Guest:  Open Lines with Dr. David Livingston; Topics:  Numerous topics from weapons in space to rocket development, collaboration, deep space mining & so much more.  Please direct all comments and questions regarding specific Space Show programs & guest(s) to the Space Show blog which is part of archived program on our website, www.thespaceshow.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.

We started the first segment of our 2 hour 33 minute program with a phone call from Michael Listner regarding the latest round of interest in the Russian-Chinese treaty to ban weapons in space.  You can find the treaty by searching by doing a search for PPWT.  Michael did not think the treaty would go anyplace since it has been around since 2004.  Michael also mentioned that the anticipated Chinese space law was rumored to be released any day now.  Rest assured that when it is released, we will take a good look at it on The Space Show.  Michael was asked about deep space mining and the PR campaign that seems to be in full swing in support of this emerging industry.  Don't miss what Michael said about it but this subject came up with other callers so you will hear more about it later in this program.

Our next caller was John from Ft. Worth.  John and I talked about several topics including the newly formed organization METI which wants to transmit to find ET.  Many disagree with the idea of transmitting to find ET given warnings that should an ET civilization be found that was not friendly, we would not want them to know where we are.  METI, which is also known as Active SETI, has both supporters and those advising not to transmit.  Another topic John and I discussed was the news that China claims to have tested the EmDrive in space and then said it worked.  No further details were available but certainly more information is wanted on their having done in space EmDrive testing.  Trump administration space policy came up but for now it is wait and see. John made his well known case to continue with SLS claiming everyone was wrong thinking it was not needed for BLEO spaceflight. We talked about that, including the use of multiple FH flights and on orbit construction but John was unwavering in his perspective.  Dr. Doug sent in an email saying he wanted to talk to John so we took our break at this point so that when we resumed with the next segment, we could have a Dr. Doug-John from Ft. Worth direct discussion.

In the second segment, we started off with the Dr. Doug and John Hunt conversation.  Doug was making the case for FH, running numbers, and talking about cross feed.  They talked about using FH for the Moon but Doug thought the bigger rocket might be necessary for Mars.  About this time, Jerry sent in an email clarifying the cross feed issue.  Doug and John continued talking about many issues including SLS.  This was a very good one on one discussion so don't miss it. Unfortunately, the conversation was cut short as Doug was called away as he was calling us from work.

Jerry from Florida was our next caller to talk about space mining and SSP.  He did not think either was plausible any time soon.  Jerry also talked about the media reporting on deep space mining, space technology, and news in general.  He said he supported R&D but thought these ventures were pretty far down the road and he told us why.  In addition, he thought deep space mining might be applicable for ISRU purposes down the road but not for returning materials back to Earth.  In this context, we talked about basic supply and demand issues. Don't miss all of what Jerry had to say as he was very thoughtful plus he expressed his opinions with clarity.

Our next caller came from Europe.  Nebojsa Stanojevic of the Google Lunar XPrize team, Synergy Moon, wanted to talk about teams, vision, collaboration, and much more.  Unfortunately, his phone line was bad but since I could understand him, I let the call continue.  I do apologize for the extremely poor quality of his call but if you listen carefully, you can get what he was talking about.  Should he call us on another OL show, he will need to use a better phone line. I have also emailed him to this effect.  Nebojsa had much to say about technology challenges, starting now to overcome them even if one fails because eventually somebody will accomplish the mission.  He also talked about funding the ventures, too much reliance on the billionaires, and the need to share all the information regarding technology development, both the good and the bad.   He talked optimism, not the opposite, citing various examples from history.  Another point he made was about how bad most of the news was around the world yet what was going on the commercial space world was very good but seriously under reported.  I asked him about his launch date for Synergy Moon.  He said they were set for Dec. 3, 2017 (it might slip a bit) and they were using a rocket by Vector Technology.  He concluded by talking about the verified Google Lunar XPrize teams.  His websites are www.SynergyMoon.com and www.HumanSynergyProject.com. 

Our next caller was Yalda from Cupertino. She wanted to agree with Nebojsa regarding collaboration and support.  She told us about her idea to have a type of global space settlement organization to determine what should be next with space settlement and development.  This new organization would be funded by self-imposed taxes on global basis.  Her team and current organization are referred to as Space Coop at http://space.coop.  Yalda is interested in hearing from you so if you are so inclined, please contact her about her plans.  For contact information for Yalda and her organization see the Contact page at her website.  Don't miss what Yalda had to say and let her know what you think, either by posting on TSS blog or contacting her from her website.

John from Freemont called wanting to know if Charles Miller would return to The Space Show regarding lunar policy.  Since Charles may be part of the Trump Landing Team for space policy, it is not clear if he can at this time return to the show but I will contact him and ask him to return to the program.

Before the end of the show, Jerry from Florida sent in a note with his 2017 predictions for the space industry.  He focused on SpaceX, new rocket development by both Blue Origin and SpaceX plus he had a ULA prediction.

Please post your comments/questions on TSS blog for this archived program on our website.  If you want to contact any of our callers, you can do so through me.