Methane

Guest: Dr. Christopher (Chris) McKay. Topics: Mars, astrobiology, planetary exploration, Moon bases, search for life. Please note that 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. We welcomed back Dr. Chris McKay of NASA Ames discuss Mars, lunar bases, the possibility of organics and even life on Mars, and humans to Mars missions.

Guest: Dr. Chris McKay. Topics: Mars, life in the solar system, moons of Saturn, South Pole Station, Antarctica. Dr. Chris McKay was the guest for this show which started out by discussing the NASA Mars program today. As Dr. McKay said, the program is in trouble and you will want to hear why he said this. Also, pay attention to the competition Mars now receives for searching for life from the moons of Saturn. What this means for Mars programs in a competitive funding environment is up in the air.

Guest: Chris Carberry. Topics: Mars Society, NASA Administrator, terraforming Mars, life on Mars, commercial missions to Mars, Mars advocacy. Chris Carberry, Executive Director of The Mars Society, was the guest today to discuss the upcoming Mars Society Conference at College Park, MD on the campus of the University of Maryland from July 30-August 2, 2009. To find out more about the conference, please visit www.marssociety.org/portal/c/Conventions/2009.

Guest: Dr. Robert Zubrin. Topics: Mars, Methane and life on Mars, humans to Mars, Obama space policy, Moon vs. Mars, NASA administrator, "How To Live On Mars," terraforming Mars, space solar power for Mars. Dr. Robert Zubrin was back on The Space Show to discuss his new book, "How To Live On Mars: A Trusty Guidebook To Surviving And Thriving On The Red Planet." This is a terrific book with lots of excellent space artwork and, in addition to providing important and useful information, it's very funny. This is a book you must have!

Guest: Dr. John Jurist was the guest on this program to discuss his hypothesis as to why space cadets behave as they do. His paper, "Dorky Space Cadets: An Hypothesis," can be found on the Space Cynics site as of March 13, 2008, http://spacecynic.wordpress.com/2008/03/13/ . Click on the link provided to Space Cynics and scroll down to his article starting with "Dorky." During our discussion today, Dr. Jurist explained how he created the hypothesis and what types of research, tools and methodologies he used to formulate his theory.

Guest: Dr. Phil Chapman. Dr. Phil Chapman returned for this special Space Show program dedicated to the memory of Sir Arthur C. Clarke who passed away today. As it turned out, Dr. Chapman knew Sir Arthur, so for the first part of the program, we talked about Arthur Clarke and Phil shared his experiences with him with us. If you have not yet seen it, Arthur Clarke recorded a video for his "Last Message To Earth" recorded on his 90th birthday this past December.

Dr. John Brandenburg returned to The Space Show for this program to update listeners on finding on Mars from the two JPL rovers and the European Mars Express. We discussed the indicators for life such as methane, formaldehyde and ammonia, all of which are being found in the Martian atmosphere. Dr. Brandenburg pointed out the extreme caution which NASA, JPL, and governments will use before announcing life on Mars now or in its recent past.