Guest:  Robert (Bob) Zimmerman; Topics:  2022 launch rate as a record, SLS, Artemis, Starship fuel compared to SLS, China and their program, India's program and launchers, life at Venus, Artemis moon landers and more.

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We welcomed Bob Zimmerman back to the show to lead off 2023 as our first guest.  A good portion of the first part of this program was spent on Bob talking about the year 2022 and the most successful ever launch rate.  For more on our discussion, see this article on his website Behind The Black, https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/essays-and-commentaries/rocketry-went-boom-in-2022-but-in-a-good-way.  Bob's long Space Show discussion summarized this great article so if you want more detail, read the article.  Bob also talked about leading rocket companies and the various types of market segments evolving in the launch industry. In addition, he mentioned some failures or at least challenged companies, Astro being an example.  Competition was a focus of the discussion plus he started talking about China and Russia but that conversation was on and off for the entire program.

During the rocket discussion, Lee called in from Sweden. He was impressed by SLS but stated its technology was old, coming from the shuttle.  Bob had much to say to Lee about this.  Lee and Bob shared a nice conversation about Orion and the environmental system, Artemis launches with SLS and some SpaceX problems.  Lee wanted to know when SpaceX would launch the demo.  Bob said they had all the permits but were still doing checking and testing.  After the program took place, we found out that SpaceX was planning the first demo at the end of January. 

DearMoon came up a few times as listeners wanted Bob's thoughts on it taking place this year. He said probably not but listen to all of his comments.  Carl sent in a note about the Artemis Accords which prompted Bob to share his analysis with us of the Accords.  Don't miss Bob's comments on the Accords.  Later, Bob talked about the Mars orbiter and information about it being an icy planet around 30 degrees. Bob talked about the Mas climate and the loss of water in the Martian atmosphere.  As he was talking about science and journalism reporting challenges, he mentioned the stories from a year or so ago about possible life in the clouds of Venus since phosphene was discovered.  Listen to what he say about that as bad science reporting.  We fielded another listener email that pointed out possible trouble with the Artemis 3 Moon Lander mission and Starship Moon flights. 

Bob did a short summary for us talking about his recent book, "Conscious Choice: The origins of slavery in America and why it matters today and for our future in outer space."  He also talked about his black list record on his website which he updates frequently plus before leaving he updated us on the bat white nose virus problem.

Please post your comments/questions for Bob on the blog for this program.  You can reach Bob through me or his website, www.behindtheblack.com.