Guest: Open Lines with Dr. David Livingston. Topics: Business plans, due diligence, Mars One, skepticism, cynicism, SpaceX & more. 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. Our scheduled guest for this program, Dr. Jeff Bell, was a no-show. At the request of several listeners, rather than canceling the program, I let it run as a special Open Lines show. There were no breaks in the discussion. Our first caller in this 1 hour 53 minute discussion was Dwayne who inquired about my frequent comments on the need for a business plan and due diligence in evaluating potential space businesses. I offered to send interested listeners a copy of the business plan outline I work from if they email and request it. We went through the business plan outline I use, then we talked about due diligence for all aspects of the venture including management, financial, marketing, technology, engineering, and more. Dwayne wanted to know about possible market saturation for the low barrier to entry cubesats and Earth imaging satellites now entering the market place. Doug was the next caller. He had wanted to talk with Dr. Bell about an older paper of his showing skepticism for the COTS program which Doug believes to be successful. The discussion with Doug was too long so callers, you need to be succinct, consolidate your comments and questions, and don't expect unlimited time for your call. As they say, "this was my bad" to have let the call go on for so long and I apologize to those of you who got tired of waiting to call the show and just logged out. The discussion with Doug included how to assess the likely success of a business venture, management, and more. We used both Mars One and SpaceX as examples. Charles then called to talk about his book Microlaunchers and The Space Review's book review of it by Dr. Jeff Foust. You can read the review at www.thespacereview.com/article/2461/1. Our last caller was Tony who challenged the electric car comments made by Charles and me. Tony wanted to advocate for green technology, solar, etc. I apologize for how I talked to and handled Tony's call. Because I did not agree with him was no excuse for my being rude and I will do my best to not let that happen again. Tony and I disagree on these issues which is fine by my book. Most of the time listeners don't know my own thoughts on lots of the topics discussed on TSS so you have no clue if I concur or not with what is being said, but I did engage Tony & I should have been more respectful with him. I understand the validity of the points he was making though I dispute that any of that is reality at this time in the U.S. We ended this special program by pointing out that our regular March OL show is Tuesday, March 4. I will make an announcement when I can reschedule Dr. Bell. Please post your comments/questions on TSS blog above. If you want to reach any of our callers or emailiers, you can do so through me.
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