Earth

Guests: John Batchelor, Professor Jay Farihi, Dr. David Livingston.  Topics:  Finding planetary bodies in the habitable zone of a white dwarf star.  

Guest: Dr. David Lawrence. Topic: The planet Mercury & the NASA Messenger Mission. Please direct all comments & questions regarding Space Show programs/guest(s) to the Space Show blog, http://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments & questions should be relevant to the specific Space Show program. Written Transcripts of Space Show programs are a violation of our copyright & are not permitted without prior written consent, even if for your own use.

This Deep Space Message was submitted by Ms. Meghann Ribbens, doctoral stuent at USC: To the Denizens of the Universe: My name is Meghann Ribbens, and I am a human of Earth. Let me describe for you what it is to be human: Our evolution has progressed with blinding alacrity, and is even now accelerating. It was only a few million revolutions around our star (a mere blink in the history of life on this planet) that a species arose vaguely resembling the remarkable creatures now communicating with you.

Jane Reifert and Derek Webber were the two special guests for this program to discuss the "The Adventurers' Survey" regarding space tourism sponsored by Spaceport Associates and Incredible Adventures. We began the interview with the basics behind this space tourism survey, how it differed from the study Derek did for Futron several years ago and the significance of many of the findings in this survey. Listeners should listen to this program for the full details and scope of the survey, the conclusions and the relevant suggestions for tourists as well as space plane manufacturers.

Dr. Mario Acuna was the guest for this Friday morning Space Show program. We began our discussion by talking about radiation to Mars and on the surface of Mars. This was an in-depth discussion. We eventually broadened the discussion to cosmic rays, solar events throughout the planetary system, shielding, and related topics. We then focused on magnetic fields and discussed them regarding Mars, Earth, Venus, many of the moons in our system, newly discovered planets, all the planets in our system, and our technology to learn about planetary magnetic fields.

Dr. Molly Macauley was the guest for this special Space Show program. As Dr. Macauley is an economist, we started the interview with her economic analysis based on her recent research project regarding space solar power (SSP). The first hour of the program was an in-depth economic examination of SSP. You will not want to miss it. We then discussed prizes by NASA and others, plus tax incentives. Dr. Macauley provided us with her economic point of view on what types of prizes and economic incentives work best to build a robust private space program.

Dr. Sherry Bell was the guest for this Space Show program. Dr. Bell discussed her area of primary interest, the evolutionary effects that are expected to result from humans living and traveling beyond Earth. In this discussion, she brought up some interesting questions about children being born in space or on a space settlement, the emotional and physical consequences of their being born and brought up off Earth and more. We discussed some of the effects on humans, what changes humans may need to undergo to adapt to long term space settlement, and the research being done on these issues.

Keay Davidson was the guest for this special two hour Space Show program. Mr. Davidson talked to us about science reporting, the qualifications for doing it, the perspective needed, the short comings, the advantages, the problems. It was an enlightening discussion that I believe all of you will appreciate. We also talked about his interest in space dating back to the L5 days. Keay then explained to us why he has become cynical (he attributes it to getting older, growing up, and a changing world view) about space, etc. You will find this to be a frustrating yet important discussion.