Broadcast 3171 Howard Bloom

  • The Space Foundation Conference

  • The Space Foundation Conference

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  • The Space Foundation Conference

  • space settlement progress

The Space Foundation Conference

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Guest: Howard Bloom; Topics:  Anti-SLS, Orion & LOP-G petition drive, having a bold space vision, returning to the Moon, space settlement policy, Chinese space competition and more. 

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We welcomed Howard Bloom back to the show to discuss the Space Development Steering Committee's petition to stop SLS, Orion and LOP-G.  You can find the petition here:  https://www.change.org/p/save-america-s-space-program.  In addition, check out the Space Development Steering Committee website here: http://spacedevelopmentsteeringcommittee.org.  Finally, for those of you interested in participating in this organization, near the end of our show Howard gave out his email address so please contact him.  In addition, early in the broadcast Howard mention his 100 slide presentation on the NSS website. If you would like to see his presentation, "Gardening The Solar System" you can find it here: http://space.nss.org/2013-isdc-video-howard-bloom-gardening-the-solar-system.  While intending this to be a two segment regular length Space Show program, we did one long segment for a 1 hour 40 minute discussion.  I added in the second segment sponsors at the end of the show.

During the first part of our discussion, Howard went to great lengths to describe the Change.org petition and to lay out the case as to why SLS, Orion, and LOG-G were possible US space program killers.  Howard had much to say, cited many programs and development costs, talked about potential competition at much lower costs from SpaceX and Blue Origin, then he talked about the need for establishing a cislunar economy between Earth and the Moon, explaining why SLS, Orion, and LOP-G would prevent us from our cislunar economic goals.  In the early part of the show, I took on the role of being the Devils Advocate and I challenged Howard on many of the statements he was making. For example, I reminded him that space settlement was not part of the NASA mission and that so far the NASA mission and our national space policy had not been changed to include space settlement.  Don't miss what Howard said in response to my comments. 

A big topic in our discussion was Howard's perspective that we needed peaceful competition in space.  He talked about the Chinese program, competing with the Chinese and eventually the US having to decide between American values in space or Chinese values in space.  Don't miss what Howard said on this important topic.  This opened the door for Howard to address problems with cost plus accounting and contracting.  Howard talked about this in detail citing many examples including the F35 fighter jet and the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).

Cyber warfare was a big part of our discussion.  Howard had much to say about this and our future, plus the need and ability to fight Asymmetric warfare.  Howard criticized our leaders on many fronts and across the board in a non-partisan way, especially with their lack of vision for our future by not focusing more on space and big vision ideas such as human spaceflight to Mars.  Another subject that Howard brought up was the Space Military Industrial Complex (SMIC) and their grip on advocacy and lobbying of aerospace companies so that costly, outdate, and ineffective government programs are supported when they should not be supported.  Howard spoke about this at various times during our discussion so do listen for his comments on this topic. 

John called from Ft. Worth to talk about LOP-G and SLS, the BFR, having a lunar lander instead of LOP-G, and the vision Howard had been talking about.  Howard talked about Bigelow and how to make use of the module the company has on the ISS which remains empty at this time.  John brought up examples of the A12 and P7 and what happened when these projects moved away from cost plus contracting. 

Barbara sent in an email wanting to know and understand the goals of the petition Howard was talking about.  Howard listed the goals and objectives as raising the visibility and awareness to these issues and the importance of space development.  He also said it would take between 150,000 and 200,000 signatures to move policy makers and congress.  At this time the petition had only 715 signatures.  He also said America has gone to sleep on space.  Paul sent in a note asking Howard why he thought America would be interested in space when one sees parts of the country and younger, even college graduates embracing socialism on the left while others think we can go back in time to the glory days that gave us Apollo.  Howard had much to say on the extremes  controlling the country at this time so don't miss this detailed part of our discussion. 

Before we ended our discussion, Howard referenced the recent article on why terraforming Mars might not be possible.  Don't miss what both Howard and I said about this.  Also, the lead author of the paper in question is returning as a guest to TSS on Sunday, Sept. 9.  A listener got a question in to Howard asking how to participate in the Space Development Steering Committee.  Howard provided his email address and suggested interested folks contact him on this matter. 

Howard's closing comments focused on our need for peaceful competition, our need to wake up while saying the ISS has helped put us to sleep with regards to space.  He once again mentioned the petition (see above) at change.org.

Please post your comments/questions for Howard Bloom on the blog for this show.  You can reach Howard through me, his website, or the address he provided near the end of the program.

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Space Development Steering Committee Petition against SLS, ORION, and LOP-G!

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13 Aug 2018 Howard Bloom
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