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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Dr. Jim Wertz - Responsive Space, Monday, 4-6-09 (46.22MB; download) -- spaceflights, launch economics, rocket parts. Dr. Jim Wertz, President of Microcosm, Inc. was our guest for this program to discuss the upcoming Responsive Space Conference to be held at the Westin Hotel near the Los Angeles Airport, April 27-30, 2009. Please note that during this program, Dr. Wertz offered a special conference registration price for regular and student Responsive Space registration, but you have to call Julie at Microcosm, Inc. by the close of business April 6, 2009 California time to request the special price. For regular registration, there will be a $100 discount if you mention The Space Show and this program. Student registration prices have been reduced from $350 to $325 just by calling Julie and saying you want The Space Show special registration offer. To take advantage of these special prices, please call (310) 219-2700. Please note that this offer expires at the close of business on Monday, April 6, 2009. As for our discussion, Dr. Wertz talked about the Responsive Space Conference, the keynote speakers, the conference amenities, the live Space Show program that will take place Tuesday evening and the fact that The Space Show might be able to broadcast video for that show, so stay tuned for announcements on this potential new feature for The Space Show. In addition to talking about the conference and the speakers plus the agenda, we talked about what responsive space means, how to achieve it, and what some of the realistic ideas are to achieve it. We also talked about crossover technology to the commercial sector for Responsive Space R&D. The USMC SUSTAIN vehicle concept came up and we discussed it, plus the Microcosm Scorpius launch vehicle. Dr. Wertz explained how by minimizing the working parts in a rocket, lower launch costs could be obtained so you will want to hear this discussion. He went into some detail about the high speed turbo pump and what that has meant for rocket development. We discussed low cost satellite development and missions as well as the problems created by regulatory creep. Numerous other topics were discussed as well, so you will want to hear this full show. Please give serious consideration to attention the Responsive Space Conference in Los Angeles. It’s a fact based, highly influential conference that you do not want to miss. If you have questions or comments for Dr. Jim Wertz about this discussion or the Responsive Space Conference, please contact him at Microcosm with the above phone number, the Responsive Space website, www.responsivespace.com , or by email at jwertz@smad.com ( http://www.responsivespace.com/cont.asp ). Selected by: David Livingston [ stations ], Mon, 06 Apr 2009 12:00:24 UTC
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Dr. Adam Frank, Friday, 4-3-09 (54.83MB; download) -- Guest: Dr. Adam Frank. Topics: Science vs. Religion, spirituality, space travel, the night sky, science education, faith. Dr. Adam Frank was our guest in this continuation of the Space Show series, "Our Spiritual Connection To Outer-Space." Dr. Frank discussed his new book, "The Constant Fire: Beyond the Science vs. Religion Debate." We began our discussion talking about spirituality, religion, and science. Dr. Frank told us how he came up with the title for his book as it refers to the human aspiration to know what is real and true. He then framed the traditional science vs. religious debate for us and then we talked about reframing the debate outside the tradition. We covered many topics including spirituality, mythology, science, God, faith, and more. I believe you will find this to be a most interesting discussion and consider his book to be a superb read. For more information about the book, visit http://www.amazon.com/Constant-Fire-Beyond-Science-Religion/dp/0520254120/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1238786985&sr=1-1 . During our discussion, Dr. Frank merges science together with religion and spirituality in many different ways and shows us different ways of seeing and relating to these disciplines. He takes back centuries to early Irish Neolithic monuments and we talked about how early people observed much more in the night sky more easily merged science, life, and their religion with myths and rituals. Visit Dr. Frank's website, http://www.constantfire.com/ where you will find links to his blog for comments and discussion. If you want to send Dr. Adam Frank comments or questions, please do so at afrank@pas.rochester.edu .
Selected by: David Livingston [ stations ], Sat, 04 Apr 2009 00:06:06 UTC
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Les Johnson, Tuesday, 3-31-09 (45.18MB; download) -- Guest: Les Johnson. Topics: solar sail, space propulsion, interstellar space travel, environmental organizations. Les Johnson was our guest for this program for our discussion of solar sail technology and deployment, interstellar space travel and propulsion ideas, and the space advocacy community relationship with environmental organizations. Our first segment focused on solar sail technology and the efforts so far to have a successful solar sail demonstration flight. Les described the size of the sail needed, the challenges, the material for the sail, and the formulas that support the solar sail theory. We also talked about scientific and commercial uses for solar sail propulsion, its usefulness in space and the limits of its usefulness which appear to be at Jupiter. In explaining the solar sail, we talked about light with momentum and pushing and why we cannot experience it here on Earth but how it’s proven in the vacuum chambers and in space. During the second segment, we spoke about his new book which will be out in early fall, "Paradise Regained: The Re-greening of Planet Earth," which explains why space advocates and environmentalist have so much in common and should be working together. This resulted in a very interesting and diverse conversation with good listener questions and comments. You won't want to miss it! During our final segment, we focused on the out-of-the-box aspects of interstellar propulsion. Among the technologies that may be useful are solar/laser sails, fusion, antimatter, and maybe folding space with worm holes. However, all of these are beyond current engineering, physics, and financial means. This is also a most interesting reality based discussion that you will want to hear. Toward the end of the program, we talked about careers in out-of-the-box physics, what academic subjects or fields to pursue and more. If you want to send a question or comment to Les Johnson, you can do so at http://www.lesjohnsonauthor.com/contact_les or les.mail@lesjohnsonauthor.com . Visit his website at http://www.lesjohnsonauthor.com/ . Selected by: David Livingston [ stations ], Wed, 01 Apr 2009 15:05:55 UTC
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Dr. Richard Kirby, Monday, 3-30-09 (47.35MB; download) -- Guest: Dr. Richard Kirby. Topics: Kepler Space University, space and liberty, Theory of Money, citizen astronomer. Dr. Richard Kirby returned to The Space Show today regarding his new book, "The People's Astronomer,"(Please visit http://www.keplerspaceuniversity.com/ to purchase your copy) and a discussion about space wealth creation for the people. We spoke about breaking many conventional paradigms on economics, scarcity, the theory of money, and more and Dr. Kirby explained how by observing the night sky and being part of the cosmos we can change our way of thinking and our situation. Several listeners asked Rich questions and one listener, Kristine, asked specifically how we can remove ourselves from our usual toxic environment to be able to engage in the consciousness that Rich was talking about during the show. You will want to hear his reply to Kristine. Dr. Bob Krone, Provost of Kepler University, called in and Rich and Bob discussed the program and teaching methodology at Kepler Space University. If you are interested in this university which is a graduate level university, please contact Dr. Krone at BobKrone@aol.com . Other listener questions addressed the need for cultural changes in the US and elsewhere, so you will want to hear how Rich replied to those listeners and how to apply space to model our cultural changes. Traditional economic and financial concepts were discussed and Rich then enabled us to see alternatives fitting with the theme of this show and for his planned, upcoming television series, "The People's Cosmos TV." Toward the end of the program, Rich introduced an alternative perception and plan to the business plan and we talked about the role of truth in advertising and representation. For more on this, visit his website, http://www.newgenius.com . If you have a question or comment for Dr. Kirby, please send it to me at drspace@thespaceshow.com and I will forward it to him.
Selected by: David Livingston [ stations ], Tue, 31 Mar 2009 02:54:58 UTC
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Open Lines, Sunday, 3-29-09 (65.94MB; download) -- Guest: OPEN LINES. Topics: NASA bureaucracy, Return to the Moon or Mars, low cost space access, North Korea space program, SPESIF, astrosociology, education. This was our regular Open Lines program and runs slightly longer than two hours. Our program started with a call from listener Marshall about the NASA bureaucracy and what is known as “bureaucratic drift.” This was an interesting discussion which we applied to other government agencies, even national healthcare given comments from other listener. Don't miss it. The topic of how the NASA budget gets distributed was discussed though actual details of how the Administrator decides to make the allocation were unknown. John called in to ask about returning to the Moon or going on to Mars as I mentioned this during the discussion with Marshall. I believe you will find this to be interesting given I report on what listeners tell me about Mars, the Moon, etc. I also provided my opinion and, as I have made clear before, if we go to the Moon we should go to stay and the present way of doing that is so expensive, I doubt we would stay and I doubt that the private sector would pick up and take over from the government program. We also addressed some of the serious human factors issues impacting long duration space flight or settlement, mostly in the context of a “Humans to Mars” mission. Some of this discussion centered on the mental and psychological issues involved and, when caller Mel was on the line, Mel was asked about this given Mel's knowledge of the subject and studies with Dr. Rygalov. Mel's call was mostly a report on the SPESIF Conference, which was concluded in Huntsville in February 2009. In particular, Mel updated us on the astrosociology segments which took place at SPESIF. The educational paper Mel delivered can be found at http://sites.google.com/site/melsmarsh/cv by scrolling down to the Conference Presentation section and selecting "Overcoming challenges: Creating an astrosociology curriculum." While at Mel's site, I recommend reading the journal and conference papers listed. Listener Terry called with challenges to our existing political system, the way we do space, and lots of comments about the N. Korean space program and their missile that is on the pad and currently getting major focus in the news. Terry has some very specific political, global, and space ideas. See what you think of them. Toward the end of the program, Charles called in to talk about Space Access and their coming conference April 2-4 in Phoenix. He spoke about the N-Prize speakers planned for the conference, his recent Google Technology Talk, Microlaunchers and its specific approach to space development, and much more. If you have questions or comments for any of the callers to the program, please send them to me and I will forward what you have to say to your requested Space Show caller. Please use drspace@thespaceshow.com for all your comments and questions for this Open Lines show. Selected by: David Livingston [ stations ], Mon, 30 Mar 2009 15:41:24 UTC
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Nancy Conrad & Josh Neubert, Friday, 3-27-0 (60.71MB; download) -- Guests: Nancy Conrad and Joshua Neubert. Topics: Conrad Foundation Awards, Pete Conrad, disruptive educational technolgy, interdisciplinary educational programs, high school student projects, entrepreneurship, venture capital, building human capital. Our guests, Nancy Conrad and Josh Neubert, brought us up to date with the Conrad Awards which will be announced at the Innovation Generation Summit at the NASA Ames Conference Center from April 2-4, 2009. The pubic is welcome Friday morning to see the student presentations and videos and in the afternoon to attend the workshops bringing the students together with space industry participants. During our program today, Nancy Conrad talked about her late husband Pete Conrad and how Pete's life, vision, and goals helped lead to the creation of the Conrad Foundation and eventually to the Conrad Awards Program. John Neubert, the Foundation's Executive Director, along with Nancy, talked about the awards, the educational goals of the program and the Foundation, and the various teams with entries in this year's contest. We also talked about the Conrad approach being a disruptive technology for education and the support this program has received by teachers, students, parents, school leaders and professional educators. For sure you will want to hear about the teams, their projects, their business focus, and how to participate in the awards for next year. You can get more information about the Conrad Awards by visiting their website, www.conradawards.org. In addition, you can use the Contact link on the site (http://www.conradawards.org/contact.php) to ask questions or comments. You can also email Josh Neubert directly with your comments and questions at joshua.neubert@conradfoundation.org. Selected by: David Livingston [ stations ], Sat, 28 Mar 2009 02:19:08 UTC
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Dr. Stein Cass, Tuesday, 3-24-09 (61.79MB; download) -- Guest: Dr. Stein Cass. Topics: Surrey Satellite, NPOESS, Earth science, risk management, economics, socialism. Dr. Stein Cass from Surrey Satellite Technology-US was our guest for this program. We started our discussion with The National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) and how its cost overruns by the government have drained funds from other much needed Earth science projects. This is an eye-opening discussion that you will not want to miss. Our discussion took us into the world of risk aversion in space hardware and financing and how government tries to insure against failure by what is known as "requirement creep." Again, you won't want to miss this part of our discussion. Dr. Cass talked about NOA, NASA, and DOD projects and the pitfalls of their joint management. Listeners asked him for his thoughts on the desired balance of how to allocate the NASA budget with Earth science, planetary missions and the human spaceflight program. He had some very interesting thoughts and suggestions on this subject. When asked about how to prioritize the Earth science missions, he talked in detail about the Decadal Survey ( http://www7.nationalacademies.org/bpa/Astro2010.html ) which does prioritize Earth science missions/projects. Stein spent considerable time explaining the Surrey business model and how it differs from the usual way of conducting business with the government and even the private sector. Surrey is well known for its student participation in this UK company and a listener asked if the US company would also have student programs. The short answer was yes, but you will want to hear about them and these activities as they might be of interest to you or a student you know. This discussion went to two hours so you will find many more discussion topics, listener comments and questions than what I am summarizing in this brief program description. If you have comments or questions for Dr. Stein Cass, please send them to him at SCass@sst-us.com .
Selected by: David Livingston [ stations ], Wed, 25 Mar 2009 16:31:45 UTC
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Dr. Pete Worden followed by Open Lines, Monday, 3-23-09 (53.07MB; download) -- Guest: Dr. Pete Worden for the first hour followed by Open Lines. Topics: Space Solar Power (SSP), NASA Ames Research Center. Dr. Pete Worden, Center Director for the NASA Ames Research Center, was the guest for the first hour of the show. The last segment was an Open Lines discussion primarily geared to our space solar power discussion with Dr. Worden. Our discussion with Dr. Worden followed the business case discussion on SSP stemming from the debate at the ATWG Conference in early December 2008 at Ames. During that debate, Dr. Worden explained why there was no business case for space solar power and he brought that discussion to this Space Show program. In discussing space solar power, we talked about launch and geosynchronous orbit access costs, systems engineering including the operating environment for the space solar power satellites, the cost of getting the power back to the ground, and ongoing maintenance and repair issues. Pete contrasted these categories with what is needed for obtaining terrestrial power and he showed the cost differentials indicating that at a minimum, SSP is five orders of magnitude more costly than using terrestrial sources of power. He talked about how terrestrial solar is used today and how much more terrestrial solar is available that would take us well past a hundred years from now. Listener questions were bunched together and merged given we only had one hour with Pete and there were many emails, most containing between five and ten questions. Some of the listener questions asked Pete about a NASA agenda that purposely omits SSP from discussion or consideration, some asked for his thoughts on the mix of energy sources we should strive for in an energy policy for our future, and still others inquired about promising new alternative energy technologies, especially those in the bio disciplines. While most of the time spent with Pete related to SSP, we did find out about new and interesting NASA projects. This included a discussion about Google, Cisco, the Ames Pleiades supercomputer, the ISU Summer Session coming to Ames, the Singularity University, and the economic value of Ames in Northern California. The final segment was Open Lines dedicated to discussing what Dr. Worden said about SSP. Most, if not all, of the listener feedback supported Dr. Worden in that there is no business case for SSP. I was asked about education which resulted in many minutes being devoted to this subject with my telling some stories to illustrate weaknesses in our present educational system. I also talked about the Astropolitics article that is out now regarding possible ozone damage as a result of a large number of chemical rocket launches going through the atmosphere. Toward the end of the Open Lines, I offered my "Pearl of Wisdom" suggesting that advocates of SSP understand the serious criticisms of SSP and learn how to negate or rebuke them, showing that there is a legitimate business case for SSP as in the case of the Pete Worden discussion. If you have a question or comment for Dr. Pete Worden or me from the Open Lines segment, please send your email to me and if for Dr. Worden, I will send it to him. If you email Dr. Worden direct, please copy me on it as I would like to see your questions and any response he offers. The Space Show address is drspace@thespaceshow.com .
Selected by: David Livingston [ stations ], Tue, 24 Mar 2009 15:13:17 UTC
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Dr. Petra Illig, sunday, 3-22-09 (54.53MB; download) -- Guest: Dr. Petra Illig. Topics: aerospace medicine, passenger health and safety, FAA, spaceflight participants, and pre-existing medical conditions. Dr. Petra Illig was our guest today to discuss with us aviation and personal spaceflight medicine from the perspective of the spaceflight participant. Our discussion started out by asking Dr. Illig to extrapolate from her body of work on aviation passenger health to the health factors concerning the spaceflight participant. Our first segment covered suborbital tourism, our second segment addressed orbital tourism, and in the third segment we discussed a variety of related topics. Our discussion included drug abuse, including alcohol, and other drugs that a participant might be using and what this might mean for a spaceflight. We also talked about prescription drugs, psychological conditions, claustrophobia, and even terminal illness. We asked if a passenger's health needed to be disclosed to the spaceflight operator and other passengers and you will want to hear how Dr. Illig responded to this question. Another topic that came up was the possibility of someone dying on the flight and continuing on with the flight with the body as there would likely be no way to abort or return even if something that catastrophic happened to a passenger. Based on listener questions, we talked about the need for the spaceflight operators and vehicle designers to take into consideration the probable health profile of their target market in spacecraft design, certainly in their training and protocols for working with the spaceflight participants. Listeners asked and commented about various medical conditions, some more basic and common than others, and Dr. Illig let us know how one could do a spaceflight given such conditions. We talked about the need for a participant/patient comprehensive medical questionnaire and the need to fully plan and be open about personal medical conditions with a qualified space medicine doctor. Later in the show, we discussed how many flights might be needed to obtain sufficient data to know what the regulatory regime should look like or how it should be modified, if modification was even warranted. You will want to hear this discussion and what was said about sufficient and effective data collection. Dr. Illig has two websites that will interest you if you would like to learn more about aviation and space medicine. Please visit http://www.airspacedoc.com/ and her space medicine organization site, http://spacemedicineassociates.com/ . If you would like to send Dr. Illig a comment or question, please use the Contact page on her website, http://spacemedicineassociates.com/index.php?a=43 . Per that page, her email address is pillig@spacemedicineassociates.com . Please mention The Space Show in the subject line.
Selected by: David Livingston [ stations ], Mon, 23 Mar 2009 14:54:58 UTC
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John Wickman, Friday, 3-20-09 (57.45MB; download) -- Guest: John Wickman. Topics: Rocket propulsion, rocket fuel, NASA, Moon, Mars, rocket launches. John Wickman, President of Wickman Spacecraft & Propulsion Company (please see www.wickmanspacecraft.com for more information) of Casper, Wyoming, was the guest for this program. Our interview started with Mr. Wickman telling about the formation of his spacecraft company and his early work regarding the Challenger accident and failure analysis. He then talked about NASA for new fuel development so you will want to hear this discussion. Not only did we talk about many of his projects including the rocket engine that directly burns the carbon dioxide in the Martian atmosphere and the lunar soil engine, we talked about government contracting, timelines and government money versus funding projects in the private sector. He also talked with us about the audits he goes through on an annual basis through the DCAA - Defense Contract Audit Agency. Listeners and I asked Mr. Wickman and New Space projects, hybrid propulsion, various spaceports for national armature rocket launch ranges, and more. Later in the show, we talked about concern that his classes in building rocket engines were actually teaching people how to build a weapon. His response to this concern was very interesting, you will definitely want to hear what he has to say about it. John was asked for his thoughts on NASA, the Constellation program, Direct 2.0, and the future of our civil space program. He pointed out obvious problems and barriers in the NASA culture and then he discussed the difference in how DOD looks at a mission and what NASA does with a mission. I think you will find this explanation fascinating if you don't already know the difference. At the end of the program, I asked for his thoughts on weapons in space and the likelihood of space conflict in the future. This is another answer you will want to hear. If you are interested in John Wichman's classes of if you want to ask a question or make a comment, his email address jwickman@wickmanspacecraft.com and other contact information is on the bottom of his home page on his website. Selected by: David Livingston [ stations ], Sat, 21 Mar 2009 02:57:43 UTC
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