Robert (Bob) Zimmerman, Tuesday, 7-3-12 July 4, 2012
Posted by The Space Show in Uncategorized.Tags: " SpaceX, Apollo 8, AT&T, B612 asteroid project, bats, Boeing CTS 100, budget sequestration, Cern, Chinese space docking, citizen science projects, climate change, culture on the space frontier, Delta IV Heavy, Dragon Capsule, Dream Chaser, East Coast 2012 heat wave, East Coast power grid outages, electromagnetic pulse (EMP)., Falcon 9 reusability, Falcon 9. , FAR, global warming, government vs. private space, Higgs boson, Lox paraffin hybrid rocket motor/fuel, Mars one, Orbital Sciences Cygnus/Antares, Orion capsule, particle physics, Planetary Resources, public/private partnerships, Robert (Bob) Zimmerman, Russian space program, SAA, Skylon, space shuttles, suborbital flights, Telstar 1, white nose fungus
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Robert (Bob) Zimmerman, Tuesday, 7-3-12
http://archived.thespaceshow.com/shows/1807-BWB-2012-07-03.mp3
Guest: Robert (Bob) Zimmerman. Topics: Recent space news and announced projects. You are invited to comment, ask questions, and discuss the Space Show program/guest(s) on the Space Show blog, https://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 Bob Zimmerman back to the show. Check out his blog at www.behindtheblack.com. We started off our first long segment (90 minutes) by mentioning the 50th anniversary of Telstar 1, the death of our friend, Al Zaehringer, AT&T and our early space program, plus the word coming from CERN that they may have found the Higgs-Boson particle. I then asked Bob to comment on the global warming statements being made about the current East Coast heat wave, followed by comments by Newt about the power grid outages and a taste of what an EMP would be like. We then turned to space and Bob talked about the recent success with Dragon and Falcon 9. He then talked about government space programs as compared to private programs. Throughout our 135 minute discussion, he reiterated his opposition to space programs, making it clear that he does not want a “program” and why. Let us know on the blog if you agree with him. Bob suggested we were in a period of space revolution and that it would be very exciting over the next five years. He talked about SpaceX compared to the Russians and the Chinese. He did say we were in competition with them for control of space and this led us to a discussion about culture and the space frontier. We talked about recently announced projects, Planetary Resources, Mars One, and one by the B612 Foundation. He thought B612 was the only real one of the three. Terry called from Texas to discuss using an Orion for a LEO mission, the Falcon Heavy for a Moon mission, Delta IV heavy and SLS. Jerry called in from Florida and among our topics were frontier development, the Oregon Trail, the CERN reactor in Switzerland rather than in Texas, and more. No space programs per Bob’s preferences again came up. Let us know your thoughts about these issues on the blog. As the segment ended, Bob was asked about Skylon which was the subject of yesterday’s program.
Tim’s call started our second segment & he asked about a lox paraffin hybrid rocket motor. We also talked about the space shuttle & its capabilities. While Bob praised aspects of shuttle, he said the program was a failure. I did not agree with him but listen and let us know what you think regarding this issue. Note that as the program ended, Martin sent us info on the hybrid motor mentioned earlier by Tim so check out www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9erCLJ5KVg as Brian Cantwell delivered a presentation at Stanford on the state of the art of hybrid rockets. Bob then updated us on the bat situation with the white nose fungus. As our program ended, Bob talked about upcoming events starting with Orbital’s Cygnus/Antares debut, Dream Chaser and other competitors. He had some brief comments about the suborbital industry and citizen science projects and concluded by saying we were no longer in a holding pattern re commercial space.
If you have comments/questions, please post them on our blog.
Rick Searfoss (Col, USAF RET.), Monday, 6-18-12 June 19, 2012
Posted by The Space Show in Uncategorized.Tags: airplane certification, Boeing 747 flight tests, citizen science projects, docking and rendezvous, FAA launch license, ITAR, liquid rocket engines, Lynx, Lynx dual controls, Lynx emergency bail out, Lynx flight approval process, orbital flight, passenger height & weight limits, pilot qualifications, piston pump technology, Rick Searfoss, rocket text flight program, safety, solid rocket boosters, Space Shuttle, space suits, spaceflight regulation, suborbital flight., test pilots, XCOR Aerospace
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Rick Searfoss (Col, USAF RET.), Monday, 6-18-12
http://archived.thespaceshow.com/shows/1798-BWB-2012-06-18.mp3
Guest: Rick Searfoss (Col., USAF, RET.). Topics: Rocket Flight, XCOR, Lynx, flight safety, leadership. You are invited to comment, ask questions, and discuss the Space Show program/guest(s) on the Space Show blog, https://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 to The Space Show Rick Searfoss to discuss spaceflight flying, XCOR Aerospace, the Lynx, and much more. You can learn more about Rick Searfoss by visiting his website, www.astronautspeaker.com. For more about the Lynx and XCOR, visit www.xcor.com. We started our discussion with an overview of a successful test flight program. During this discussion, our guest made it clear that flight tests are supposed to detect the unknown and to catch problems in time for them to be fixed prior to surfacing during commercial operations. The test pilot is prepared for the unknown and this is why he later said that future XCOR pilots would need to have U.S. military test pilot school experience along with their military flight experience. Also, the testing starts out very slow and escalates based on the progress and analysis of the tests. One crawls before one runs, so to speak. I asked him to compare a spaceship test flight program to information I had on a new Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental Jetliner that Boeing was putting through 600 flight hours of flight tests (www.examiner.com/article/new-boeing-747-8-intercontinental-maiden-flight). Don’t miss this discussion, its interesting, important, & relevant. Col. Searfoss received an email from Jeremy asking about humans riding on solid rocket boosters (SRB) and the safety in doing that. This resulted in another interesting discussion. We then talked about piston pump technology, suborbital flight, turbo pumps, and the XCOR program working with ULA regarding hydrogen pumps. I asked Rick to describe the Lynx flight from the passenger perspective. Doug wanted to know about the first flight timeline for later this year and then Christine wrote in asking if the Lynx cockpit would have dual controls similar to an airplane. A question came in about the Chinese rendezvous & docking per their current mission & Rick’s take on the process given his space shuttle pilot experience. Rick talked about this with the shuttle in some detail.
In our second segment, Terry called in to ask about the XCOR flight software. As you will hear, XCOR flight software means humans. Listen to what he had to say about this, including issues with space shuttle software. Our guest then talked more about the flight readiness process including the Technical Review Board and Safety Review Board process. Other topics discussed included citizen science on board the Lynx, ITAR issues, additional Lynx pilot qualifications, and defense dept. applications for Lynx and the suborbital industry. Lee called in to ask about an evolution to an orbital vehicle, other questions came in regarding runway requirements, passenger height & weight requirements, and spaceports. Near the end of our discussion, we talked about an emergency exit from the Lynx, spacesuits and bailout. Also discussed throughout the program were suggestions for the passenger to better prepare for his/her flight.
If you have comments/questions, please post them on The Space Show blog.
Edward Wright, Monday, 4-16-12 April 17, 2012
Posted by The Space Show in Uncategorized.Tags: astronaut training, citizen science experiments, citizen science projects, Citizens in Space, Edward Wright, ISDC, ITAR, Lynx, Maker Faire, NanoSats, Pathfinder astronaut candidates, Space Access Society, suborbital flights, Teachers In space, United States Rocket Academy, XCOR, Zero-G flights
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Edward Wright, Monday, 4-16-12
http://archived.thespaceshow.com/shows/1753-BWB-2012-04-16.mp3
Guest: Edward Wright. Topics: Citizens in Space program with the U.S. Rocket Academy. You are invited to comment, ask questions, and discuss the Space Show program/guest(s) on the Space Show blog, https://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 Ed Wright back to the show to discuss his new program Citizens In Space. You can find out more about this program by visiting www.citizensinspace.org. Ed started Teachers in Space many years ago and he has now expanded it to the new program, Citizens in Space, with a focus that goes beyond the public school system. As you will hear, the new program is more inclusive as it involves students, museum educators, and others to be both citizen scientists and space explorer astronauts. Ed, in three full Space Show segments, described the new program, explained citizen science experiments and projects, why it was important to expand the program beyond the public school system, and much more. During this interview, Ed talked about requirements, applicable FAA rules, the XCOR Lynx which is the vehicle they have selected, plus information on the science experiments & payload requirements. He spent some time talking about the difference in a demonstration which he said was all too common in our current school system as compared to a real experiment. He also talked about Citizen in Space promotional programs to an expanded audience including the Maker Faire Conference/Workshop which is held in San Mateo, CA each May. Ed talked about the Citizens in Space relationship with the Space Studies Institute and their new programs. You can read about the SSI programs on the Citizens in Space website. If you have comments and questions related to this show, please post them on The Space Show blog URL above. You can email Ed Wright through his website or use edward.v.wright@rocketacademy.org.
