Date Aired: Friday 19 Dec 2008
Guest: Irene Schneider returned to The Space Show for this program to discuss the Phoenix Lander on Mars, radiation, and Martian astrobiology including the search for present and/or past microbial life on Mars. Our discussion with Irene covered many topics as we took a close look at the ongoing search for microbial life on Mars, how it is being carried out, and what the chances are for finding such life on Mars. We talked about the harsh environment and noted that even here on Earth life can...
Date Aired: Tuesday 09 Dec 2008
Guests: Dr. Tom Jones and Dr. Ellen Stofan were the guests for this program to discuss their new book, "Planetology: Unlocking The Secrets Of The Solar System." We started our discussion with Drs. Jones and Stofan telling us how they got together and collaborated on this book which contains 250 unique color photographs plus an equal amount of exciting and informative text. Tom and Ellen told us how this book came to be and why it is different from other planetary books in that it portrays a...
Date Aired: Tuesday 02 Dec 2008
Guest: Thalia "ad.astra" Kohls was our guest for this show to discuss alt.space and NewSpace from an outsider's perspective. Thalia shared with us her views and experiences in communicating with NewSpace participants on blogs and in other venues and you will hear why she is critical of this community. I too have shared many of her experiences and commented on them during the show. We also spoke about engineering, science, and inspiring space projects like humans to Mars. Thalia expressed the...
Date Aired: Friday 21 Nov 2008
Guests: Leonard David was the guest for three segments of our program, followed by Barbara David joining us for the last segment. We did much forward-looking during this show given the changes taking place in government, the economy, and the space community. We talked about the incoming administration and what it might mean for space, the Space Coast of Florida, and its commitment to human space flight, the economy, viewing the Space Shuttle, and much more. Leonard reported on the recent Lunar...
Date Aired: Tuesday 18 Nov 2008
Guest: Ross Tierney was the guest for this in-person taped interview conducted here in Cocoa Beach on Thursday, Nov. 13, 2008. This was a very hard-hitting interview with Ross about Direct 2, its technology, its likelihood of being adopted by NASA as an alternative to Ares 1, and more. I asked Ross why we should have confidence in Direct 2 when it was basically a PowerPoint presentation given that it has not yet undergone any metal bending, any development or testing. I asked why there would...
Date Aired: Monday 10 Nov 2008
Guests: Dr. James Cartreine, Dr. Jay Buckey, and Dr. Raphael Rose were the guests for this special Space Show program focusing on the NSBRI "Self-Guided Depression Treatment on Long-Duration Spaceflights." We began this discussion with our guests explaining the purpose and mechanics of the Self-Guided Depression Treatment computer program for use by the astronauts. Along with listener questions, we went into detail about this self-help program which will complete testing and studies by mid-2009...
Date Aired: Tuesday 04 Nov 2008
Guest: Dr. David Livingston hosted an Open Lines Space Show program for this election night special program. The first segment featured my personal thoughts, opinions, and analysis regarding space solar power (SSP). If you want to know what I really think about SSP, listen to what I have to say about it. As this was election night, we talked some with the listeners about the election, about how space might fair with the new administration and Congress, and what U.S. space policy might be like...
Date Aired: Tuesday 21 Oct 2008
Guest: Robert (Bob) Scaringe was the guest for this Space Show program to discuss the long-term goals which are needed for the public support of our space policy. Bob has defined the type of both short-term and long-term goals needed to create more grassroots support of our space policy. Referencing several studies from the public, he shows that such grass roots support is currently not there to take the NASA budget to a 1% of the federal budget, which would allow for research and the types of...
Date Aired: Monday 18 Aug 2008
Guest: Manny Pimenta returned to The Space Show to discuss Lunar Explorer, his interactive global model of the Moon which is available for home PCs. This software is an interactive, virtual reality program detailing the features on the surface of the Moon. We talked about how the software was made using the Clementine data and what one can do with the software to simulate being and working on the Moon and even on a lunar outpost/settlement. We talked about using this software as a STEM...
Date Aired: Tuesday 15 Jul 2008
Guest: Dr. Jim Logan was the guest for this Space Show program. Dr. Logan kicked off the discussion with a reality check of the body of evidence that we have accumulated during the 47 years of human space flight. He talked about two major potential showstoppers, micro/hypo gravity and radiation. As we discussed during the show, we know quite a bit about these two areas, but we do not yet have a solution for the problems they create for long-term human spaceflight or settlement. Dr. Logan...
Date Aired: Tuesday 08 Jul 2008
Guests: Wil Simon and Matt Everingham were the guests for this Space Show program in order to discuss the upcoming NASA 2008 Regolith Excavation Challenge from August 2-3, 2008 in San Luis Obispo, CA on the campus of Cal Poli. Wil and Matt explained the competition, some of the rules, and fielded lots of listener questions ranging from He3 to telling us about the judges for the contest. You can learn more about this contest at their website: www.regolith.csewi.org/. Will and Matt talked about...
Date Aired: Sunday 06 Jul 2008
Guests: Dr. Bryan Laubscher and Dr. Martin Lades were guests for today's Space Show to discuss the space elevator and the upcoming space elevator conference (www.spaceelevatorconference.org). We started our discussion with the basics of the space elevator concept and why at this point in time convergence is necessary for the space elevator's development. Our two guests covered these issues in some detail and then more when listeners starting asking about why we need a space elevator. Not only...
Date Aired: Sunday 29 Jun 2008
Guest: Dr. Seth Shostak, Senior Astronomer at the SETI Institute (www.seti.org), was the guest for this Space Show program. We started our discussion with updates about SETI programs and the searches for ET signals. This led into our discussion of the Arecibo Radio Telescope, which is located in Puerto Rico and may be closed by the NSF for budget/financial reasons. We discussed this potential closure, the funds it takes to operate the telescope, its continued uses and what it might mean to the...
Date Aired: Monday 23 Jun 2008
Guest: Dr. Gordon Shepherd, co-author of "Canada's Fifty Years in Space: The COSPAR Anniversary," was the guest for this Space Show program. We talked about the start of the Canadian space program dating back to Canadian space science in 1925. The story is fascinating and, as you will hear throughout this program, the Canadian space program has been an important contributor regarding how space benefits us in our lives and by making us all safer. We also talked some space science with Professor...
Date Aired: Monday 28 Apr 2008
Peter Kokh, President of The Moon Society (www.themoonsociety.org), was the guest for this Space Show program. We led off with a definition of The Moon Society, what it does, and what its doing to promote and help facilitate the Vision for Space Exploration and the Return to the Moon. In response to a question, Peter compared the Moon Society to the Mars Society and described how The Moon Society supports lunar development and settlement as well as the same for Mars. However, the Moon is closer...
Date Aired: Friday 18 Apr 2008
Guest: Dr. Donald Rapp was the guest for this Friday Space Show program. Dr. Rapp authored two new books, both of which were discussed on this program. During the first three-quarters of the show, we discussed his book, "Human Missions To Mars," and what it will take for humans to go to Mars. For the remaining part of the program, we discussed his book, "Assessing Climate Change," and here we facilitated an important discussion about the science behind climate change and global warming. Some...
Date Aired: Tuesday 08 Apr 2008
Guest: Dr. Ethan Siegel was the guest for this Space Show program. Dr. Siegel is an astrophysicist at the University of Arizona and thus was highly qualified for the cosmological discussion which made up most of this program. We began our discussion with good working definitions for both cosmology and astrophysics. As you will hear, Dr. Siegel is a superb teacher and the use of humor weighs in strongly in how he presents his information, including from his website http://startswithabang.com....
Date Aired: Tuesday 01 Apr 2008
Guest: David Dunlop, the Director of Project Development for The Moon Society (www.moonsociety.org), was the guest for this special two hour program. We started our discussion talking with David about why we should be returning to the Moon rather than going to Mars or a NEO. Listen to what he says and see if you agree. Also, would you go to the Moon to have a McDonalds' hamburger for lunch? He invites one of our listeners to do this and you will want to hear this somewhat playful discussion as...
Date Aired: Sunday 23 Mar 2008
Guest: Dr. Michael Neufeld was the guest for this Easter Sunday Space Show program. Dr. Neufeld is the chair of the Space History Division of the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum and author of the biography, "Von Braun: Dreamer of Space/Engineer of War." As today's program is on what would have been the 96th birthday of Von Braun, having a discussion on his life was most appropriate. We discussed Von Braun's Nazi past and Dr.Neufeld was clearing up myths and rumors, providing us with...
Date Aired: Friday 21 Mar 2008
Guest: Dr. John Jurist was the guest on this program to discuss his hypothesis as to why space cadets behave as they do. His paper, "Dorky Space Cadets: An Hypothesis," can be found on the Space Cynics site as of March 13, 2008, http://spacecynic.wordpress.com/2008/03/13/ . Click on the link provided to Space Cynics and scroll down to his article starting with "Dorky." During our discussion today, Dr. Jurist explained how he created the hypothesis and what types of research, tools and...
Date Aired: Tuesday 18 Mar 2008
Guest: Dr. Phil Chapman. Dr. Phil Chapman returned for this special Space Show program dedicated to the memory of Sir Arthur C. Clarke who passed away today. As it turned out, Dr. Chapman knew Sir Arthur, so for the first part of the program, we talked about Arthur Clarke and Phil shared his experiences with him with us. If you have not yet seen it, Arthur Clarke recorded a video for his "Last Message To Earth" recorded on his 90th birthday this past December. You can and should watch this...
Date Aired: Monday 17 Mar 2008
Guest: Robert Zimmerman returned to The Space Show and we started our discussion mentioning what was happening with the current Shuttle Endeavor flight. This led Bob to mention that Endeavor was going to be the back-up safety shuttle for the Hubble repair mission which is planned for late August of this year. As Bob has a new book coming out this May, "The Universe in a Mirror: The Saga of the Hubble Space Telescope and the Visionaries Who Built It," we embarked on a comprehensive discussion of...
Date Aired: Saturday 23 Feb 2008
Guest: Dr. Madhu Thangavelu. Key Topics: Altair, Cislunar system, CEV, NASA, teleoperations, time delay, ISRU, education, medical problems. Dr. Madhu Thangavelu returned to The Space Show to discuss the creative problem-solving evidenced by his recent December 2008 USC class, "Return to the Moon: Looking Glass 204 Team Project." Dr. Thangavelu explained the focus of the class and then went through some of the student team solutions to problems we face in returning to the Moon. The subject range...
Date Aired: Friday 22 Feb 2008
Guest: Dr. Louis Friedman. Dr. Louis Friedman returned for this special Space Show program to discuss the recent Stanford University workshop regarding "Examining The Vision: An Independent Look At The Future Of Human Space Exploration." You can read the workshop's statement at http://www.planetary.org/programs/projects/advocacy_and_education/space_advocacy/20080214.html. Dr. Friedman explained the purpose of this workshop, the many issues and subjects which were discussed, as well as the...
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