Guest: Chris Carberry. Topics: Explore Mars Humans2Mars Summit, Mars and moon discussion, affordable space policy, NASA budgets, private sector & more. Please direct all comments and questions regarding Space Show programs/guest(s) to the Space Show blog, http://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. 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 Chris Carberry back to the show to discuss Explore Mars events & activities. During the first segment of our 96 minute program, Chris started out by telling us about the upcoming Humans2Mars Summit planned for May 5-7 in Washington, DC. All the conference and registration information is available at http://h2m.exploremars.org. This discussion led me to asking him why we should go to Mars and why now. As part of this discussion, I challenged Chris on using tax payer money for a Mars mission rather than letting the private sector do it. In fact, he did get a listener question about this, suggesting that either Mars One or SpaceX take us to Mars, not the government. Eric sent in a note asking who we thought might be the next NASA administrator or at least who the candidates might be. He also wanted Chris to advise how best to influence officials, policy makers, members of congress, etc. to go to Mars. Chris offered several suggestions to this part of Eric's two question email. Chris responded to emails about the Affordable Mars Workshop architecture for Mars that we have been hearing about over the past week, plus the recent NSS-SFF meeting where settlement seemed to be the agreed upon goal. Don't miss what Chris had to say about these events as he attended both. Doug called from S. California to make the case for going back to the Moon on its own, not just as a stepping stone to Mars. Doug suggested that the lunar return folks team with the Mars folks to find the best way to do both missions as it should not be one or the other. He also wanted to make sure going back to the Moon did not delay going to Mars and that going to Mars did not delay or destroy the opportunities for returning to the Moon. Chris and Doug had a vibrant exchange on this subject, especially given this era of tight budgets & constraints. In the second segment, John from Ft. Worth called to express a concern that going to Mars might end up like Apollo and after a few Martian visits, we quit that too. Chris explained why he did not think that would happen. Later, Dr. Lurio called and said that "these guys are ALL living in fantasy land, one version or another." His call was to pick up from the email he sent us and to elaborate on his position which was hotly debated and challenged by Chris. One thing Chris and Charles agreed upon was that there would be no repeat of a so-called "Kennedy Moment." As the show was ending, Chris went over the Humans2Mars Summit again and we talked about the need to start working on Mars plans rather than always just talking and "planning" about them. Please post your comments/questions on TSS blog above. You can reach Chris through the Explore Mars website or me.