Open Lines With Dr. David Livingston, The Space Show, Sunday, August 29, 2010
http://archived.thespaceshow.com/shows/1417-BWB-2010-08-29.mp3
Guest: Open Lines with Dr. David Livingston. Topics: Space advocacy and enthusiasts, the new Space Show feedback blog, ET & Dr. Stephen Hawking, NewSpace, New Think, space markets. We started the Open Lines show with several announcements including the announcement of a new Space Show blog for listener feedback and ratings for each program. You can access the new blog, The Space Show’s Way Outside The Box Ideas And Plans Blog at http://thespaceshowoutsidethebox.blogspot.com. During the announcement of this new blog, I explain how it was intended to be used. Instructions are also on the blog but essentially once a program is archived both on The Space Show website and this blog, your comments are welcome. During the announcement section of the show, I also read a magazine article introducing us to the term “New Think,” the I read part of an email from a listener in New Zealand about this thoughts on the recent Thalia program. Note that the desire for civility in space discussions extends even to New Zealand and this actually became a discussion topic throughout our program today as several callers took issue with the tone and nature of some of the discussions with space advocates and others within the industry. Kelly was our first caller. He talked about his days working on the DCX and his thoughts on the big aerospace industry. We ended our first segment addressing space markets. We started off the second segment with an email comment from Jim in Denver relating to the recent program with Dennis Wingo as the guest. This resulted in another theme discussed throughout our program, the idea of entrepreneurial companies taking government money rather than going all private. Most supported what Dennis said and we all thought that there was a risk for private companies continuing to take government for their operations. Charles from Mojave called in to give us a report on Mojave as well as to stress the need to start small and gradually ramp up, his Microlaunchers concept for those familiar with Charles on The Space Show. Charles talked about the upcoming NASA NANOSAT Challenge and we also talked about SBIR and SBA grants and funding for space ventures, plus some of the challenges in doing business in California. In our third and final segment, Gary called the show and talked about our lacking a historical perspective on how transportation systems are developed. He suggested we start with what we can do, LEO and the Moon, and then build upon that base. This brought us to a discussion about how many people consider that which is possible in the future as real now. One of our listeners sent in a note asking “where was the gold in space?” This was in reference to the apparent absence of space markets to be exploited at this time. We concluded with questions about funding space given our economic condition and referring again to some possibilities that were discussed during the recent Dennis Wingo program. If you have comments or questions for any of the callers or participants in today’s program, send your note to me at drspace@thespaceshow.com and I will forward it to the person you designate. Remember, you comments and ratings and more are now welcome on the new Space Show blog listed above.
