Broadcast 1070 (Special Edition)

Guests: First Hour: Bob Dickman and Dr. Paul Nielsen. Second Hour: Open Lines Bob Dickman, Executive Director of AIAA, and Dr. Paul Nielsen, Director & CEO of SEI, were the guests today for the first hour to discuss the upcoming AIAA 47th Aerospace Sciences Meeting including The New Horizons Forum & Aerospace Exposition in Orlando, Florida from January 5-8, 2009. In talking with Bob Dickman and Dr. Nielsen, we covered many of the sessions at the conference, talked about the keynote programs, the relocation of the conference from Reno, NV to Orlando, Florida, the networking opportunities at this conference as well as the student opportunities. We also discussed the AIAA commitment to STEM education, the Aerospace Exhibition and its importance in giving large and small businesses a chance to exhibit their line of products and services. The evening programs include the free, community available Dryden Lectureship, the Wright Brothers Lectureship, and the Von Karman Lectureship. Listeners asked questions about the mix with aviation and space as well as the potential for space careers given this economy. You can learn more about this conference by visiting www.aiaa.org and clicking on the link for the 47th AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meetings. If you have questions for either of our guests, please send them to me at drspace@thespaceshow.com and I will forward them to Bob and Paul. During the second hour of the show, I discussed some of what has been going on at the ATWG conference this week at NASA Ames and later it turned into quasi Open Lines. Tuesday afternoon was the much talked about debate on SSP with Pete Worden, the NASA Ames Center director opposing SSP for lack of a business case and Gary Barnhard supporting SSP. Listen to how I describe the debate and what people thought of it, but please remember that my filter is more in alignment with Pete than with Gary. I want my prejudice known up front because everything you hear does go through a filter, even if the people don't tell you that. Two listeners called about the SSP program, funding, and starting small. I also mentioned the fringe element of SSP as Pete called them the "zealots." I had much to say about this element. Wednesday, Neville Marzwell talked about SSP and his talk was outstanding. I hope to soon have Neville back on the show again and I understand his presentation slides will be uploaded to the ATWG website. As soon as I know about that, I will let you know so you can download them. Neville talked about experiments that have already been done that confirm SSP, the cost of experiments, how some experiments might be destructive because they are not properly designed, and more. Neville Marzwell was a shot in the arm and more for those that believe SSP is ready for now. I commend ATWG for a very fine conference and the courage to sponsor this debate/discussion and other programming regarding SSP. If you have any questions or comments about the last hour of the show or anything related to this, The Space Show, SSP, ATWG, please contact me at drspace@thespaceshow.com and I will either respond as best I can or put you in touch with someone who can help you.