Broadcast 993 (Special Edition)

Guest: Al Globus returned as a guest for this Space Show program. We started our discussion with a comprehensive overview of the NASA Space Settlement Contest that Al helped start several years ago. As we learned, the contest is open to those in grades 6-9 and 10-12 or their foreign equivalent. Each group is judged separately other than for the grand prize. Learn about this contest and if you have a child or know someone who is eligible to compete, share the information with them. Visit http://www.nas.nasa.gov/About/Education/SpaceSettlement/Contest/ for details. You can also see the designs of recent grand prize winners at this site. Our space settlement discussion introduced related music composed and performed by Al who is also an accomplished musician. You will hear his piece on the show, but you can download it and other musical pieces by Al Globus at his website, http://alglobus.net/music/. We played "Let's Go Out There" on the show. In fact, I suggest you visit Al's website at http://alglobus.net/ because it's chocked full of interesting and relevant items regarding space settlement, space solar power and much more, including his writings and published papers. In a later segment of the show, we focused on space solar power. Al talked about the long term need to develop space solar power, we talked about the research and development needed, how it can be used to avoid future energy wars, and the interest in it by not only the U.S. military, but other nations such as Japan, India, and China. Several listener questions were based on space solar power as well as the space development and settlement issue. In the final segment of the show, we talked about Al's Space Program for Americans which he created earlier this year and can be found at http://space.alglobus.net/papers/spaceProgram2008.html. This program contains three primary segments (yes, there are more), Earth observation, Earth to orbit transportation, and planetary protection. Listen to the discussion and read the plan and see what you think. Let Al Globus know. If you have questions or comments for Al Globus, please send them to him at AlGlobus@gmail.com.