Guest: Open Lines with Dr. David Livingston. Topics: High school student space interview, Proton-M rocket launch, NASA Arsenic life form announcement, Outer Space Treaty models, space property rights, Whistleblowing and MRAPs. Please note that you are invited to comment, ask questions, and rate this program on the new Space Show blog, http://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. In the early part of the first segment, I listed numerous discussion topics for today's program, but only a few of the topics were picked up by listeners for discussion. Our initial caller was Andrew in Tucson who called in as a follow up to some of his more recent comments about property rights, the OST, and models such as Svalbard in Norway and the 1920 Spitsbergen Treaty. We are planning a more comprehensive program with Andrew to explore these models for space development but listen and see what you think. Check out these websites for more information on this subject: www.aeco.no/MicrosoftWord-TheSvalbardTreaty.pdf.pdf; www.austlii.edu.au/au/other/dfat/treaties/1925/10.html. After Andrew's call, Dave Hook called in to talk about the plight facing Space Show friend and guest Franz Gayl. Franz was a whistleblower re MRAP vehicles needed to save lives in our current wars and is facing reprisals for his actions. You need to hear this story as Dave tells it and later as Franz tells us as he called in to our show. Franz was then joined by Dr. Jurist. You can read about the case in this Washington Post article: www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/19/AR201011190347…. In addition to talking about Franz and the MRAPs, we brought everyone current on the status of the SUSTAIN Technology Roadmap. Its still possible that this roadmap will be published and released. If and when that happens, you will find out about on the program and we will be sure to tell everyone where to find a copy of the roadmap. The second segment began with the call by Franz so listen carefully to what he had to say. Since it appeared from our discussion that going after a person's security clearance was a way around the Whistleblower Act, we talked about this on air. Franz told us there was a petition for people to sign, the Whistleblower Protection Letter. If this interests you, check out the petition and pass it along to your friends: www.change.org/petitions/view/pass_whistleblower_protection_in_lame_duck. As we started the third segment, we took some calls about the arsenic life form story per the NASA PR statement and as you will hear, our callers did not think much of the story. We took some calls about the high student interview I did about space development and its importance with several listeners answering some of the questions, specifically #9 and #10. See what you think of the listener answers. Shortly after the show ended, the student emailed me with this comment: "Thank you very much for the recommendation of the paper and the talk show. It was extremely helpful, especially with the responses from question 9. I guess that question was a little biased, I didn't really word that one too well to stay neutral. My paper was supposed to show people from both points of view, and I think question 9 was more supportive of the other side of the argument. Otherwise thanks very much. I appreciate you taking your time answering my interview questions." Toward the end of the program, Marshall called in to talk about SSP and the high school student interview. If you have questions or comments for any of the participants contributing to this program, send them to me and I will forward your email to the person you designate. Don't forget to post your comments and question the blog URL above. Those interested in downloading the National Academies Press report I mentioned on air regarding the student questions, visit www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=11820.
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