Guest: Stephen Murphy. Topics: Do It Yourself Space (DIY), space exploration for all, open hardware, DIY entrepreneurial opportunities. Please direct all comments and questions regarding Space Show programs/guest(s) to the Space Show blog, http://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments and questions should be relevant to the specific Space Show program. Written Transcripts of Space Show programs are a violation of our copyright and are not permitted without prior written consent, even if for your own use. We do not permit the commercial use of Space Show programs or any part thereof, nor do we permit editing, YouTube clips, or clips placed on other private channels & websites. Space Show programs can be quoted, but the quote must be cited or referenced using the proper citation format. Contact The Space Show for further information. In addition, please remember that your Amazon purchases can help support The Space Show/OGLF. See www.onegiantleapfoundation.org/amazon.htm. For those listening to archives using live365.com and rating the programs, please email me as to why you assign a specific rating to the show. This will help me bring better programming to the audience. We welcomed Stephen Murphy to the program to discuss Do It Yourself (DIY) space exploration and the available tools to make it all happen. In our first segment of this 1 hour 27 minute program, Mr. Murphy explained the concept of Do It Yourself (DIY) Space Exploration. Make sure you visit his website for more information on this topic, www.diyspaceexploration.com. We first explained the DIY concept and just why the timing was right for it to be attainable by those outside the space industry given the availability of low cost tools that can be used to build space hardware. We talked about needed background to be able to build something plus all the tools available including kits. However, we also talked about the choke hold on the industry due to the launch side of the business which is still costly and limited. Of course Charles Pooley called in to remind us all that Microlaunchers was trying to solve the launch side of the problem. During both segments, Stephen mentioned many different companies doing a specific piece of DIY or general technology as following these companies and learning from what they have and will be dong as well as how they do it can be a good guide. We also talked about smaller than cubesat items such as the pocket cubesat, rocket cubesat, and more. Next, we went into the aggressive use of crowd funding for raising money for the projects using Kickstarter, Indiegogo and others. Our guest put forward some simple marketing and promotional "rules" for crowdfunding, especially before you start your crowdfunding campaign. In the second segment, we opened up with a discussion about open hardware and how companies involved with it make it work because its an unusual business model. Here, Stephen also mentioned companies using the open source model to build an important community for their work and products, also a different business model from the traditional model. We discussed the Maker community, especially MakerBot with 3D printing, several crowdfunding projects, even DIY drones! Listeners asked about ITAR, then near the end we switched topics to using high altitude balloons. Our guest said this was like a "gateway drug" to space because it was cheap, easy, and would likely be an excellent low cost testing platform. Mr. Murphy's goal with his website & business is offer workshops & tools so everyone who wants can move forward with space exploration. Post your comments/questions on TSS blog. Stephen's email address can be found on his website using the Contact tab.
Guest
The Space Show
