smith to explain to us the budget process with congress. Marcia first categorized the budget with its three parts, mandatory spending, the interest on the national debt, and the discretionary part of the budget w includes space, defense and homeland security. Marcia took us through the various stages and steps of the process, talking about the committees and subcommittees, the influence the president has to get his way, the competition among government components for funding and more. As you will hear, budgets are approved on an annual basis and anything else is a projection which may or may not happen. We started the second segment with an explanation of the authorization and the appropriations process and their respective committees. We talked about the possibility of the shuttle being extended, Ares 1 and Constellation sunk costs of nearly $9 billion to date, and the congressional perspective. Marcia explained the Continuing Resolution process and the fiscal year dates and deadlines that Congress deals with in the budget process. We talked about the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) which is the congressional office charged with examining all aspects of the budget and which works exclusively for congress. Toward the end of this segment Dwayne asked about infrastructure cost savings as the shuttle program was retired. Marcia told us that the NASA budget has a section for space operations for both the shuttle and the ISS and it was not clear what would be saved or simply shifted within the budget to the other program when shuttle was gone. In the third segment, we talked about the annual budget process and how it impacts programs. Marcia said it impacts NASA more than others because it takes so long for a space program to develop and be fully implemented, sometimes ten to fifteen years or more. Following this discussion, we talked about using five year run outs. For example, the Fiscal Year (FY) 2011 budget is what Congress approves. The projections out to 2015 are run outs and may not ever exist. Listener Terry then asked about the effectiveness of space advocacy groups and the role they play in influencing space policy. I asked if Congress pays attention to the media reports about China or India going to the Moon and if such reports influence their policy making. Don't miss her response. Congressional micromanagement of NASA was mentioned as well. We also talked about the most effective ways to communicate with our congressional representatives, including to make sure to vote. We started the fourth segment with a discussion of ISS costs. We looked at the costs from the US perspective but also Marcia gave us some of the foreign costs for the station known to date. ITAR reform came up and a listener asked about the idea of zero g zero tax. Another listener asked if our policy was to go to Mars and what Marcia thought about that, especially if some sort of life was discovered there. At the end of this segment, Marcia commented on the dual use of SRBs by both NASA and the Department of Defense. This is an outstanding issue with the Administration saying that if DOD needed to use the SRBs, they should pay for them rather than getting half of the cost subsidized by NASA. This was an excellent point on which to close our program for today. If you have a comment or question for Marcia Smith, please visit www.spacepolicyonline.com and you can email her at info@spacepolicyonline.com, being sure to reference Marcia and The Space Show in the subject line. Selected by: David Livingston [ stations ], Fri, 09 Apr 2010 21:57:42 UTC
|
| Add this to another station |
The Space Show Classroom Lesson 6 US Commercial and New Space Launch Industry, 4-6-10 (63.01MB; download) -- Guests: CLASSROOM; Dr. Jeff Foust, Dr. Jim Logan, Dr. John Jurist, Dr. David Livingston. Topics: U.S. Commercial and NewSpace Launch Industry. Welcome to The Space Show Classroom Lesson 6 on the U.S. Commercial and New Space Launch Industry. Please remember that if you have questions or comments regarding this program or for any of the participants, post them on the Classroom blog at http://spaceshowclassroom.wordpress.com under Lesson 6 archives. Emails sent to me will be posted on the blog on your behalf. We started our discussion with Dr. Foust providing an overview of the U.S. Commercial Launch industry. As you will hear, Dr. Foust did a superb job taking us through the launch companies and their rockets, explaining their missions, reliability, and costs. He included the Space Shuttle as our only human spaceflight launch system. We talked about markets and emerging markets. Jeff outlined the needs of the three main segments, military, civilian, and commercial. We then talked about how launchers are optimized which is for schedule and reliability, not for costs. Jeff clearly explains why this is so for each segment and why cost is not the primary issue. Dr. Logan questioned if there was really a commercial market if the only customer was government. This discussion led us to explore exactly what the new commercial markets for rockets might be and we focused in on Operationally Responsive Space (ORS) and what that might eventually lead to for emerging markets. The elasticity of the launch market was analyzed and our panel considered the impact of lowering launch costs without a corresponding increase in demand. Jeff cited examples in COMSAT launches per year. Dr. Logan suggested this might just be a zero sum game. Post your thoughts on this on the blog. Other potential markets were mentioned such as spacecraft servicing missions, propellant depots and more. As our first segment came to a close, Dr. Foust went through a brief EELV history. In our next segment, the NewSpace launch industry and its potential were center focus. Jeff took us through the NewSpace launch companies and provided us with current updates on most of them. John in Atlanta brought up the idea of the space manufacturing business as a market driver. Listen to what our panel had to say about this. We also talked about ITAR reform and potential ITAR reform impact on the launch market and the NewSpace Industry. We digressed from the launch industry with a series of questions about artificial or partial gravity and the need for a centrifuge in space to determine what is actually needed for long duration spaceflights. Dr. Logan shared some information about NASA work in this area. Somehow this took us to discussing zero gravity surgery and we learned about simulated surgical experiments using the zero g planes. Later in the segment, we talked about different launch technology as well as heavy lift. VASIMIR came up as did the nuclear rocket and space elevator, and heavy lift. Jeff had much to say about heavy lift regardless of the vehicle design or concept used. He said if space exploration was the goal, heavy lift was essential. If space exploration beyond LEO is not the goal, heavy lift is not so important at this time. At the end of the program, we talked about the possibility of extending the Space Shuttle beyond the announced retirement. You do not want to miss this discussion. Dr. Foust concluded by saying we were in very interesting times with the potential to have a real paradigm shift in how space is viewed and how we access space. At this time, the verdict is out on the success of such a paradigm shift. Again, any comments or questions you might have for any and all panel members are to be posted on The Space Show Classroom Blog under Lesson 6 Archive Notes at http://spaceshowclassroom.wordpress.com. Emails sent to me will be uploaded to the blog under your name. Selected by: David Livingston [ stations ], Wed, 07 Apr 2010 16:58:12 UTC
|
| Add this to another station |
Eric Lerner, Monday, 10-5-10 (41.70MB; download) -- Guest: Eric Lerner. Topics: Dense Plasma Focus (DPF) fusion, fusion energy in general. Eric Lerner was our guest to discuss his work with DPF fusion energy and cosmology. In our first segment, Eric provided us with an update and overview from his last appearance on The Space Show which was in August 2006. Eric explained DPF and responded to the frequent question which is why start with boron and hydrogen fuel when the deuterium tritium reaction is much easier. You will certainly want to listen to his explanation of this. Eric talked about aneutronic fusion, other companies working with the hydrogen boron fuel but with something other than DPF, and he talked about the probable cost per unit of electricity with this type of fusion. As we started the second segment, Mr. Lerner talked about metastability and the actual technology used in DPF. It might be best to follow this discussion by visiting this part of his website at http://focusfusion.org/index.php/site/category/C58/. In response to questions, he explained how the high temperatures are contained with magnetic fields and other technologies, including those suggested in the large Tokomaks. He talked about the lack of radiation as a byproduct in the DPF fusion process. We discussed time lines for his business and the technology in general. Investor returns and expectations were discussed and what it will take to get to the prototype stage of development. Eric was also asked about fusion being a green energy so listen to what he had to say about this. As we started the third and final segment, Eric explained Muonic Hydrogen Fusion in response to a question by listener Tony. We then discussed fusion for space propulsion, NASA, using it to leave Earth's gravity field or using it only for space transportation once in LEO. Toward the end of the segment, Eric talked about cosmology and specifically some of the questions surrounding the Big Bang Theory. He told us about his work with others using the surface brightness test which might provide additional explanations for the red shift that conventional theories say points to an expanding universe. We talked about the issues of getting out of the box theories published in reviewed journals and he told us about www.cosmology.info which is an Alternative Cosmology Group website for those to discuss their theories and for interested parties to read, learn, and participate. At the end of the program, Eric was asked about volunteers with his work and he explained how those interested in volunteering should go about contacting him. Follow Focus Fusion at www.focusfusion.org. His company website is www.lawrencevilleplasmaphysics.com. If you have a comment or question for Eric Lerner, you can contact him using the Contact link on his website or by emailing him at lpp@lawrencevilleplasmaphysics.com. Please reference The Space Show in the subject line. Selected by: David Livingston [ stations ], Tue, 06 Apr 2010 15:32:10 UTC
|
| Add this to another station |
Chris Radcliff, Sunday, 4-4-10 (42.82MB; download) -- Guest: Chris Radcliff. Topics: SpaceUp as an unconference, a BarCamp. How to do a BarCamp and why regarding space matters. Chris Radcliff was our guest for this program to talk about the SpaceUp unconference and the model being used for SpaceUp unconferences around the country. For more information, visit www.spaceup.org. In our first segment Chris explained SpaceUp, what an unconference is and the entire BarCamp concept. Later in the segment we got into the specifics of the SpaceUp unconference, what the opening session was like and then Chris explained the session grid and it is developed by those attending the unconference. I thought it was interesting that he said about 100 people attended the first one and that each person introduces himself with name, ID, and then three words about themselves. He said it only too a few minutes to do this for the entire group. The SpaceUP model relied on five volunteers for organizing and another 10 to 15 volunteers for other forms of assistance. Those attending decide on the content. SpaceUp charged $75 at the door and the had both video and streaming audio for their meeting. One can see some of the sessions on YouTube by searching for SpaceUp or visit their wiki, http://wiki.spaceup.org. In the second segment Chris mentioned that BarCamps were started several years ago in the tech industry and by the O'Reilly Publishing Conference. The SpaceUp meeting went from Saturday noon through Sunday around 6PM. Listen to how Chris described the events. I asked him about the expected outcomes for the meeting so listen to what he had to say about this. During this segment, he talked about Ignite Talks, a five minute talk with slides designed to get people inspired. One such talk he mentioned that has gotten lots of traction was titled "Space is Boring" and you can easily see it on YouTube or their wiki under the Ignite Talk category. In our third segment, Chris described the Moon Pie Contest and we talked about contests for a BarCamp meeting. He also described the San Diego Air and Space Museum and we talked about the type of venue best suited for these unconferences. Educational outreach was mentioned by one of the listeners and we also talked about students attending the SpaceUp meeting. Toward the end of the segment, I asked Chris to do a compare and contrast with a traditional conference and a BarCamp meeting. I believe you will find this compare and contrast discussion most interesting. If you have questions or comments for Chris Radcliff, please contact him at info@spaceup.org. Make sure you reference Chris and The Space Show in your subject line. Selected by: David Livingston [ stations ], Mon, 05 Apr 2010 15:47:26 UTC
|
| Add this to another station |
Dr. Dave Goldberg, Friday, 4-2-10 (58.37MB; download) -- Guest: Dr. Dave Goldberg. Topics, physics, astronomy, astrophysics we can all understand and enjoy. Dr. Dave Goldberg, physics professor at Drexel University was our guest to discuss his new book, "A User's Guide to the Universe: Surviving the Perils of Black Holes, Time Paradoxes, and Quantum Uncertainty." Visit his blog website for more information, http://usersguidetotheuniverse.com. In addition, this book is available for purchase through the One Giant Leap Foundation website and if purchased this way, Amazon makes a contribution to OGLF and The Space Show. Please use www.amazon.com/dp/0470496517?tag=onegialeafou-20. In segment one, Dr. Goldberg provided us with the approach used to introduce the general population to the topics discussed in the book. Our early discussion focused on the equation E=MC2, matter and energy, nuclear technology, and even policy making based on understanding the science and technology. Dr. Goldberg took us through the theory that if one really understands the science and technology, better and wiser policy decisions will be made by those making such decisions. He recommended that policy makers have a broad education instead of a highly focused or targeted education. Toward the end of the segment, we talked about fringe or crackpot science and how he copes with it in his profession as well as the book. As we started the second segment, we continued with the discussion on wish list, crackpot, and fringe science. We then talked at length about string theory and here Dave had much to say, both as to the theory and those promoting it along with how the media treats the discussion. The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) came up and we talked about the Higgs Boson particle and the LHC collisions just announced. This led us to discussing the amounts of energy needed to do many experiments so don't miss this discussion. String theory was brought u again in the context of how much energy was needed for various experiments. Our third segment started off with Dr. Goldberg describing his Chapter 5 on time travel. We talked time travel for this full segment and he told about his recent article letter published on io9 regarding the Hot Tub Time Machine. This is a humorous letter which you will enjoy reading along with the comments. To see it, please visit http://io9.com/5504813/to-the-writers-and-director-of-hot-tub-time-machine-from-a-physics-professor. During this segment, we mostly talked about the issues regarding time travel to past, paradoxes, and General Relativity. As you will hear, it might be possible were we to have the amount of energy thought to be needed, plus he said we probably could not go back in time before the time machine existed. Toward the end of the segment, I asked him about time travel to the future. Going into the future appears to be substantially different and more plausible than travel to the past. Don't miss this segment, not only was it fun, it was most informative. Our fourth segment dealt with Chapter 8 Extraterrestrials and then at last, Chapter 7, The Big Bang. Dr. Goldberg brought in the Drake Equation and the possibility of contacting an advanced ET civilization. He said space was huge and talked about randomness, yet another chapter in his book. A listener asked him about the possibility of alternative theories or rules for physics that we do not yet know or understand. Here, he talked about the Weak Anthropic Principle which he said was not liked by scientists. Listen to what he had to say to learn why its not liked. Our discussion then moved to the Big Bang and then in conclusion, he addressed the issue of how scientists work with the media and how their peers regard them. You will find this most interesting. To send a comment or question to Dr. Dave Goldberg, he directs us all to his blog which is http://usersguidetotheuniverse.com. Selected by: David Livingston [ stations ], Sat, 03 Apr 2010 16:29:57 UTC
|
| Add this to another station |
The Space Show Classroom Lesson 5 New Space Industry, 3-30-10 (52.70MB; download) -- Guests: CLASSROOM; Paul Breed, Dr. Jim Logan, Dr. John Jurist, Dr. David Livingston. Topics: New Space Industry. Welcome to The Space Show Classroom Lesson 5 on the New Space Industry. Please remember that if you have questions or comments regarding this program or for any of the participants, post them on the Classroom blog at http://spaceshowclassroom.wordpress.com. Emails sent to me will be posted on the blog on your behalf. As we started Lesson 5, we asked guest panelist Paul Breed of Unreasonable Rockets to define the New Space Industry. This is a comprehensive discussion on what makes up the industry, why its hard to describe and define, and some of the defining characteristics. For example, is the industry defined by the nature of the customer, who pays the bill, is New Space a publicly traded or private company or something else. We talked about the difference in the government funding Ares and Constellation and the government funding EELV and Falcon 9 and why the latter are considered commercial rather than a government project. We also discussed the difference between the commercial industry and what makes up the New Space industry. I asked the panel about safety issues and NASA objections to handing off human spaceflight to commercial companies on the basis of safety concerns. Listen to what Paul and the co-hosts had to say about this as there were some differing perspectives. Its fair to say that whatever happens, effective oversight is needed, not just for the engineering, but for the management. The need for New Space to make money was discussed. Paul suggested space tourism was probably the most likely business to be profitable, especially in the near term. Later in this segment, we talked about the need for most New Space companies to attract capital and this led us to discuss market issues for the New Space Industry. The suborbital research market was discussed as well as the NASA efforts to fund its development. This was questioned by our panel, especially since sounding rockets already cover suborbital research and are far more powerful and cost effective but they are not human tended. Don't miss what our panel had to say about this potential business model. Dr. Logan talked about how NASA had utilized effective human factors research on zero g flights for 30 seconds at a time as part of this suborbital examination, evidencing that an actual suborbital flight was not always necessary. You will find his comments on CPR and the use of defibrillators on the ISS and the research done on the zero g flights to be most interesting. As we concluded our fist segment, Paul said that he would discuss a list of New Space companies and their status in the next segment. As we started the second segment, Paul did go through a lengthy list of most New Space companies, their status and capabilities. Rather than listing all the companies in this summary, let me say that this is a must listen to discussion. Toward the end of the discussion, I asked our panel if VASIMIR was considered New Space. Everyone said no so listen why. We talked about the many businesses attending the Small Sat conference and their being part of or considered to be New Space. Listen to what our panel members had to say about this. The Space Access Society was discussed as was their upcoming conference and many of their participants as this is the New Space conference. The Orbitec Vortex Motor was talked about as were various pumps, both from XCOR and Flometrics. As our program came to a close, I asked the panel for an estimate of where the New Space Industry would be in five years. The consensus seemed to suggest a 50-50 chance for commercial success in the five year time window. Paul did say lots of interesting things would be flying around in this time period. Comments or questions for any and all panel members are to be posted on The Space Show Classroom Blog under Lesson 5 Archive Notes at the above URL. Selected by: David Livingston [ stations ], Wed, 31 Mar 2010 15:29:33 UTC
|
| Add this to another station |
Robert Zimmerman, Monday, 3-29-10 (49.82MB; download) -- Guest: Robert Zimmerman. Topics: US space policy, space vision, Constellation and more. Robert Zimmerman returned to provide an assessment of where US space policy is after the Administration made its Feb. 1 announcement for its plans using the 2011 Budget. In our first segment, Bob started off saying that based on the administration proposals, there were no long term goals and this is what has caused a lack of political support. Listeners immediately objected to what Bob said and emailed the show parts of the budget stating what the long term plans were about. As you will hear, Bob said they were vague, lacking in specifics, and Congress was not accepting it. He then explained that the administration had not and was not selling the plan well despite parts of it being a really good plan. Make sure you listen to this discussion. Regardless of your position on the administration proposals and the congressional opposition and hearings, you will appreciate the heat, the passion, and the analysis of facts that you will hear. We talked about the coming April 15 meetings with President Obama in Florida and Bob suggested that there might be an announcement to do something on the order of the Ares V heavy lift vehicle which might prove beneficial in overcoming congressional opposition. Dr. Charles Lurio who writes the Lurio Report (www.thelurioreport.com) called and what ensued was a lengthy and very heated discussion on what Bob has said about the program on The John Batchelor Show radio talk show and more. This discussion went into the second segment of the show, it was comprehensive and very passionate. Do not miss it. As we started the second segment, Charles asked Bob for his suggestions regarding what the administration should do in selling and implementing the new policy. Bob offered a few suggestions and reiterated the need for a real vision which he described in some detail Other issues came up in the discussion around the ISS and the overall US budget. The discussion with Charles extended well into the second segment. Judy sent in an email saying the proposals were a shell game in that it was just moving gov. money and projects from one company such as ATK to other companies, changing a gov. contract to a private contract with EELV but with many of the same companies. We did not fully agree with Judy so listen to what was said in response to her. Basically, its not a shell game because in the commercial model, not only are the prices significantly lower but the commercial companies own the result of their development and if a market exists, can sell their product to other market users far easier than in the government model. In the third segment, we talked about how the VSE was to be made "bullet proof" to not be cancelled, plus the need to or not to sell the program to the American tax payer. Jack in Virginia inquired about the likelihood of passage of zero g zero tax and Bob plus a few other listeners who sent in notes said it was doubtful because they did not believe the true intention of the administration was to develop a commercial industry. Instead, they said they thought the administration was only interested in developing alternative transportation to the government owned and controlled ISS. Also in this segment, Bob talked about the Falcon 9, we talked about space economics and job losses with the space workforce, and new commercial opportunities coming up in the near future. Toward the end of the program we mentioned the GAP and the probable extension of the Space Shuttle. If you have questions or comments for Bob Zimmerman, you can find his email address near the bottom of his website, http://members.bellatlantic.net/~vze3cxxp/zimbib.htm, which is zimmerman at asw dot org or you can forward it to me at drspace@thespaceshow.com. Selected by: David Livingston [ stations ], Tue, 30 Mar 2010 16:23:39 UTC
|
| Add this to another station |
Mark Bray, Sunday, 3-28-10 (64.24MB; download) -- Guest: Mark Bray. Topics: Space policy, commercial space, launch industry, NASA contractors, engineering. Mark Bray was the guest for this two segment two hour eighteen minute program. In addition, you can download and read Mark's paper, "The Business Case For American Space Commerce and Exploration" from
http://visionforspace.net/The_Business_Case_for_American_Space.pdf. In our first segment, Mark shared his background and experience with us as a contractor working on human spaceflight projects and programs at the Cape as well as at MSFC. This is a fascinating trip through the eyes and perspectives of one who worked these programs, saw them cancelled, started up again, and more. You want to be sure to hear what Mark had to say as its very relevant to today. Mark spoke out for commercial space but suggested a different type of transition from where we are today with government programs to obtaining commercial human spaceflight status. Again, you will hear from someone with hands on bending metal experience. We talked about there being no magic space engines and the need for heavy lift. He also talked about how the ISS model was used by Dr. Griffin in doing Constellation because I asked Mark if he actually thought Constellation was a real program that could survive multiple administrations without adequate funding. Turns out it was the ISS model that Dr. Griffin used for this program. Again, this is a segment you do not want to miss. We started the second segment asking about keeping the shuttle flying for the transition period to commercial. Mark described the M&P (materials and processing) issues and how they complicate keeping shuttle flying and increase the costs. During this segment, I asked Mark to put on his MBA hat and talk about commercial markets for the launchers. This subject was discussed many times throughout this segment. Charles from Mojave emailed and then called in with questions and comments about his Microlauncher concept and as you will hear, Mark did not fully agree with him. This is another discussion you will want to hear. Listener Kelly asked about the administration plan and if more was coming in addition to wondering if anyone had prepared cost estimates for operating the shuttle were it privatized. Reda asked if the policy might have a more business flavor to it were their more business advisors and people in the current administration but as Mark said, you can't develop a policy by focusing only on the bottom line. Mark later talked about political action, the need for space aware candidates and more. Returning to the issue of markets, he talked about the Direct TV/Cell phone market as a way of providing examples. Near the end of the program, we addressed the issue of the GAP and keeping Shuttle flying. Rapid Protyping came up as did returning to the Moon or doing something else versus nothing at all. If you have a comment or question for Mark Bray, you can email him at braymh102@hotmail.com.
Selected by: David Livingston [ stations ], Sun, 28 Mar 2010 23:00:01 UTC
|
| << < 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 > >> | |