Dennis Wingo, Sunday, 3-30-14 March 31, 2014
Posted by The Space Show in Uncategorized.Tags: " SpaceX, American leadership, American public space mission support, Apollo, Chinese lunar program, Cislunar, commercial space, crowd funding, Dennis Wingo, Falcon Heavy, international cooperation, ISS, ISS-SLS Merger, JFK, Media, NASA budgets, NASA priorities, Peak NASA Budget, Return on Investment (ROI), Silicon Valley, SLS, space practical benefits., U.S. congress
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Dennis Wingo, Sunday, 3-30-14
http://archived.thespaceshow.com/shows/2218-BWB-2014-03-30.mp3
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Guest: Dennis Wing. Topics: The Wingo SpaceRef article, “The Path Forward In American Space-2014 Edition,” ISS, SLS, budgets. Please direct all comments and questions regarding Space Show programs/guest(s) to the Space Show blog, https://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. In addition, please remember that your Amazon purchases can help support The Space Show/OGLF. See http://www.onegiantleapfoundation.org/amazon.htm. For those listening to archives using live365.com and rating the programs, please email me as to why you assign a specific rating to the show. This will help me bring better programming to the audience.
We welcomed Dennis Wingo back to the program to discuss his ideas as stated in his Space Ref Op-Ed of March 6, 2014, “The Path Forward In American Space-2014 Edition.” Check http://spaceref.com/the-path-forward-in-american-space—2014-edition.html. During the first segment of our 1 hour 46 minute discussion, Dennis began with a space program historical overview going back to JFK, James Webb, early space policy, and the FY 1966 peak NASA budget. He was making the case that budget problems are not the sole cause for problems in our space policy. Instead, government, NASA and policy makers are choosing programs to spend money on and space has shown a sharp decline in prioritization over a long period of time. Dennis talked about the three programs consuming large amounts of NASA’s budget but with strong congressional support: ISS, the James Webb Telescope, and SLS. He says we muddle along not having sufficient funds to do any of these project properly so he makes the case for SLS and & ISS working together to maximize the potential benefit of each program. When asked if the Russian political problems might be a game changer for Commercial Crew, he said it was possible but too early to tell. During this segment, Dennis elaborated on this idea with information, facts, and assumptions. He then shows how such a plan can produce practical benefits for the American people, a must in modern day space programs. He also talked about Silicon Valley and their investments in commercial space companies and what this means to the industry.
In the second segment, we talked about needed American public support and ways to influence policy makers, congressional leaders, etc. We also talked about the media, the specific science and space media, and problems with it. Dennis mentioned the upcoming comet flyby of Mars and its potential impact on people. Check out Comet Siding Spring. Dennis was asked for his action plan to help implement his idea, then he was asked for his thoughts on international participation and for his level of concern over the Chinese lunar program. He concluded saying that American citizens needed to see practical benefits from our space program, that inspiration, spinoffs, etc. had not worked all that well over the decades as space program drivers.
Please post your comments/questions on TSS blog above. You can contact Dennis directly or through me.
Charles Miller, Monday, 9-30-13 October 1, 2013
Posted by The Space Show in Uncategorized.Tags: ATK, Boeing, CASIS, Charles Miller, civil space., Commercial Crew, commercial space, crowd funding, cubesats, DARPA XS-1 Reusable Spaceplane, Horizons Strategy Group, ISS, ITAR, Kickstarter., low cost space access, management teams, NanoRacks, NASA, national security space, NexGen Space LLC, public policy, regulatory environment, Sierra Nevada, smallsats, Space Act Agreement, space tourism, Space X, suborbital
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Charles Miller, Monday, 9-30-13
http://archived.thespaceshow.com/shows/2096-BWB-2013-09-30.mp3
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Can Help Support The Space Show/OGLF (www.onegiantleapfoundation.org/amazon.htm
Guest: Charles Miller. Topics: Commercial space, small satellites, commercial crew, human spaceflight & more. Please direct all comments and questions regarding Space Show programs/guest(s) to the Space Show blog, https://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. In addition, please remember that your Amazon purchases can help support The Space Show/OGLF. See www.onegiantleapfoundation.org/amazon.htm.
We welcomed Charles Miller back to The Space Show for this 1 hour 31 minute program. During the first segment, Charles talked about the future of commercial space, extending the life of the ISS, managing risk and uncertainty to maximize returns and benefits for commercial space, plus he used the company he co-founded, NanoRacks, as a commercial model utilizing the national lab ISS. We talked about commercial crew, the success of the Space Act Agreement for contracting and pockets of congressional resistance to the commercial and Space Act programs. In discussing commercial opportunities on the ISS, we also talked about CASIS and the role it is playing in bridging the gap and facilitating commercial companies using the ISS. Charles then talked about his company, NexGen Space LLC and he referenced the DARPA XS-1 Reusable Spaceplane. A listener asked our guest about a possible influx of commercial opportunities from outside the U.S. In response to this question, Charles talked about competing cultures and why the U.S. is so strong with its culture of innovation. Commercial crew, human spaceflight, and the need to spend 6 months training in Russia were discussed with the latter being an impediment. Suborbital demand was a topic as were the commercial efforts by Boeing, Sierra Nevada, ATK and other mainstream aerospace companies.
In our second segment, we talked about Kickstarter and the use of crowd funding in the emerging commercial space industry. Innovation and low cost space access were key topics and themes for this segment. Listener Jack asked about space entrepreneurial management teams & what to look for in a quality team. I asked Charles to tell us where he thought the industry would be in ten years. Charles talked about small satellite constellations, far more affordability across the board, and a large growth space tourism industry. He also mentioned that the turning point will come when we have cheaper access to space than today. Toward the end of our discussion, Charles was asked for his suggestion for the best path to pursue for those seeking commercial space careers. In response, he talked about getting real hardware and flight experience & mentioned high schools that provide this experience.
Please post your comments/questions on The Space Show blog per above. Charles Miller can be reached through me using drspace@thespaceshow.com.
Gordon Woodcock, Friday, 6-14-13 June 13, 2013
Posted by The Space Show in Uncategorized.Tags: beamed power, capital acquisition, crowd funding, energy efficiency, fossil fuels., GEO, Gordon Woodcock, launch rate, magnetron, microwave beam, non-lethal beam, NSS ISDC, payback period, solar power storage, solar powered satellites, SolarHigh.org., space based solar power, space project funding, space weapon, SSP advocacy, SSP Financial Analysis, thin film solar, transmission frequency, utility co. owned satellites
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Gordon Woodcock, Friday, 6-14-13
http://archived.thespaceshow.com/shows/2029-BWB-2013-06-14.mp3
Guest: Gordon Woodcock. Topics: Financial analysis for an SSP Power System, competing SSP ideas & plans. Please direct all comments and questions regarding Space Show programs/guest(s) to the Space Show blog, https://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 Gordon Woodcock to the program to discuss his ISDC 2013 financial analysis presentation for an SSP power system. This presentation is available for your consideration on after the program summary on The Space Show blog for this program per the above URL. In addition, visit the SolarHigh.Org website for more information at www.solarhigh.org. In the first segment of our two part 90 minute discussion with Mr. Woodcock, we were introduced to the concept of space solar power from the initial work of Peter Glazer followed by microwave expert Bill Brown. Mr. Woodcock then discussed the need for large space transmission and Earth based receiving antennas, the need to use GEO for the SSP satellites, and some basics about beaming microwave power. Economic & financial concepts were introduced along with the need for systems to be affordable, reusable and generate acceptable ROIs. However, as you will hear, all of this is hard to do at this stage given the need for research and demo systems for proving out the best engineering approaches and designs. We talked about solar efficiencies and the trade in mass with thin film lighter material with only about a 30% energy efficiency but because of their lighter weight, the trade allows us to launch & deploy bigger systems giving us more bang for the buck, so to speak. Gordon also talked about efficient transmitter systems & the use of 5.8 GHz. In this segment we talked about lowering launch costs, increasing the launch rate, and the competitive price for terrestrial electric power. Earlier in the segment, Gordon suggested the need for a one year payback but Tony sent in a question suggesting longer paybacks, all of which were acceptable scenarios as long as they were roughly competitive with highly risky terrestrial investments.
In the second segment, we talked about starting with smaller systems & demos, all followed by incremental project development. We also talked about specific space and terrestrial antenna size and ratios as well as the size of power systems, even up to 2,000 MW or larger. Mr. Woodcock went over the idea of raising the frequency and what this might mean for a demo as well as an operating power project system. Questions came in regarding on orbit system repairs and maintenance. Our guest said the systems would need to be serviced robotically. We talked about the environment for SSP systems at this time & into the near and medium term & possible fossil fuel competition given new energy extraction methods. Crowd funding was suggested as a way to fund some of the needed research which our guest said could be done in many competent labs in the U.S.
Please post your comments/questions on The Space Show blog. You can contact Gordon Woodcock through me at drspace@thespaceshow.com. Don’t forget, for those of you interested in the opportunity to submit feedback on the NRC congressionally mandated Human Spaceflight Study, please go to www.nationalacademies.org/humanspaceflight.
Open Lines, Tuesday, 5-21-13 May 22, 2013
Posted by The Space Show in Uncategorized.Tags: " SpaceX, asteroid mining, Atlas, Bigelow Aerospace, British astronaut Tim Peake, Commercial Crew, commercial space, crowd funding, DC-X, Dr. David Livingston, Hermes spacecraft, Inspiration Mars, Kepler Space Telescope, Kickstarter., long term space goals, lunar development, Mars one, NASA, one way HSF to Mars, Open Lines, Rossi E-Cat, Sarah Cruddas, Scaled Composites CATO test, space tourism, Star Systems, suborbital spaceflight, ULA, Virgin Galactic
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Open Lines, Tuesday, 5-21-13
http://archived.thespaceshow.com/shows/2013-BWB-2013-05-21.mp3
Guest: Open Lines with Dr. David Livingston. Topics: Our discussion covered wide range of timely topics per the below summary. Please direct all comments and questions regarding Space Show programs/guest(s) to the Space Show blog, https://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 started our 2 hour 3 minute Open Lines discussion with a five minute recorded interview with Sarah Cruddas in the UK regarding the UK astronaut Tim Peake who is now scheduled for a mission to the ISS. Sarah told us about the impact of Tim being the UK’s first government funded and supported astronaut. You will clearly hear her excitement about this and for sure you will understand the very positive impact of this in England along with national British excitement. Way to go England and congratulations from The Space Show! You can find out more about Sarah’s reporting, space, science & film work at www.sarahcruddas.com. Our next caller was Mark Longanbach from Star Systems to tell us about the Hermes spacecraft and their efforts in developing a suborbital spaceship for tourism and cargo. We also talked about crowd funding and Kickstarter with him. Next, Nelson called in to talk about the need for long term NASA goals and he outlined his concept for bringing the space community together and making the most out of tight budgets, assets, technology, and capabilities, all in support of repositioning our space program for doing great things in the future. Nelson requested feedback on his idea so post your comments on The Space Show blog. Nelson’s blog can be found at www.aviationweek.com/UserProfile.aspx?newspaperUserId=219284. Kelly called next to talk about the upcoming 20th anniversary of DC-X and he compared back then to now. As you will hear, Kelly saw more positive things back “in the day” than today. He talked about today’s commercial space industry, NASA, SpaceX, commercial space, etc. We also talked about the planned commercial Mars missions, the asteroid & lunar missions. I’m sure you will find his comments interesting & thought provoking.
In our second segment, Tim said Rossi and his E-CAT were validated by a third party. He then took issue with much of what Kelly had to say, especially around SpaceX and the emerging commercial space industry. We also talked about the proposed NASA-Bigelow Aerospace project and I read the NASA PR announcement about it on air. Later in the second segment, Charles Pooley called. He wanted to talk about the NASA-Bigelow announcement and he said he also disagreed with Kelly, especially regarding SpaceX. While Kelly was critical of the SpaceX engine design, Charles said it was an excellent design and he told us why he thought so. I chimed in my support for SpaceX as I think they are doing a very good job and have solved inflight problems in an impressive way. Also in this segment, we talked some about what constitutes a commercial mission. I suggested today’s emerging industry is a hybrid but in the end, the companies behave as commercial companies. Pooley also talked about a Scaled CATO engine failure. He later sent us emails which I read on air that described the problem, then Charles called back to explain what I read. Another topic I mentioned included the problems with the Kepler Space Telescope.
Post your comments/questions on The Space Show blog. If you want to email any of the callers, do so through me.
