Guest: Open Lines with Dr. David Livingston; Topics: Website Modernization Program, The Martian, space settlement, Mach thrusters, space policy, & more. Please direct all comments and questions regarding Space Show programs/guest(s) to the Space Show blog, http://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments and questions should be relevant to the specific Space Show program. Written Transcripts of Space Show programs are a violation of our copyright and are not permitted without prior written consent, even if for your own use. We do not permit the commercial use of Space Show programs or any part thereof, nor do we permit editing, YouTube clips, or clips placed on other private channels & websites. Space Show programs can be quoted, but the quote must be cited or referenced using the proper citation format. Contact The Space Show for further information. In addition, please remember that your Amazon purchases can help support The Space Show/OGLF. See www.onegiantleapfoundation.org/amazon.htm. For those listening to archives using live365.com and rating the programs, please email me as to why you assign a specific rating to the show. This will help me bring better programming to the audience. Welcome to our Open Lines show. In the first segment of the program, I suggested a few topics and then talked about our Website Modernization Program and the new fully searchable database to deliver archival quality archives. I went over a few more of the benefits for everyone with the new site and urged listeners to not only participate in our campaign but to help spread the word through their own networks, Facebook, etc. Our support site is at www.supportthespaceshow.com and our campaign site address is www.indiegogo.com/projects/oglf-and-the-space-show- modernization-campaign/x/11584678#/story. By the way, the new site will use hyperlinks!!! John Hunt was our first caller to discuss the book "The Martian," plus his take on Dr. Woodward's mach thruster work given he had just finished reading Dr. Woodward's book. John had much to say about "The Martian," especially from a technical perspective. It is an interesting and fun discussion. His comments on mach thrusters were somewhat skeptical but he was still thinking about it and Dr. Woodward's work as detailed in his book. He will give us a report when he has reached his "final" decision. John's feedback on this is interesting given his knowledge of physics. He was asked what it might mean if Dr. Woodward's work was to be verified and commercialized. He said it would be revolutionary and would open up the solar system to space travel. Near the end of the first segment, John also mentioned EM drive, the challenges for out of box theories and work when going up against science orthodoxy & related issues. In the second segment, we heard from Jon in NJ about new uses for space shuttle main engines, SLS, and reusability which he said did not appear to be something NASA was interested in at this time given their engine use plans. Another discussion topic that came up was comparing a Return on Investment (ROI) to a Return on Exploration (ROE). I mentioned that government projects are not typically discussed in terms of an ROI and that it was very difficult to calculate a ROE because for government, that includes many things, variables, and ways of calculating outcomes. I mentioned an earlier Mars Society paper I did years ago on comparing Apollo to the school breakfast program and Hoover Dam. I addressed calculating benefits, outcomes and an economic return for each of those three projects. BJohn emailed in a comment about returns going back centuries for Mars exploration, then we got into discussing the technical knowledge and awareness of society in general. I mentioned the upcoming program with Dr. Lewis Dartnell on his book "How To Rebuild Civilization In The Aftermath Of A Cataclysm." We talked about starting up space settlements from scratch, what it might take to be independent of Earth & how similar it might be to rebuilding a civilization after a disaster. This topic consumed the balance of the show with listener emails and calls. Please post your comments/questions on TSS blog above. You can reach any of the callers or those sending in emails through me.