Meyers has worked for 25 years as an industrial engineer and V.P. of Engineering with several non-aerospace firms in southern California. In 1981 he attended a presentation at USC on the concept of leaving the space shuttle’s hollow, 741-sized external fuel tank in orbit when its odorless fuel was gone, and converting the tank’s interior to living and working quarters for commercial tenants. As an industrial engineer, Mr. Meyers recognised that this secondary revenue source could actually make the space shuttles profitable to operate. As a sideline to his regular career he began writing articles and giving talks about this new approach. The response from potential tenants was strong, but Mr. Meyers found that the U. S. defense contractors who built space vehicles for the government had no expertise in marketing this concept to non-aerospace industries. In 1999, after taking early retirement from the automotive division of TRW, he incorporated the Space Island Group to pursue this commercial market. His organization reviewed several variations of this shuttle-derived concept and gathered detailed requirements from potential tenants. He also explored non-government funding sources that could support this multi-billion program. By mid-2005 his group had identified potential funding sources. He is working on space solar power projects and other energy and environmental programs for commercial space development.

Broadcast 966 (Special Edition)

Guest : Gene Meyers, CEO of the Space Island Group (www.spaceislandgroup.com), was the guest for this Space Show program. We started our interview with Gene providing us with background and updates for both a historical overview of Space Island, plus an update with its current activities. Most of the overview addressed the Space Island Group's plan to use shuttle external tanks for a space station or other commercial purposes.

Broadcast 545 (Special Edition)

Gene Meyers was the guest for this program but he does not appear on the show until 75 minutes into the program. Prior to Gene's arrival on the show, we do Open Lines with listeners and callers. Gene talked about his latest plans for Space Islands Group which involve solar power satellites, building a heavy lift launcher, external tanks and World Bank and foreign financing. We discussed his ITAR risk, SSP technology, environmental programs and risks, energy independence and much more.

Broadcast 401 (Special Edition)

Gene Meyers of The Space Islands Group returned to The Space Show for this program. Sir Charles Shultz, an associate of The Space Islands Group was also on the show with Gene to participate in the discussion about new Space Islands projects. We focused considerable attention on SPS and hurricane deflection. In addition, Gene explained the Space Islands approach to working with external tanks and a cloned shuttle to deliver an operating SPS to orbit within a few years. We discussed the economics of his program, capital acquisition, technology, engineering, and AST approval.

Broadcast 253 (Special Edition)

Gene Meyers, Founder and CEO of The Space Island Group, Inc., returned to The Space Show for this program. Gene outlined in some detail new developments for The Space Island Group, mostly coming about in the wake of the Columbia accident. From what Mr. Meyers tells Space Show listeners on this program, major openings for The Space Island business plan for getting the private sector to space have now occurred. Mr. Meyers tells us about these openings post Columbia, the letters he has now received from large aerospace companies, and much more.