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Guest: Dr. John Jurist: Topics: We discussed most timely topics of interest in space and the commercial space industry. If we missed something, send Dr. Jurist a blog question about what you think we missed.
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We welcomed back Dr. Jurist to what was to be an hour program given John was parked in his car on top of a nearby mountain to be able to get a cell connection given his rural presence in Montana. The hour soon went on with calls and interesting discussions, including a final strange but fun and interesting John Hunt and John Jurist Tic Tac F18 Hornet discussion, we ended up at two hours! For sure you will want to hear it all. By the way, I am beginning to think John Hunt may know more about Tic Tac than he lets on but we will save that insight until later.
We started our discussion by asking Dr. Jurist for his thoughts on our returning to the Moon by 2024. Also, if not 2024, how about 2028 and if that was not on the horizon, just when. Dr. Jurist had much to say on our returning to the Moon, rockets, government programs, the private sector, Falcon Heavy as compared to SLS Block 1, then later Block 2, new bigger SpaceX rockets, the large Blue Origin rocket in the works, economics, budgets, our deficit, interest rate hikes and how it impacts our going to the Moon and so much more. In addition, John got in facts about human medical factors needing resolution, why such research is not being done (in his opinion) and why it must be done (also his opinion) but how and at what cost. John got email questions and eventually phone calls about colonization (settlement) and the question of children, families, childbirth, fetal development, the role of gravity and radiation and more regarding pregnancy plus other biological concerns but all mentioned had no good answers at this time. You do not want to miss this discussion, including the comments offered by Marshall during his phone call to the show. It would be great if you the listener would post your thoughts on these many issues on our blog. Dr. Jurist will see your posts and he does has a habit of responding so join the discussion, OK?
Much was talked about regarding costs and economics, not just about rockets and Moon costs but also the US economy, discretionary funding, what John said might prove a factor soon in that due to adverse weather, food production will be low with high pricing. He factored that into the national economic issues along with the policy that Congress needs to get on board with going back to the Moon. He even talked about food and economic issues in China which might slow down their programs. John illustrated the impact of a quarter percent Fed interest rate hike in the context of a $23 trillion national debt. As of the time of this summary, our national debit is almost $22.5 trillion with an unfunded national debt of $124.7 trillion (see https://www.usdebtclock.org). Given his adverse policy, leadership and economic analysis, I talked about the ROI from Apollo and why we might expect the same for a new Moon venture, thus making it worthwhile borrowing $30 billion for the expected return. I even suggested we double the $30 billion to $60 billion given John's quarter point interest rate came to about $50 billion or close to twice the NASA budget. Let us know your budget and debt thoughts by posting on our blog.
Other topics included space and the Moon as a possible presidential campaign issue, learning from previous national lunar return or Mars space programs that did not work, and the probable impact of the Apollo 50th anniversary celebrations on our Moon plans. These and a few other miscellaneous topics opened up to a phone call from John Hunt, the first of two calls from Mr. Hunt during tonight's program. This time John suggested that full colonization, children, all of it would be decades down the road. He suggested that initially we would start with lunar rotating crews. Listen to his explanation. John Jurist tended to agree with Mr. Hunt. Jurist also brought up today's ethical concerns and issues which did not exist during the Apollo era.
Dr. Jurist eventually made his way to voicing his opinion n the Lunar Gateway project which he did not like. Many of you will agree with Dr. Jurist regarding the Lunar Gateway as he did provide details as to why he was not supportive of it. Email listeners changed the subject to wanting Dr. Jurist to discuss the need for a U.S. Space Force plus they wanted to know his thoughts on the Chinese space policy and Moon program. Briefly, John supported a separate space force and he told us why he supported that move. What do you think of his reasoning? As for China, he said that was somewhat complex because one had to look at the rate of change that was real or likely to be real with their competitive action in space and with the Moon. Also, one has to factor in their launch capacity for space as well as the Moon.
Kim called from Mexico to discuss the future of Stratolaunch. This prompted our guest to spend time explaining air launch and providing Kim and the rest of us with the pros and cons of air launch. This was a fairly decent air launch discussion which seemed to be supported by the fact that so far a buyer has not been identified for Stratolaunch as a $400 million asking price. After John completed talking about Air Launch, I updated Kim and everyone about the possible sale of Stratolaunch or it going to a museum per the recent Hotel Mars program on the subject with Alan Boyle. You can hear Alan talk about the possible Stratolaunch sale here: https://thespaceshow.com/show/26-jun-2019/broadcast-3331-hotel-mars-alan-boyle.
As the program was nearing completion, I decided to generate some sparks so I introduced a totally new topic on the hopes that hot phone lines would make it here to the Space Show HQ. I asked Dr. Jurist for his opinions and thoughts on the Navy F18 videos of the UFOs off the Pacific with the Nimitz Carrier Group and then several years later off the Atlantic with the Abraham Lincoln Carrier Group. The events have been tagged as the Tic Tac events. The History Channel currently has a series dedicated to these events titled "Unidentified." The former national security folks involved in the original Tic Tac US Senate investigation with the To The Stars Academy are featured in the History Channel series. I knew that bringing this subject up would trigger a call from John Hunt and right on target, John phoned in to discus Tic Tac with John Jurist. Whatever your thoughts on UFOs, Tic Tac is a very strange and seemingly well documented series of very unusual events filmed by Navy F18 pilots. Both Johns and I talked quite a bit about the disinformation skills of those associated with the To The Stars Academy and wondered how they can be trusted since their job has been to lie about these types of events for their careers. While the personalities involved in Tic Tac say they are not allowed to lie to the US public, given the perception of government lying to lots of people for decades, I personally find it challenging to not be highly skeptical about everything including the videos. John Hunt was about as gung ho as you can be and our guest for the evening was also skeptical. Listen to the discussion and share your thoughts on the blog. If you are not familiar with the story, you can watch the History Channel episodes on your computer by gong to www.history.com. Near the end of the discussion, I said several listeners have sent me emails wanting me to get some of the people from the To The Stars Academy on the show to talk about Tic Tac. Listen to what I said and let me know if you would like any of these folks to be on the show. Post your concerns on the blog or email them to me. Keep in mind, I am not talking about a UFO segment as part of The Space Show. No Way. But Tic Tac is in the news, Congress and President Trump were recently briefed on it so maybe it should be fair game for The Space Show. Let us know what you think.
Be sure to check out The Gateway Foundation video Marshall referenced during his phone call. See it here: https://gatewayspaceport.com/von-braun-station.
Please post your comments/questions on TSS blog for this show. You can reach Dr. Jurist through me.