education

Guests: Andrea Seastrand and Janice Dunn with Matt Everingham of the California Space Authority (CSA), followed by Ken Davidian of NASA, followed by Jim Buenrostro of the team Technology Ranch at the NASA Lunar Regolith Challenge at Cal Poly were our guests for this set of taped interviews. We start this set of interviews with a message from me, your host of the Space Show, regarding the Falcon 1 launch attempt and my comments about it. As you will hear, I relate these comments and events to the Challenge which took place at Cal Poly this weekend.

Guest: Dr. Seth Shostak, Senior Astronomer at the SETI Institute (www.seti.org), was the guest for this Space Show program. We started our discussion with updates about SETI programs and the searches for ET signals. This led into our discussion of the Arecibo Radio Telescope, which is located in Puerto Rico and may be closed by the NSF for budget/financial reasons. We discussed this potential closure, the funds it takes to operate the telescope, its continued uses and what it might mean to the scientific community to be without it.

Guest: Homer Hickam was the guest for this special Space Show program. Mr. Hickam, author of "Rocket Boys," which was made into the acclaimed movie "October Sky," spoke with us about many topics and all of us had lots of fun while learning from someone who is, in my opinion, a true American hero. We started the discussion by asking him about his discovering two Tyrannosaurs in Montana. This took us directly to his early rocket launching days in Montana and putting Barbie dolls into space or near space. You have to hear this discussion to believe it.

Guest: Dr. E. O. (Neal) Smith, author of "When Culture and Biology Collide: Why We Are Stressed, Depressed, and Self-Obsessed," was the guest for this Space Show program. Dr. Smith's website is www.eosmith.com and you can find out more about his book there as well as learned about his other work. In fact, all his past journal articles are available for download. While you might think this program and his book are not space related, as you will hear during the program, it's very easy to connect the dots from what Dr.

Guest: Lt. Col. Carol Welsch, USAF, returned for this special Space Show program. We started our discussion on the subject of last year's Chinese ASAT test as this subject was the focus of Col. Welsch's thesis at the US Air Force War College at Maxwell AFB, AL. As soon as her thesis is published, she will let me know and I will announce it on the show. During this program, we discussed some of the Colonel's findings and conclusions regarding intent, the scope of the Chinese ASAT program, plus many other factors.

Guest: Dr. Dennis Bushnell, Chief Scientist at NASA Langley Research Center, was the guest for today's program. We began our discussion talking about the advancements in revolutionary technology needed for a manned mission to Mars. Dr. Bushnell has a published paper on this subject, titled "Advanced-to-Revolutionary Technology Options for Humans-Mars," which I will send as a Word document if you email me and request it. Based on this paper and the first part of our discussion, Dr.

Guests: Dr. Jim Pass, Dr. Al Harrison, and Tom Gangale were the guests for today's Space Show program to discuss astrosociology and the social science role in space education as well as space development. We started our discussion with an update from Jim, Al, and Tom about their panel discussion at the recent Contact Conference, "Astrosociology and 21st Century Space Exploration." You will not want to miss this comprehensive, far reaching, and important discussion.

Guest: David Dunlop, the Director of Project Development for The Moon Society (www.moonsociety.org), was the guest for this special two hour program. We started our discussion talking with David about why we should be returning to the Moon rather than going to Mars or a NEO. Listen to what he says and see if you agree. Also, would you go to the Moon to have a McDonalds' hamburger for lunch? He invites one of our listeners to do this and you will want to hear this somewhat playful discussion as well.

Guest: Per Wimmer. Per Wimmer of Wimmer Space and Wimmer Financial was the guest for this Space Show program. During the first segment, we discussed basic business requirements for entrepreneurial space businesses and start-up companies to follow when seeking venture capital or other financing. Mr. Wimmer grouped these requirements into three main areas focusing on: making early returns for the business and establishing cash flow, quality management teams, and a quality market analysis.

Guest: Dr. John Jurist. Dr. John Jurist, long time friend and supporter of the Space Show, was the guest on this slightly over 2 hour Sunday program. In this discussion, we covered many topics including science education, human factors, the balkanization of various components of the space industry , radiation, microgravity experiments, commercial space, suborbital and orbital space tourism, spaceport talk, and more. Dr.