Broadcast 847 (Special Edition)

Guests: Phillip Hurst of Air & Space TV (www.airandspace.tv) ; Bob Werb regarding the Space Frontier Foundation: Andy Turner of Space Systems/Loral. This set of three back to back interviews (no breaks) from the Space Investment Summit #3 held in San Jose, CA on Dec. 6, 2007, starts with Phillip Hurst of Air & Space TV (www.airandspace.tv). Phillip is launching an air and space television network for satellite, computers, and all available media services. We discussed his plans in depth, their financing, investor status, and more. Phillip is a media professional with A&S Media Group out of Orlando, Florida. Phillip has the experience and track record to make this happen and we will be hearing back from him as his efforts progress. He can be contacted using drspace@thespaceshow.com or phillip@airandspace.tv. The second interview is with Bob Werb, the Chairman of the Board and one of the three original founders for of the Space Frontier Foundation (SFF). Bob tells us about some important executive and administrative SFF changes which were recently made, plus we learned that we are coming up on the 20 year birthday of SFF!. We talked at length about SFF, why join it, the focus of it compared to other advocacy organizations, the membership which is very “can-do” and on the front lines of many space businesses and start-ups including a strong presence at this investment summit conference. We also talked about risk because the information came to us during the interview about the potential problems at the Mojave Spaceport with AST and the Mohave Spaceport license. You will certainly want to hear how Bob assesses and addresses the issue of risk-taking relating to the spaceport issues. At the end of our discussion, I brought up the subject of Walt Anderson, a space visionary, financial leader and friend of the SFF as well as a friend of Bob and myself. While Walt is experiencing hard times due to the federal tax fraud charges against him, his guilty plea, and is currently serving his sentence, we spoke about Walt, his contribution to space and his space vision. While Walt is controversial, his commitment to space is not. If you want to send a question or comment to Bob, please do so through me at drspace@thespaceshow.com. You can learn more about the Space Frontier Foundation by visiting their website at www.space-frontier.org. Our final interview is with Andy Turner of Space Systems/Loral. At this conference, Loral broke the news that the company and its partners submitted an entry to the NASA COTS contest. Andy tells us what their entry is about, how it works, and he is quite open about the Loral COTS entry. I thanked him for that refreshing openness. After discussing COTS and their entry in some detail, I asked Andy about internships and employment opportunities at Loral as I know this is of interest to many Space Show listeners. Andy had positive news for listeners so I urge all of you to hear what he has to say about these types of opportunities at Space Systems/Loral. I also asked about Loral and small sats/cubesats and how they are working with academics in this area and making some facilities available in support of these programs. Again, there is very positive news concerning these issues so listen to what he has to say and see how this cutting edge leading company supports student activities and education. They understand how it pays off for the students, the academic institutions, our nation, and for their company. If you have comments or questions for Andy Turner about this discussion or Space Systems/Loral, please direct them to me at drspace@thespaceshow.com. You can find out more about Loral by visiting their website, www.ssloral.com.