Guest: Tom Olson was the guest for this Space Show program to debrief us on the IAC 2008 conference recently held in Glasgow, Scotland. However, we first spent a few minutes talking about the case of Walt Anderson, the website which Tom created to explain the case against Walt and provide all relevant information about Walt, www.justiceforwalt.com. After discussing Walt Anderson, we then moved on to talking about the various sessions, the major talk by NASA Administrator Dr. Michael Griffin, the special entrepreneurial track, and social networking at the conference. I asked Tom lots of comparison questions concerning the IAC and a typical American space conference as I wanted to understand the different perspectives of those attending the customary American conference and those attending this well respected and established global space conference. Listen to how Tom describes the different focus of the participants and those in attendance, plus their interest level, and their involvement in the space community. Tom gave us part of his Vision for Space entrepreneurial presentation and will make available his paper which he delivered at IAC. If you would like a copy, please send me an email requesting it. We also delved into the subject of space solar power, both in terms of the IAC and its economic validity. Now before those of you who are die hard SSP supporters go ballistic, yes, both Tom and I were cynical and asked some very hard economic questions about the viability of SSP with a little sarcasm here and there. Note that I was very clear in stating my strong preference for a serious demo plant to answer the unknown questions about it and to go from the theoretical on every level of SSP to some reality for real number crunching and analysis. So please, don't overlook the fact that support for SSP was made clear on this show, just real number crunching to make SSP valid, not some of the Kool Aid claims for it that circulate all too freely. A listener asked Tom about a recent Space Cynics post regarding Masten Space Systems. Listen to what Tom said and I supported Tom's comments. We talked about the interest in space tourism among those attending the IAC and Tom reported a very strong interest and that most everyone wants to go to space just like on this side of the great pond. Given our present economic crisis and bungling Congress and more, both Tom and I offered some rather terse comments for our "so called leaders" and Tom opined on the impact of the financial crisis on both the civil space program and the entrepreneurial private sector program, especially in raising capital for start-up companies. You will want to hear his analysis. During this two hour program, we covered many topics. Tom spoke openly and frankly about many topics including a response to a question I asked him about his willingness to invest his own money in any of the companies presenting at SIS in Los Angeles on Oct. 15. You will not want to miss his answer to my question. If you want to ask Tom Olson a questions, give him a comment, or request his IAC paper, please send your email to me at drspace@thespaceshow.com and I will forward it to him.
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