Dr. William (Bill) Rowe, Sunday, 2-10-13 February 11, 2013
Posted by The Space Show in Uncategorized.Tags: 1g=the law, Apollo astronauts, Apollo astronauts cardiac conditions, artificial gravity, calcium/magnesium ratios., Dr. William Rowe, exercise in space, ISS, lunar dust, NASA, rat microgravity studies, space adaptation sickness, Telomeres, urban pollution
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Dr. William (Bill) Rowe, Sunday, 2-10-13
http://archived.thespaceshow.com/shows/1947-BWB-2013-02-10.mp3
Guest: Dr. William (Bill) Rowe. Topics: Apollo astronauts cardiac & medical issues. 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.
We welcomed Dr. Rowe back to the program to discuss his latest findings regarding four Apollo astronauts, lunar dust, microgravity, and cardiac conditions. His work is presented on his website so do check it out, www.femsinspace.com. Dr. Rowe’s latest findings came from his research using the Freedom of Information Act to get medical data from NASA after the recent passing of Neil Armstrong. During our first segment, Bill explained what he found, what specific blood pressure and other information strongly suggests, and his comparison of the Armstrong data with that of several other Apollo astronauts per available data. He also brought our attention to the problem independent researchers have in getting Apollo information and medical stats from NASA. Bill used stress test blood pressure numbers and other medical information from the astronauts in question to illustrate his points and to back up his conclusions. Most of our first segment was devoted to Dr. Rowe putting forth the information and his conclusions. Bill took several email questions and listener calls, often wanting more information than he could provide because the reality is that there is an absence of additional information or relevant studies suggested. One listener was asked if the ISS astronauts evidenced similar cardiac problems. Dr. Rowe was unable to answer that question due to the absence of information.
In the second segment of this 2 hour 20 minute program, Dr. Rowe connected problems of lunar dust with urban pollution, suggesting microgravity studies that would benefit millions on Earth given how widespread the problem of urban pollution is on the planet. One of the studies he proposed would use 30 female rats subjects to different calcium/magnesium rations on the ISS for six months. Bill spent time in this segment explaining the importance of the calcium/magnesium ratio and what this means in space and for us back here on Earth, hence the rat study. Dr. Rowe also talked about the difficulty of having a quality exercise RX for microgravity. A listener asked about studies related to the Mt. St. Helens eruption several years ago re dust exposure. Near the end of our discussion, Bill talked about their being no hurry to go to Mars, suggested many of the near term human spaceflight missions such as one way trips to Mars won’t happen for a long time because the human issues will not be resolved in the near term. He also advocated the Moon first. We talked about artificial gravity and I mentioned what other human factor gusts have said on air in that artificial gravity may not be the same as 1g here on Earth and may prove to not be a solution. Listeners did not like hearing that as they kept saying there would be an engineering solution to the microgravity issues. Listener disagreements about artificial gravity not being the same as earth gravity continued long after the program ended.
If you have comments/questions, please post them on The Space Show blog above. You can contact Dr. Rowe through his website or through me.
Dr. Vadim Rygalov, Annie Wargetz, Sunday, 11-4-12 November 5, 2012
Posted by The Space Show in Uncategorized.Tags: Annie Wargetz, artificial gravity, bioregenetive, Biosphere 2, BLEO (Beyond LEO)., bone/muscle deterioration, closed environmental systems, dietary issues for HSF, Dr. Vadim Rygalov, extreme environment nutrition, heavy lift, human factors for long duration spaceflight, INSITU Resource Utilization, ISS, LEO, lunar ice, mental/emotional space problems, partially closed environmental systems, physical/chemical environmental systems, plants & animals in space, radiation issues, resupply missions, space nutrient pill, space nutrition, Space Studies Department UND, submarine nutrition, vegetarian astronauts
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Dr. Vadim Rygalov, Annie Wargetz, Sunday, 11-4-12
http://archived.thespaceshow.com/shows/1887-BWB-2012-11-04.mp3
Guests: Dr. Vadim Rygalov, Annie Wargetz. Topics: Dietary impact & related nutritional issues for extreme habitats & spaceflight. 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. We welcomed back Dr. Vadim Rygalov and for the first time UND SpSt graduate student Annie Wargetz to discuss her exceptional research regarding dietary & nutritional requirements for deep space mission astronauts. Using Earth models such as submarines, extreme habitats, historical explorations, the Antarctica habitats, plus the ISS, our two guests shined an important light on a seldom discussed set of issues regarding astronaut nutritional challenges for deep space missions. In the first segment of this two hour discussion, Dr. Rygalov introduced the subject to us & then he introduced us to Ms. Wargetz to discuss her work, research, & findings. Many topics & issues were covered in this segment ranging from a broad discussion about extreme historical exploration missions, Earth habitats, submarines, the ISS, & more. We learned what is known about deep space nutrition & astronaut food, eating, & caloric issues. Annie talked about what we have learned from the different terrestrial models referenced in our discussion, plus many other issues presenting challenges such as food preparation, the lack of anything fresh, the lack of color in food, & the use of processed & chemical foods as is the standard for today. She also talked about plans to mitigate these challenges on deep space mission flights. Bringing fresh vegetables, seeds, even small animals on a mission are plausible & were addressed. One caller asked for a definition of a closed life support system. Both our guests went into detail about this, including partially closed systems, bioregenetive systems, physical/chemical systems, & hybrids. Vadim brought us current with our existing technology & what is likely to be available in the near term. This is a comprehensive discussion pertaining to deep space environmental systems.
We started the second segment with our guests answering a question from the firsts segment about married couples in space. Don’t miss their response & what Vadim said was his choice for the first crew for a deep space mission & why. Mars 500 & Biosphere 2 were mentioned in their response. Two other issues that were discussed were transit times to Mars with the faster travel time mitigating some of the human factor challenges including nutritional issues. Also, it was clearly stated that to take on board the right type of nutrition, fresh items, seeds, perhaps small animals like chickens, a heavy lift launcher such as SLS was needed as the nutritional/food items will consume payload on the mission. Vadim said heavy lift was needed to carry out the mission in one launch given the need for substantive payload dedicated to food/nutrition & astronaut well being. Gender differences were discussed which is why Vadim suggested an all male first crew. Other questions were asked about artificial gravity, developing & using a nutritional pill for space missions, issues about why astronauts don’t eat much on the ISS & more.
Please post your comments/questions on The Space Show blog. You can email our guests through me.
Walter Cunningham, Tuesday, 6-19-12 June 20, 2012
Posted by The Space Show in Uncategorized.Tags: " Apollo 7, " SpaceX, "The All-American Boys: An Insider's Look At The U.S. Space Program, Apollo 7 mutiny, Apollo mission sounds, Ares 1, artificial gravity, asteroid mining, climate change, CO2, Columbia accident, commercial space, competition in space, economics, flight surgeons, fusion, global warming, HE3, international cooperation in space, liquid rocket motors, Mars Missions, NASA, NASA culture, physics, reckless behavior in space, return on investment, risk, risk averseness., rocket vibrations, safety, Saturn 1B, SLS, solid rocket motors, space medicine, Space Shuttle, space shuttle retirement, Wally Schirra, Walter (Walt) Cunningham
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Walter Cunningham, Tuesday, 6-19-12
http://archived.thespaceshow.com/shows/1799-BWB-2012-06-19.mp3
Guest: Walter Cunningham. Topics: An inside view of the American space program from Apollo to today. You are invited to comment, ask questions, & discuss the Space Show program/guest(s) on the Space Show blog, http://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments, questions, & any discussion must be relevant & applicable to Space Show programming. Transcripts of Space Show programs are not permitted without prior written consent from The Space Show (even if for personal use) & are a violation of the Space Show copyright. We welcomed Walt Cunningham to discuss our space program from Apollo through today’s developing commercial space industry. For more information, visit his website, www.waltercuningham.com. You can buy “The All-American Boys: An Insider’s Look At The U.S. Space Program” from Amazon & they will make a contribution to The Space Show/OGLF if you use this URL: www.amazon.com/All-American-Boys-Walter-Cunningham/dp/1876963247/ref=onegiantlea20. I started the discussion by asking Walt about his perspective on Apollo 7 today, 44 years later. Walt had some interesting things to say about perspective, especially over the past 10-20 years as compared to when he actually carried out the mission. A few times during our discussion, questions came up about the so called “mutiny” with the crew & NASA ground control so listen to how Walt described what was mostly a non-event despite media & blog reports to the contrary. He did talk about Wally Schirra, his head cold & the Actifed commercials, but there was far more to the mission & to the significance of Apollo 7. Dr. Jurist asked about the ride on a Saturn 1B, professors & experiences while both were at UCLA. We discussed risk regarding his ride on the Saturn 1B. Walt had much to say about risk during the Apollo era as compared to now. We extrapolated from this discussion to Columbia’s foam issues. We talked about commercial space. Walt suggested that today’s commercial space efforts were not purely commercial given government funding & missions. He also said that retiring the shuttle when we did was a big mistake. He then took us through a cost analysis process to illustrate that space is & always will be costly. At the end of the first segment, one way trips to Mars & reality TV show funding were mentioned.
In the second segment, Terry called with questions about Von Braun. Walt had high praise & much to say about Von Braun & his experiences with him. Commercial space came up again & I asked him about asteroid mining. He did not think it would be a good investment & talked about the need to pay attention to the laws of physics. We talked about He3 on the Moon, fusion energy possibilities & more. I read an email from a London listener asking about the Apollo rocket & mission sounds on Apollo 7. We talked some more about the problems on board Apollo 7, this time regarding Wally & the TV broadcast delay & the wearing of the newly designed helmets during reentry. Walt talked about climate change & global warming, urging people to do their own research & examine the data rather than believing what people had to say regardless of their position. John in Atlanta called in about global warming & said that there was no practical mitigation strategy. Our guest shared what he perceived to be the true motivation of global warming extremists. John also talked about having built a next gen space shuttle from the old space shuttle to avoid retiring it or having to build an entirely new & very costly program. Walt supported that idea but history proved otherwise. Toward the end we discussed the pros & cons of international cooperation & competition, Ares 1 as a safe rocket for HSF, & the cost of the ISS being more due to international cooperation. Our final topic was risk versus reckless behavior & the difference between the two.
If you have comments/questions, please post them on The Space Show blog.
Open Lines, Tuesday, 6-12-12 June 12, 2012
Posted by The Space Show in Uncategorized.Tags: 1 G radius, Angelfish-Short Film, artificial gravity, cosmic radiation, Dr. John Jurist, Goodyear Tire and Rubber, harmonic drives, human factors for long duration spaceflight, ISS, lunar dust, Lunar Rover, lunar rover wheels, Michael Tyburski, NASA, One way Mars trips, piano wire, Prometheus movie, radiation, risk taking, space communications, Space Literacy Foundation, space regulatory environment, wire mesh wheels
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Open Lines, Tuesday, 6-12-12
http://archived.thespaceshow.com/shows/1794-BWB-2012-06-12.mp3
Guests: Open Lines with Dr. David Livingston. Topics: A short film – Angelfish, human factors for space travel, artificial gravity, space communications, science fiction movies & long term science projects, risk taking. You are invited to comment, ask questions, and discuss the Space Show program/guest(s) on the Space Show blog, http://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments, questions, and any discussion must be relevant and applicable to Space Show programming. Transcripts of Space Show programs are not permitted without prior written consent from The Space Show (even if for personal use) & are a violation of the Space Show copyright. This is about a 2.5 hour Open Lines discussion. We started by talking to Michael Tyburski, an independent film maker who made a short film, Angelfish, and used The Space Show clips in the background. Michael described his film, why he put The Space Show in it, and more. Visit www.michaeltyburski.com for more information. Next, Dr. Jurist talked with us about artificial gravity & the chart he created to show just how big the radius would have to be to spin at 1G & other levels including lunar as well as Martian gravity. This chart is on The Space Show blog so you can follow along with what Dr. Jurist talked about regarding artificial gravity and spin rates. Our last caller for the first hour long segment was Jay who discussed the Space Literacy Foundation (www.spaceliteracy.org). Jay talked about the need for better space communications with the public as a way to facilitate more support for space. He also responded to questions I asked him about myths dealing with our early space program and the general population. If you are interested in what Jay is doing, contact him through his website.
In our second longer segment, Ron called in to talk about the history of the wheels on the Lunar Rover and an ad campaign by Goodyear that incorrectly describes the history of the rover wheels. Ron talked about the use of piano wire, how the original wheels were made, who made them, and more. The paper about this important history that we mentioned on air can be read at www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/lrv_historical_origins.pdf. We talked about the history of the lunar rovers, the cosmic radiation impact on them over time on the Moon, and their design which included harmonic drives and engineering to shield from lunar dust problems. He mentioned a good source of information, a journal edited by Eric Jones & Ken Glover, the Apollo Lunar Surface Journal. You can find this journal at www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj. Ron directed listeners to the document section for Apollo 15, 16, and 17. John from Atlanta followed Ron, had much to say about the recent success of the Dragon & Falcon 9, then he talked about human factors, one way Mars missions as being suicidal, the regulatory environment & the possibility of excessive or restrictive regulations. We also talked about the new sci-fi movie, Prometheus. The article I mentioned about the movie can be read at http://cavalorn.livejournal.com/584135.html. If you plan on seeing the movie, I suggest you see the movie first, then read the article which is titled Prometheus Unbound: What The Movie Was Actually About. It is written by Cavalorn. Tim was our final caller. He took issues with human factors medicine & Dr. Rowe. Also the risk of over regulation, especially if someone dies going to space. He expressed his thoughts on other things as well. While our discussion was civil, as you will hear, I did not agree with much of what he advocated. I urged him and other space enthusiasts to be more inclusive of other ideas for space exploration and development rather than just believing their way is the best or even the only way.
If you have comments/questions, post them on the blog. If you want to email those that called us, send your note to me & I will forward it for you.
Drs. Adrian LeBlanc, Thomas Lang & John Jurist, Sunday, 5-6-12 May 6, 2012
Posted by The Space Show in Uncategorized.Tags: artificial gravity, bed rest studies, bisphosphonates, bone density, bone mass, calcium excretion in microgravity, cancer, cosmic radiation, CT scans, DEXA bone scan, Dr. Adrian LeBlanc, Dr. John Jurist, Dr. Joyce Keyak, Dr. Thomas Lang, government regulations for HSF, hip fractures, HSF policy, ISS, long duration spaceflight bone loss issues, Mars gravity., microgravity bone loss, microgravity exercise protocols, NASA, new drug development, osteonecrosis, osteoporosis, partial gravity, private HSF to Mars, Quantitative computed tomography (QCT), renal stones in space, space effects on astronauts as they age, space research for terrestrial benefits, spontaneous fractures
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Drs. Adrian LeBlanc, Thomas Lang & John Jurist, Sunday, 5-6-12
NASA Bone Loss & Bisphosphonate Study
http://archived.thespaceshow.com/shows/1769-BWB-2012-05-06.mp3
Guests: CLASSROOM: Dr. Adrian LeBlanc, Dr. Tom Lang, Dr. John Jurist. Topics: Bone loss issues for human spaceflight & the use of bisphosphonates for mitigation. You are invited to comment, ask questions, and discuss the Space Show program/guest(s) on the Space Show blog, http://thespaceshow.wordpress.com and The Space Show Classroom blog, http://spaceshowclassroom.wordpress.com. Comments, questions, and any discussion must be relevant and applicable to Space Show programming. Transcripts of Space Show programs are not permitted without prior written consent from The Space Show (even if for personal use) & are a violation of the Space Show copyright. In addition, at the end of this summary, you will find links to relevant papers for our discussion as provided us by Dr. Lang. We welcomed Dr. Adrian LeBlanc, Dr. Tom Lang and Dr. John Jurist as co-host to discuss the NASA bisphosphonate and bone loss study in progress. Dr. LeBlanc along with his associate in Japan, Dr. Toshio Matsumoto, are leading this study and Dr. Lang is part of the team. We started our discussion with Dr. LeBlanc providing us with a brief historical overview of bone loss issues of concern to NASA since the early days of the space program. We talked about Skylab, Mir, the use of the DEXA scan, the use of quantitative computer tomography (QTC) and CT scans through to the ISS, Space Shuttle, and current research projects. Our discussion was technical at times so if you need to look up or Google a technical term, please do so. In addition, we had some audio issues with the phone line used by Dr. LeBlanc as he faded in and out from time to time. We apologize for any inconvenience this might have caused. The first segment went through the bone loss issues, problems, consequences, & the methodologies involved in analyzing the conditions encountered by the astronauts participating in these studies. Issues we discussed included the use of prescription drugs in space, long term use of bisphosphonates, risk factors for spontaneous hip fractures, exercise programs, bone strength, bone mass, the impact of radiation, skeletal recovery back on Earth after spaceflight to something different than before the spaceflight took place as well as the implications for astronauts as they age. We talked about using artificial gravity to mitigate bone loss. You might be surprised to learn that using partial gravity may not help matters. Bisphosphonates do seem to help and will possibly play a role with exercise as we move to long duration spaceflight but we are in the very early stages of fact finding on these issues. We also discussed informed consent with the astronauts regarding their participation in these and other experiments.
In the second segment, a listener asked about the relevance of this type of space research to the taxpayer who funds it and to the general population. Our three guests responded to this question, explaining why the research is relevant and important. Don’t miss their answers. We then talked about following the astronauts here on Earth to see the continued impact of having been in space on their bones as they age. We learned that bone changes after being in space for four weeks or more and it is important to follow these changes as part of the aging process. Our guests talked about calcium excretion issues in space and the risk this causes for a renal stones. Bisphosphonates may inhibit calcium excretion which would help mitigate this risk. Near the end of our discussion, we learned about new medications being developed that are more advanced than the bisphosphonates we have today. We also talked about the competition with astronauts for different scientific experiments. As Dr. Jurist pointed out, we really do need lots more human spaceflight! At the end a listener asked about bed rest studies and our guests provided us with the basics. If you are interested, visit https://bedreststudy.jsc.nasa.gov. Our guests made important closing comments and take away points.
Please post comments/questions on The Space Show and Classroom blogs.
Dr. Lang provided us with these links that will be of interest to us all. These documents can be accessed without a subscription to the journals. These papers provide some background to the problem of bone loss in spaceflight, the recovery of bone after spaceflight and use of CT and the use of CT-based finite element modeling to assess bone loss.
Cortical and Trabecular Bone Mineral Loss From the Spine and Hip in Long-Duration Spaceflight http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1359/JBMR.040307/full
Adaptation of the Proximal Femur to Skeletal Reloading After Long-Duration Spaceflight http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1359/jbmr.060509/full
Reduction in proximal femoral strength due to long-duration spaceflight http://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=view_citation&hl=en&user=0zFSO9sAAAAJ&cstart=20&citation_for_view=0zFSO9sAAAAJ:4DMP91E08xMC
Click on link on right “[PDF] from http://cof.org.cn ” for free pdf copy of the report.
Open Lines, Tuesday, 3-13-12 March 14, 2012
Posted by The Space Show in Uncategorized.Tags: artificial gravity, B52, Canadian Space Agency, Chimp Empathy Museum, commercial space, Congressional hearings on NASA Budget, Congresswoman Eddie Johnson of Texas, Defense Intelligence Agency Chinese Space Program, Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson, Falcon 9. , fusion spacecraft, Living Universe Foundation, lunar space elevator., maglift., microgravity, NASA chimps, national security space, nuclear propulsion, Open Lines with Dr. David Livingston, Operationally Responsive Space, PETA, Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson, Senator Nelson, space elevator, Space X, StarTram, SUSTAIN, Turkey and the Moon Treaty, Vasimr, X-37C
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Open Lines, Tuesday, 3-13-12
http://archived.thespaceshow.com/shows/1734-BWB-2012-03-13.mp3
Guest: Open Lines with Dr. David Livingston. Topics: An Open Lines program covers a wide variety of topics of interest to the listeners. You are invited to comment, ask questions, & discuss the Space Show program/guest(s) on the Space Show blog, http://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments, questions, & any discussion must be relevant & applicable to Space Show programming. Transcripts of Space Show programs are not permitted without prior written consent from The Space Show (even if for personal use) & are a violation of the Space Show copyright. Welcome to this 2 hour 20 minute Open Lines discussion largely driven by listeners calling the program. In our first hour segment, I listed the usual possible discussion topics which I won’t repeat here. As to be expected, listeners had their own ideas as to what they wanted to talk about though we did address some of the issues I previewed including NASA & the treatment of their chimps in the early space program given that PETA wants to establish a chimp empathy museum at KSC, NASA budget cuts & the recent congressional hearings, the Defense Intelligence Agency Chinese space program wake up call, & more. The congressional hearings of last week made it to our discusses as listeners focused on what was said by Senator Nelson, Senator Hutchinson, NASA Administrator Bolden, & Dr. Tyson in his short presentation. Listeners also talked about the comments by Texas Congresswoman Eddie Johnson regarding commercial space/crew on the House side. Also in the first segment, Tim called in to inquire about a possible IPO for Space X.
In our second segment, Dr. Jurist called in to express his disappointment at the elimination of funding for the Operationally Responsive Space office/program. This took us to a discussion about national security space & I asked Dr. Jurist about the Defense Intelligence Agency wake up call regarding the Chinese space program as expressed by their director Ronald L. Burgess. Somehow we then got off on the topic of the planned retirement of the B-52 in 2040, about 88 years after it became operational. While Dr. Jurist was talking with us, Tim sent in several email questions for him on microgravity experiments to determine what level of gravity was needed for humans for space settlement & long duration flights. John Hunt followed with comments about VASIMR, nuclear propulsion, & even fusion powered spacecraft down the road in our future. Tom Hanson of the Living Universe Foundation called in to let people know they are seeking Foundation board members (www.luf.org/contact). I then introduced another topic from a current article in Popular Science, a 20,000 mph train to space (www.popsci.com/technology/article/2012-03/all-aboard-20000-mile-hour-low-earth-orbit-express). This article refers to a newer version of StarTram & this brought in several more callers including Trent from Australia. Other listeners chimed in on the train to space idea as well though most did not take the article very seriously. I introduced the news that Turkey had agreed to the Moon Treaty & then Terry called in at the end to talk about the X-37C & that it might become a crewed vehicle.
Please post your comments/questions on The Space Show blog URL above. If you want to contact any of our callers, send your note to me & I will forward it for you. If you want more info on any of the news stories I mentioned, let me know & I will send it to you.
Dr. Erik Seedhouse, Sunday, 3-11-12 March 11, 2012
Posted by The Space Show in Uncategorized.Tags: "Interplanetary Outpost: The Human and Technological Challenges of Exploring the Outer Planets, artificial gravity, Beyond Low Earth Orbit (BLEO), Callisto, death in space, Dr. Erik Seedhouse, European Space Agency, genetic screening, Hibernation, Interplanetary Bioethics Manual, interplanetary propulsion, long duration spaceflight, Mars, microgravity CPR, microgravity surgery, multigenerational space crew, radiation, shielding, the HOPE Study, tiered crew requirements., Vasimr
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Dr. Erik Seedhouse, Sunday, 3-11-12
http://archived.thespaceshow.com/shows/1732-BWB-2012-03-11.mp3
Guest: Dr. Erik Seedhouse. Topics: We discussed his book, “Interplanetary Outpost: The Human and Technological Challenges of Exploring the Outer Planets,” the human factors issues & the technical issues for such missions. You are invited to comment, ask questions, and discuss the Space Show program/guest(s) on the Space Show blog, http://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments, questions, and any discussion must be relevant and applicable to Space Show programming. Transcripts of Space Show programs are not permitted without prior written consent from The Space Show (even if for personal use) & are a violation of the Space Show copyright. We welcomed back Dr. Seedhouse to discuss his new book on interplanetary missions. Remember, if you buy the book using the following Amazon URL, Amazon will make a contribution to The Space Show/OGLF (www.amazon.com/Interplanetary-Outpost-Technological-Challenges-Exploration/dp/1441997474/ref=onegiantlea20). Dr. Seedhouse began our discussion by talking about the interplanetary mission research that has been done over the years and is still continuing though in a greatly reduced mode. In this discussion, he referenced the HOPE Study for mission architecture to travel to Callisto, one of the moon’s of Jupiter. He also talked about research going on with ESA regarding human hibernation and on this subject, we spend a considerable amount of time. Artificial gravity and radiation were discussed along with vision problems for astronauts having spent at least four months on orbit.
As we started the second segment,Marshall called in and wanted to know about athletic and sports games to pass the time for the crew on long spaceflights. Dr. Seedhouse thought more of the idea to have some sort of sport or athletic game at the destination rather than on the spaceflight. We also talked about what it would take to change attitudes and policy to undertake an interplanetary mission. At one point in the discussion, our guest suggested we might be too soft in modern times to explore and that we were no longer as interested in exploring as we once were. Make sure you hear this entire conversation. We fielded more listener questions and calls, talked about humans being able to adapt to the space environment over a long period of time and genetic screening for crew selection. We covered crew selection in some detail which then took us to the subject of bioethics which do not yet exist in any formal way for an interplanetary mission. Erik did include his version of an Interplanetary Bioethics Manual as Appendix II. We talked about pregnancy, pre-emptive surgery, death of a crew member, death of a family member back on Earth, waivers that would need to be signed by both crew and family members, and much more. Toward the end of the program, our guest was asked about interplanetary propulsion systems and multigenerational crews. Erik talked about the VASIMR and we asked lots of questions about the 2nd and 3rd generation members of the multigenerational crew and how to be sure they become doctors, engineers, and other positions needed for the crew’s survival and success. We also talked about modernizing space suits and Erik told us about Blue Suit Days as a requirement for Canadian astronauts for space outreach support.
Please post your comments/questions on The Space Show blog URL above.
