Dr. James Vedda, Friday, 10-8-10

Dr. James Vedda, Friday, 10-8-10

http://archived.thespaceshow.com/shows/1439-BWB-2010-10-08.mp3

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In addition to listening to this program at the above URL, you can access Dr. Vedda's AIAA paper we discussed during the program, "An Alternative Approach to National Space Policy" using this URL:

Dr. James Vedda, AIAA Paper, "An Alternative Approach To National Space Policy"

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Guest:  Dr. Jim Vedda.  Topics: Dr. Vedda proposes an alternative U.S. space policy driven by capability.  Please note that you are invited to comment, ask questions, and rate this program on the new Space Show blog, http://thespaceshowoutsidethebox.blogspot.com.  Additionally, you may want to read Dr. Vedda's latest book, "Choice, Not Fate" which you can buy using the One Giant Leap Foundation Amazon link. Remember, if you buy the book this way, Amazon makes a contribution to The Space Show/OGLF. Please see www.amazon.com/dp/1450013473?tag=onegialeafou-20.  In our first of two segments, Dr. Vedda talked about his AIAA paper, "An Alternative Approach to National Space Policy" which makes the case for having a capabilities driven space program, not a destination driven program.  This paper will be available for your reading and review on The Space Show Outside The Box blog for this program when I archive it on the blog.  We talked about the possibility of congressional micro management of new rocket building projects with NASA and the possibility of reductions in the NASA FY 11 budget.  We then returned to his AIAA paper and Dr. Vedda started explaining why the space program needed to be capabilities driven over destination driven.  I also asked Jim about implementing his ideas and getting them into the policy system.  As you will hear, it is an uphill battle.  We started the second segment with a listener question asking about the origin of policy influence, where does it come from, who exercises it the most, and is it best to aim it at NASA, Congress, or another organization.  Dr. Vedda said that history shows big ideas come from industry, professionals, and others outside the government and funnel through the administration back down to Congress.  Dr. Vedda then talked about influence and which groups have the most of it.  Interestingly, he had much to say about space advocacy groups and in short, said they have next to zero influence other than in culture shaping.  Listen carefully to what he had to say on this subject and share your thoughts with us using blog comments and emails to Dr. Vedda.  In making his case, he referenced several programs as examples supporting his analysis on this issue.  Later in this segment, we talked about budget cuts again and what might be likely to be cut.  Here we talked about the destructive budget process which Jim wrote about in "Choice, Not Fate."  Later in this segment, we talked about a space race with China and how the US might respond if other nations go for the destination and we are working to develop capabilities.  Jim had much to say about others going for the destination so don't miss this discussion.  We also talked about the need for an international partnership on this alternative approach and for public private partnerships to share the responsibility for designing the program and determining how its financed.  We spent considerable time discussing the potential role of the private sector in this new type of space policy.  At the end of the program, I asked him about the US decline per our recent show discussing the Futron 2010 Space Competitive Index.  If you have a question or comment for Dr. Vedda, please post it on the blog mentioned above.  You can also send them to me at drspace@thespaceshow.com and I will forward it to Dr. Vedda.

Dr. Lee Valentine, Space Studies Institute, Wednesday, 10-6-10

Dr. Lee Valentine, Space Studies Institute, Wednesday, 10-6-10

http://archived.thespaceshow.com/shows/1438-BWB-2010-10-06.mp3

Guest:  Dr. Lee Valentine.  Topics: Space Studies Institute Space Manufacturing 14 Conference.  Please note that you are invited to comment, ask questions, and rate this program on the new Space Show blog, http://thespaceshowoutsidethebox.blogspot.com.  We welcomed Dr. Lee Valentine to this special Space Show program to discuss the upcoming Space Studies Institute (SSI) Conference, Space Manufacturing 14: Critical Technologies for Space Settlement.  This conference will be at the NASA Ames Conference Center in Mountain View, CA from Oct. 29-31, 2010 with the Friday night event taking place at the nearby Sunnyvale Sheraton Hotel. You can find out more about this important conference and the Space Studies Institute by visiting http://ssi.org.  This one hour fifteen minute discussion took place in one segment.  My first question to Dr. Valentine dealt with his work on defeating the Moon Treaty three decades ago.  I asked for his reflections on that important work.  From there, Dr. Valentine provided us with an introduction to SSI which was previously located at Princeton.  Lee also talked about the work of Dr. Gerard K. O’Neill, the founder of SSI, and then provided a brief history of their conferences.  Please note what Dr. Valentine said about attendees needing to be badged and the government requirements for non-US citizens as time is short for the applications.  All the needed registration and hotel information can be found on the SSI website.  From this point forward in our discussion, Lee took us through many of the guests, panels, and highlights for the conference.  You can follow along with our discussion at http://ssi.org/2010-conference-space-manufacturing-14/sm14-agenda.  As Lee tells us about the panels and the guests, you will hear my comments as I know many of the speakers and their expertise.  This is a high powered conference with amazing networking opportunities with speakers as well as attendees that are at the top of their field.  This is all to take place in a personal and warm setting as I am very familiar with the NASA Ames Conference Center facility and since lunch is provided in the facility to enhance networking, I urge those of you who can attend to be there.  Listen to our discussion and the programs we highlight, and the comments offered by both Lee and myself.  Some interesting non-conference related questions came in from listeners.  One listener asked Lee about his interest in space given his being an ER doctor and if his medical background aided him in his space interests.  As you will hear, Lee said it was the opposite but I will let you hear Dr. Valentine's response to this listener for yourself. Its very interesting.  Later in the program, I asked Lee to prioritize the most important sessions or issues for space settlement.  As you will hear him say, the first, second, and third priorities are to reduce the cost of Earth to orbit transportation.  You don't want to miss this discussion as we talked about reducing launch costs and he responded to listener questions about his comments on just how much we might be able to reduce costs within a decade or so.  Later in the program, Lee said the most needed thing in lowering the cost was the use of highly reusable rocket engines.  Don't miss our full discussion on this subject.  As we neared the end of our program, we talked about the need for space property rights and that Wayne White would be making a presentation on this subject at the conference.  Please remember that SSI is a membership organization and as the program was winding down, we talked about membership options.  If you have comments or questions for Dr. Lee Valentine about the conference, SSI, or anything we discussed, don't forget to post them on the Space Show blog URL above and you can send them to our guest at Lee@ssi.org. 

Dennis Stone, World Space Week, Tuesday, 10-05-10

Dennis Stone, World Space Week, Tuesday, 10-05-10

http://archived.thespaceshow.com/shows/1437-BWB-2010-10-05.mp3

Guest:  Dennis Stone.  Topics:  World Space Week, space education in the classroom.  We welcomed Dennis Stone back to the program to discuss World Space Week which is Oct. 4-10 of each year.  Please note that you are invited to comment, ask questions, and rate this program on the new Space Show blog, http://thespaceshowoutsidethebox.blogspot.com. In our first segment, Mr. Stone provided us with the background for World Space Week, including when it became part of the United Nations which was in 1999.  You can learn more about World Space Week by visiting www.worldspaceweek.org.  We also talked about the independence of the various events supporting World Space Week and the EADS Astrium commitment to the program throughout Europe.  As you will hear, new events can be added all the time and since World Space Week continues through this weekend, there is still time to do something during this week and add it to the their website calendar.  We talked about NASA and other national space agency support for World Space Week and why its always Oct. 4-10 each year.  As you will hear, Oct. 4 honors Sputnik and Oct. 10 honors the Outer Space Treaty.  We concluded this segment with a discussion about volunteering to help out during World Space Week.  In our second segment, we continued talking about volunteering, then Dennis fielded listener questions about his NASA job regarding COTS and commercial crew challenges.  I then asked Dennis about the aerospace industry support for the program and the Bangladesh Astronomical Society.  Dennis had quite about to say about this astronomical society and World Space Week in developing countries around the world.  Later in this segment, we talked about the Heinlein Teacher Guide along with the ESA Teacher Guide, suggestions for using them in schools, and how best to get the teacher to mention this in the classroom during World Space Week.  Dennis also mentioned Earth Day as a model for the space week program.  Commercial space issues were mentioned along with international cooperation.  As we started our third segment, Dennis cited the ISS as a great asset and example for international cooperation in space.  A listener asked about uploading pictures from World Space Week events to the website and another asked about White House support for World Space Week.  Another listener asked about holding events at various military bases in the US and abroad. I asked about plans for the 2011 World Space Week and we learned that it was going to be special since it was the 50th anniversary of human space flight.  Many historical and forward looking programs and events are being planned for next year.  Dennis was asked about joint programming with those behind Earth Day and about originating ISS programs for World Space Week.  If you have questions or comments for Dennis Stone about World Space Week, you can post them on the Space Show blog URL above. You can also use admin@worldspaceweek.org. Please reference The Space Show and Dennis Stone.

Futron 2010 Space Competitive Index,Monday,10-4-10

Futron 2010 Space Competitive Index, Monday, 10-4-10

http://archived.thespaceshow.com/shows/1436-BWB-2010-10-04.mp3

Guests:  Peggy Slye, Jay Gullish.  Topics:  Futron's 2010 Space Competitive Index: A Comparative Analysis of How Countries Invest In and Benefit from Space Industry.  We welcomed back Jay Gullish and for the first time, Peggy Slye, the COO and Director of the Space & Telecommunications Division at Futron.  Please note that you are invited to comment, ask questions, and rate this program on the new Space Show blog, http://thespaceshowoutsidethebox.blogspot.com.  In the first segment of this two segment program, Jay provided us with an introduction to the Futron Corporation and its space analysis work including the Space Competitive Index.  Jay then provided us with a quick overview of the status of the space industry as measured over the past five years, proving to everyone that the space industry does incur global economic growth and that it is a wealth creating industry.  During this introduction, he broke this analysis down into industry segments and U.S. national agencies.  A big part of this analysis was the growth in the commercial side of the space industry.  Additional topics included the aerospace workforce and how technology has changed the industry by reducing the need for some jobs but increasing the need for skilled jobs in related areas.  Our guests talked about military services, distance learning, and telemedicine as examples.  This is an important discussion you do not want to miss.  This discussion brought us to the educational problems in the U.S., specifically with regards to STEM.  This discussion was also very important and certainly shed light on some major challenges we in the U.S. are facing and will be facing for years to come.  In returning to the Space Competitive Index, Jay said that they used 50-60 indicators for the report and they now have three years of trends in the space industry which enables better analysis.  He then talked about the report's focus on the major nations, breaking them into three tiers.  One of the important trends discussed was the loss by the U.S. of relative space competitiveness over the years to other nations.  We talked about this in detail and I asked about the impact on policy decisions influence this declining trend.  Our guests had much to say about this, including the lead we have in military space, the impact of ITAR, and then the issue of policy and leadership.  This is a must listen to segment so no matter what, do not miss it. Later in this segment, listeners asked about obtaining reliable data for their report and how such data was obtained, especially from several of the countries included in the report.  In our final segment, our guests were asked about space as a wealth creation investment and if that was a fact, why government policy does not invest what it takes to produce more wealth by increasing the value of our space industry.  This is another discussion you do not want to miss.  Here we talked about the opportunity cost for investing in space over other government activities.  We then talked about space in China, Japan, Israel, and India.  Our guests told us the full report was available for purchase from http://www.futron.com/ for $199.00.  The Executive Summary is on their website and is a free download.  Later in the final segment, a listener asked about detecting upticks in the Russian military space budget.  Near the end of the program, our guests outlined four key trends for our attention.  If you have questions or comments, please post them on the blog URL above and you can send them to our guests at jgullish@futron.com and pslye@futron.com.

Pat Duggins, Sunday, 10-3-10

Pat Duggins Discusses "Trailblazing Mars: NASA's Next Giant Step," Sunday, 10-3-10

http://archived.thespaceshow.com/shows/1435-BWB-2010-10-03.mp3

Guest:  Pat Duggins.  Topics:  Mars, "Trailblazing Mars," space policy.  We welcomed Pat Duggins, the news director for Alabama Public Radio to the show to discuss his new book, "Trailblazing Mars: NASA's Next Giant Leap."  Please note that you are invited to comment, ask questions, and rate this program on the new Space Show blog, http://thespaceshowoutsidethebox.blogspot.com.  His book is available at the One Giant Leap Foundation website and if you order it from OGLF, Amazon will make a contribution to The Space Show.  Please use this UR:: www.amazon.com/dp/081303518X?tag=onegialeafou-20.  We began our first segment by talking about the retirement of the shuttle per the FY11 budget, the addition of a third shuttle flight referred to as a suicide flight, heavy lift, and space policy.  Pat also spoke about the challenges in carrying out a humans to Mars mission, not just from the human factors and engineering perspectives, but with the will of the American people given the costs and risks involved in such a mission.  In response to listener questions, our guest talked about covering more than 100 shuttle missions and many of the spin-offs from NASA programs that are now commercially successful products.  I asked about nuclear propulsion for going to Mars and our guest had much to say about the probability of this.  Commercial space came up as he talked about his talks and associations with MSFC.  Other topics discussed during this segment included Space X, possible contamination of Mars from Earth, EELVs as commercial launchers, Constellation, and the GAP causing us to rely on Russian rockets.  A listener asked about the layoffs taking place at KSC, MSFC, and other NASA centers.  Pat had much to say about this, especially for Florida.  John in Atlanta called in to talk about space shuttle LEO access and missions based on Pat's comments about shuttle missions.  We started our second segment by asking Pat about the need to return to the Moon.  We then talked about the Viking experiments and new information that may end up validating the work by Dr. Gil Levin.  Pat was asked to compare robotic Martian missions to boots on the ground for Martian science.  Our guest had much to say about this so don't miss this discussion.  Later in the segment, we talked about other national space programs going to the Moon and Pat mentioned the problem of being able to collect Apollo lunar artifacts, returning them to their own country.  Bigelow Aerospace and private astronauts were discussed in the context of the NASA oversight discussion that was an overriding theme of this show, especially with NASA oversight on human rating commercial launchers.  All of these topics and more are included in Pat's book which is an excellent read for valuable space history plus a look at what may be our space future.  You can reach Pat Duggins through www.apr.org, his Facebook page, or through drspace@thespaceshow.com.  Post show comments and questions at the blog URL above.

Shawna Pandya, Friday, 10-1-10

Shawna Pandya, Friday, 10-1-10

http://archived.thespaceshow.com/shows/1434-BWB-2010-10-01.mp3

Guest:  Shawna Pandya.  Topics:  CiviGuard and smartphone applications, the space connection.  We welcomed Shawna Pandya to the program.  Note that there was a telephone line problem responsible for less than clear audio noise which you will hear, especially during the first segment of the program. We do apologize for this.  In addition, please note that you are invited to comment, ask questions, and rate this program on the new Space Show blog, http://thespaceshowoutsidethebox.blogspot.com.  In our first segment, Ms. Pandya provided us with her background that enabled her to leverage technology and help create the concept of CiviGuard.  Her attendance at the Singularity University was instrumental in shaping her thoughts in this direction as they were challenged to develop ideas and technologies that would be important to one billion people in a ten year period of time.  CiviGuard is a direct outgrowth of that challenge.  As she explained it, its now in one city in Manor, Texas but will soon be rolled out elsewhere.  As you will hear, CiviGuard is a new way to get disaster information to people using smartphones with far more detail and relevant info than other means now in existence. In our second segment, Shawna connected using space to CiviGuard through Earth Imaging.  She explained how they are doing it, the push technology being used, and more.  Since we were talking about NASA and space spin-offs, a question was asked why the spin-off argument does not do that well in selling space to the larger public.  We also talked about differences in Canada as compared to the US, especially Silicon Valley.  I believe you will find this discussion most interesting.  In our third segment, Shawna pointed us to the two key websites, www.civiguard.com and also http://www.civiguard.me/.  The latter site allows one to sign up for information even if their cell phone, smartphone or other communication device is not yet supported by Shawna's company.  In this segment, I asked Shawna about human factors and the life sciences for long duration spaceflight and going to Mars.  In addition, we talked about Canadian and Europeans playing larger roles with European citizens in achieving portable medical data, including telemedicine and teleradiology using space resources.  Shawna had much to say on these subjects so don't miss her comments.  A listener asked Shawna if she actually had classes at the Singularity University with Dr. Ray Kurzweil and what the students had to say about his known attitudes on space travel, humans, and robotics.  This was a fascinating discussion you will want to hear.  Toward the end of the program, I asked Shawna for her take aways from her education and work. She talked about empowerment and passion.  If you have comments or questions for Shawna Pandya, post them on the above blog URL and you can email her at shawna@civiguard.com.

Robert Zimmerman, Thursday, 9-30-10

Robert Zimmerman, Thursday, 9-30-10

http://archived.thespaceshow.com/shows/1433-BWB-2010-09-30.mp3

Guest:  Robert Zimmerman.  Topics: U.S. Space policy, heavy lift, commercial space.  We welcomed Bob Zimmerman back to The Space Show to discuss the passage by the House of Representatives of S.3729 known as the NASA Authorization Bill.  Please note that you are invited to comment, ask questions, and rate this program on the new Space Show blog, http://thespaceshowoutsidethebox.blogspot.com.  As we started our first segment and throughout this two segment two hour show, Bob expanded on his thesis that the Authorization bill was nothing but pork, that NASA would likely screw up most parts of it including heavy lift, that because of our economy, we cannot afford heavy lift at this time and should not be doing it, and that the best hope for U.S. human spaceflight lies within the private sector for developing and expanding a successful commercial space industry without oversight from NASA where NASA simply buys the ride from different commercial vendors.  Bob takes us through his analysis and how he has reached these conclusions so you can see if you agree with him or not.  We talked about the coming Lame Duck Congress, how the elections will tell us much because if the nation's deficit turns out to be the focus of the election and the new congress, he expects NASA to be included in budget cuts.  We talked about FY 11 and subsequent years and Bob clarified what would likely happen for FY11 as compared to future years or the out years.  He did say that aware of space was in his opinion, at an all time high and the public was interested in space but as others have said, it has to start being relevant to the people.  We talked about Constellation, the details in S.3729 and order NASA to be only marginally different than Constellation and more.  In the second segment, Bob continued these themes but we also talked about the Russian space program and some about China as Bob was asked if other national space agencies could fill the void he sees coming because of what is going on with NASA and our economy.  I asked Bob for an assessment of the science and astronomy side of NASA and he said those budgets were flat.  Later in this segment, we turned our attention to the discovery of the most Earthlike planet yet found, Gliese 581d which orbits its red dwarf star is 66.8 days, is about 20 light-years from Earth, and is in the constellation Libra.  In the second segment, Bob broke the space policy discussion down into three groups and he talked about commercial space including the large aerospace firms such as Boeing and Lockheed, not just the NewSpace companies.   If you have questions or comments for Bob, please post them to the Space Show blog URL above and you can send them to Bob zimmerman at asw dot org. Visit and post at Bob's blog as well, http://behindtheblack.com.