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Guest: Marc Boucher. Topics: SpaceRef media growth, space reporting, Space Quarterly, American & Canadian space policy. 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. We welcomed Marc Boucher back to the program for interesting and timely SpaceRef.com updates on their space news services, new programs such as the Forum and their new quarterly magazine, Space Quarterly. We started our discussion with an overview of SpaceRef.com and the partners, plus the new services now offered within the SpaceRef family. As you will hear, the SpaceRef team is very bullish on space development and is engaged in growth and the expansion of their services with many new publications, multiple forums, and their quarterly magazine, Space Quarterly. During the first segment, we discussed these new services with a focus on both the Forum and Space Quarterly. All of these services can be reached through the main SpaceRef website, www.spaceref.com. We talked about submissions to SpaceRef, even anonymous submissions, writing for Space Quarterly, and being a moderator for some of the forums. Marc explained the SpaceRef website registration process, provided subscription information for Space Quarterly, and said the next issue would be out Dec. 1. He also provided a preview of the articles that will be in the upcoming Space Quarterly issue. We talked about on demand printing, the magazine publication business in general, and the market for space news and publications. In our second longer segment, Marc was asked about their process and sources for obtaining space news. In addition to the many sources used by SpaceRef, they also have an email tip line, tips@spaceref.com. Later our discussion turned to getting Marc's perspective on U.S. space policy and his views on what China has been doing and will do regarding their own space policy. Marc had much to say on our space policy, including that our system is broken. Do not miss his discussion on this issue. The same for his comments on the Chinese space policy. We talked about Canadian space policy and in some ways, we compared the flow of space information & news in the U.S. to Canada. We talked about the need for commercial space and space innovation and Marc referenced the problems Canadians encounter with our ITAR laws and regulations, citing several examples including the Canadian company MDA. At the end of the program, we talked about the need for policy and space leadership. The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) which has Canadian participation in it was our last discussion topic. We said that leaders must lead. Projects such as the JWST are leadership type projects. Please post your comments and questions on The Space Show blog URL above. Marc can be emailed at marc.boucher@spaceref.com.
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