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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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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Dr. Harrison Schmitt, Thursday, 3-19-09 (42.67MB; download) -- Guest: Dr. Harrison Schmitt. Topics: Climate control, CO2, realists vs. modelers, Returning to the Moon. Dr. Harrison Schmitt recently attended The Heartland Institute's 2009 International Conference on Climate Change held in New York from March 8-10 (See http://www.heartland.org/ for more information) and he was on today's Space Show to talk with us about climate change and anthropogenic global warming. Our discussion was far-reaching, scientific, and factual. Listeners asked lots of questions and several callers engaged Dr. Schmitt in comprehensive scientific discussions. Dr. Schmitt explained the differences between the two sides to the argument. There are the realists and observers of nature and those that engage in computer modeling and then make assumptions they project onto the climate and provide to politicians. This is a very important discussion that you should hear. Some of the questions, including a call from Sweden, hammered Dr. Schmitt on what would be the downside to making sure we don't make a mistake just in case humans are causing climate change, suggesting we fix "the problem" anyway just to be safe. Dr. Schmitt answered this question from both the scientific and economic perspective and you will want to hear what he had to say about this type of approach to climate issues. Dr. Schmitt explained how the models are built on the Mauna Loa CO2 studies but he also explained what is going on elsewhere around the planet. One of the other discussion topics included media treatment of the climate change issue and the fact that this conference had no media covering it. This led to comments about our educational systems in the U.S., government grant funding, ice core evaluation, and more. Later in the show, Harrison spent some time talking about non-competitive technologies, fusion including electrostatic confinement. He talked about water vapor in the atmosphere, natural CO2 and the human contribution of CO2 which is about 4% of total CO2 in the atmosphere. We also talked about warming trends and ocean currents. Later in the show, we talked about returning to the Moon rather than first going to Mars, He3 fusion, and maintaining the VSE in the new administration. Listeners asked about alternative energy to get off of fossil fuels and ARPA-E. You will want to hear what he had to say about these subjects. If you have a comment or question for Dr. Schmitt, please send it to me at drspace@thespaceshow.com and I will forward it to him. Selected by: David Livingston [ stations ], Thu, 19 Mar 2009 21:17:47 UTC
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Jack Hagerty & Jon Rogers, Tuesday, 3-17-09 (57.14MB; download) -- Guests: Jack Hagerty, Jon Rogers. Topics: Flying saucers in film and popular culture, science fiction, flying discs. Authors Jack Hagerty and Jon Rogers were the guests for this program to discuss their newly published book by Apogee, "The Saucer Fleet." As we started the discussion, the first order of business was to define flying saucer for the book and our discussion as "an aircraft or spacecraft with planar-circular wings that resembles a disc. 2) Any artwork or hardware made to indicate an aircraft or spacecraft that is shaped like a disk" as stated on Page iv of the book. We then started talking about famous flying saucers in key movies such as The Day The Earth Stood Still, Forbidden Planet, War of the Worlds, This Island Earth, Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers, Lost In Space, The Invaders, Disneyland Flying Saucers and the action strip Twin Earths. The authors go into back story detail of the saucers used in these films, stories and the Disneyland ride, sometimes even providing the reader with the details and specs for the saucers, even for Robby the Robot from Forbidden Planet. We talked about the people that made the saucers and the movies such as Ray Harryhausen. Other topics that came up were the Soviet and Nazi saucers during and immediately after World War II and the fear people had about the existence of such items. Many of the early saucer and UFO characters were discussed in the context of this book including George Adamski, Frank Scully, and George Pal among others. Our discussion with both authors and the listener questions provided a very lively show, informative, and fun. Its a program you will certainly want to hear. Both authors have another well known book, The Spaceship Handbook which they discussed at the end of our two hour program. As you will hear, if a listener mentions The Space Show and orders both books from either author's website, you will get the discount they offered at the end of the program. Having these books myself, I can absolutely recommend them both to you and the special offer for listeners is very attractive. For Jon Rogers, his website is www.rogersrocketships.com. You can contact Jon Rogers regarding book purchases, comments, and questions from this show through his website at http://www.rogersrocketships.com/contact.cfm. Jack Hagerty's website is www.arapress.com. You can reach Jack by email with your comments, questions, or for book purchases at jhagerty@juno.com. Selected by: David Livingston [ stations ], Wed, 18 Mar 2009 16:11:50 UTC
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Dr. Sherry Bell, Monday, 3-16-09 (40.02MB; download) -- Guest: Dr. Sherry Bell. Topics: Transhumanism, space settlement, sex in space, Department of Space. Dr. Sherry Bell was our guest today to discuss the new Aerospace Technolgy Working Group (ATWG) book, "Living In Space: Cultural And Social Dynamics, Opportunities, And Challenges In Permanent Space Habitats." Dr. Bell told us about several of the chapters including a forward by Dr. Buzz Aldrin and others which separates commercial space from NASA and calls for the establishment of a cabinet level Department of Space. The subject of transhumanism was brought up and we learned that most authors in the book support this concept. This was the focus of much discussion during today's program. Other topics that came up in our discussion included the possible spreading of a space disease, a dress policy for a space habitat, low cost space access, science fiction, space politics, sex and pregnancy in space, and more. We also mentioned the various authors contributing to this book and its global space perspective. Dr. Bell invited abstracts to be submitted to her for the upcoming “Living In Space” track that she will chair as the ISDC in Orlando, Florida this May, as well as questions or comments relating to the book. You can reach Dr. Bell at drsherrybell@aol.com . Follow the ATWG website for information when the book is available, www.atwg.org .
Selected by: David Livingston [ stations ], Tue, 17 Mar 2009 04:37:31 UTC
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Dr. Paul Dear, Sunday, 3-15-09 (47.67MB; download) -- Guest: Dr. Paul Dear. Topics: N-Prize, RACOON/BALLOON LAUNCH, orbital satellite, AST, ITAR. Dr. Paul Dear returned to The Space Show to update us about new developments with the N-Prize (see http://www.n-prize.com for more details). We also went over the rules and several distinctions were made as well as clarifications pertaining to what is and is not an N-prize expense. Several N-prize team members called the show to discuss their entries as well as how they are complying with federal regulations pertaining to launching an orbital rocket. We had quite a discussion about the compliance issues, especially as to what is and what is not allowed under the armature rules. Dr. Dear told us he added a second category which is for a rocket that is reusable. Listen to this discussion. Later in the show, a listener took Dr. Dear off the space topic and asked about stem cell research and the need to use embryo cells as compared to adult cells. We returned to the space discussion and Dr. Dear fielded several questions that related to why someone would bother to enter the N-prize. Still another listener chimed in, as a skeptic, saying it was not possible to do the N-prize on the budget allowed in the rules. As you will hear Dr. Dear say, until someone wins the N-prize, we won't know if it can be done or not. If you have any questions or comments for Dr. Paul Dear or if you need information about the N-Prize, please send him a note at info@n-prize.com .
Selected by: David Livingston [ stations ], Mon, 16 Mar 2009 00:19:59 UTC
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