Open Lines, Tuesday, 7-1-12
2 Jul 2012, 03:38 UTC
Guest: Open Lines with Dr. David Livingston. Topics: A wide range of space related topics over a 2.5 hour Space Show program. 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. Our initial discussion topic during our hour long first segment was with Charles Pooley who called in to talk about the NASA Nanosat Challenge and the website, http://challenge.gov/NASA/49-nano-satellite-launch-challenge. Charles was hoping listeners might have more information about this program. If you do, please post your comments on the blog. We also talked about the N-Prize and Charles described the basics of this program. Peter Platzer of Do It Yourself Space called in from Mtn. View, CA to talk about Do It Yourself Space, Nanosatisfi and their Kickstarter project. Websites to visit to learn more about what Peter shared with us include http://diyinspace.com and www.nanosatisfi.com. If you want to contact Peter about this project, you can email him at peter@nanosatisfi.com. As you will hear, this is an innovative build your own satellite venture designed to engage everyone in space activities. Our next caller was Frank Van Rensselaer, author of the recent Space News op-ed, What Will Be This Administration?s Legacy for NASA?, http://spacenews.com/commentaries/120618-administration-legacy-nasa.html. Frank talked about the NASA legacy, I tied in my KSC tour and what I saw in terms of the take down of so much of our HSF infrastructure, the shuttles, etc. I asked Frank about NASA budget and funding issues, the role of Congress, OMB and the OSTP. We also talked about commercial space, its importance moving forward for the future and robust civil and commercial space programs. I questioned Frank on differing views as to what our space policy should be, including perspectives contrary to his own. I believe this is a most interesting 20 plus minute conversation. In the second segment, we led off with a call from John in Atlanta who talked about SLS as a placeholder program, the ISS, Commercial Crew, and human rating the Delta and possibly the Atlas. After John's call, Kelly called in to talk about SpaceX from his perspective which is different than the perspective most of us have regarding SpaceX, the Falcon 9 and Dragon. See what you think of what Kelly had to say and post your comments on The Space Show blog. I'm sure many of you will want to challenge or disagree with Kelly. Have at it but please, keep it civil. While Kelly was talking, Jim sent in an email saying "Wow! Kelly seems to be living in a different dimension than the rest of us. I wonder what Kelly thinks about the Falcon Heavy?" Later, Terry emailed us about Sen. Hutchinson, her retirement, and the SLS. He also asked about the possibility of life for the ISS after 2020. Toward the end of the program, Terry called to address his concerns. Since we talked about economic issues and good programs being cut when an economy is weak, I read a sad announcement about the funding & program cancellation for the outstanding Center for Remote Sensing, Air, and Space Law at Ole Miss Law School. I hope to address the quality of this excellent Center in a future Space Show program. As the show ended, I went over the upcoming week's schedule and that I would be discussing my Florida Space Coast trip in some detail on this week's Friday morning program. If you have comments/questions, post them on the blog. If you want to email one of the callers, send your note to me and I will forward it to the person of your choice.
