Guest: Christopher (Chris) Stott. Topics: Space commerce, ManSat, Isle of Man, communication satellites, Space Shuttle program. Please note that you are invited to comment, ask questions, and rate this program on the new Space Show blog, http://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. We welcomed Chris Stott back to the Space Show. Please visit the ManSat website for more information on his company, www.mansat.com. To learn more about the Business Man of the Year Award given to Chris Stott on the Isle of Man, please visit www.isleofman.com/News/business/article.aspx?article=30870. We congratulated Chris on being named the Business Person of the Year in the Isle of Man Newspapers Awards for Excellence. I then asked Chris to provide us with an introduction to his company, ManSat. As you will hear, this is a commercial space company specializing in the frequency and the regulatory processes for geo satellite operators. We talked about various frequencies such as the C band, KU Band, KA Band and newer spectrums, S,L, and V bands. We also discussed the new broadband satellites such as Sky Terra 1 with the company Lightsquared located in Reston, Va. A listener asked Chris about the maturity of the communication satellite industry. In responding to this question, Chris broke maturity down into several segments and issues so don't miss what he had to say. He also talked about the NewSpace industry and satellite and rocket insurance. In our second segment, we talked about the upcoming Discovery flight as his wife Nicole is one of the astronauts on the Discovery crew. Chris was asked several questions about the shuttles retiring and the safety of the shuttles. As you will hear, he does not want them to retire, he expressed strong views on shuttle safety as well as the future of our human spaceflight program and the direction our program seems to be headed. In describing the changes in our space program, he made an analogy to the direction the UK went in the 1980's when Margaret Thatcher ended the UK space program. We talked about this at length and its an important discussion. Chris believes we are on a similar path to what happened in the UK under Thatcher with similar results and this is a huge concern. Listen to what he said and see what you think. Could the British example serve as a warning to US space policy makers? Chris then told us about the Isle of Man, some of its history and why its such a strong commercial state within a state regarding the UK. Listeners took him back to the shuttle issue, asking him if there were ways the shuttle program could be kept flying rather than being retired. We then talked about economic issues and the costs of continuing with various space programs. Chris spoke about the economics of space and human spaceflight, calling for the ending of the separation with our economy and space as they should be merged. Don't miss this economic oriented discussion about space programs and policy. We also talked about his teaching space law. He offered some interesting comparisons with students in Europe and their view of private business as compared to students in Houston. Who out there is surprised? Toward the end of the program, we had several callers. John in Atlanta thought we needed a shock treatment to wake us up re space policy, Tim called in to talk about the role of government with space and wondered if we would have developed space at all without the Cold War. Greg called in to talk about space property rights. If you have questions or comments for Chris Stott, please post them on the blog URL above and you can send them to me at drspace@thespaceshow.com and I'll forward them to Chris.
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The Space Show
