Broadcast 808 (Special Edition)

Dr. David Schrunk and Dr. Madhu Thangavelu were our guests for this program regarding their book, "The Moon: Resources, Future, Development and Settlement," published by Springer/Praxis 2007. This book is available at Amazon.com and other book stores. During or program, both our guests fielded many questions regarding lunar development and why we should be doing it. They even received questions about environmental protection on the Moon and raised the concern of lunar development damaging the Moon's environment. This round of questions came in the third and final segment of the show, make sure you hear their response to the listener and my comments on the subject as well. We talked about inspiration and this books works to inspire, especially with younger people, students, and those we often hear about as not being interested in space. We talked about why the Moon over a direct visit to Mars and again, you will want to hear their response. Several political quests ions were asked about the VSE surviving the upcoming 2008 elections. I guess its the season so we are preparing for more political questions with guests, that's for sure. Both David and Madhu addressed the political question and possible priority changes in NASA with a different administration. We all agree on the importance of maintaining the VSE and even understanding how it can be supportive of different agendas. Will the political leaders concur? This of course is one of the great unknowns at this time. Both David and Madhu also talked about the use of robotic tools for lunar development and how to use them in conjunction with humans. The again reminded us of the great potential in resources awaiting on the Moon that can be beneficial for us here on Earth as well as for space development. If you have follow up comments or questions, for Dr. Schrunk, please email him at DOCSCILAW@aol.com and for Madhu, please go through me at drspace@thespaceshow.com. Of course you can use the drspace@thespaceshow.com address for both.