Guest:  Dr. Sean Casey; Topics:  Overview of commercial and NewSpace investment through the present, multiple additional commercial, exploratory, engineering and space related topics.

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We welcomed back to the show Dr. Sean Casey for an 84 minute discussion on just about everything commercial and NewSpace oriented.  Sean went over a brief history and update since his last visit to The Space Show about 18 months ago.  Given the changes in the industry that he talked about back then and today one might not recognize the same industry.  Listen to Sean's overview, the specific company mentions and their activities and then think back to what was going on in the 2016-17 time period.  How much is new today that was not present back then?  That is what this part of our discussion focused on so be sure to listen to it.  The detail is there, the players are mentioned, the activities are documented and outcomes to date are made available if available.

Additional early topics discussed during this program included entrepreneurial startups, IPOs, the current and trending regulatory environment for commercial space, plus source of money now available to startup space ventures.  Barriers to entry were discussed as were potential markets for commercial space entrepreneurial ventures.  As you will hear satellite imaging, smallsats, cubesats, LEO satellites and support infrastructure, that seems to be where the market is today and is headed for the future.  Let us know what you think after hearing what our guest had to say about these segments of the emerging commercial space industry.  Post your comments on our blog. 

Sean responded to many listener email questions.  For example, quite a few questions came in regarding returning to the Moon and the use of the lunar Gateway plus the potential use of private company landers.  Sean was asked about plans to go to Mars.  This was another part of the discussion you will want to hear.  The Space Force came up just after our short discussion regarding going to Mars.  Sean suggested it might be politically based but be sure to listen to all of our guest comments on this topic.  Before moving on to a different discussion, our guest was asked about commercial space activities outside the US.  As you will hear, a lot of commercial space activity is going on.  You might find it to be more global than you think.

Human spaceflight was a big and important discussion topic.  While Sean talked about suborbital efforts by Virgin Galactic and Blue, there was not much to report on for the commercial side of things.  At one point our guest mentioned that we might not be quite there yet, meaning to me that the industry might not be ready just yet for prime time.  Our guest talked about human spaceflight economics, the need to balance risk with cost and policy, plus the need to pay attention to the market. 

As we were nearing the end of our program, I asked our guest if he agreed with the saying that one often hears in the new commercial space arena that goes something like the first trillionaire will likely come out of the commercial space industry.  Listen to what our guest said when I asked if he agreed with that statement.  After that comment, I asked our guest for closing comments and additional short discussion topics.  Sean offered us a good summary of today's discussion with excellent closing comments about the opportunities associated with the emerging commercial space industry.  Be sure to listen carefully to his closing remarks.

Please post your comments/questions on TSS blog for this show.  Dr. Casey can be reach by me using The Space Show email address.