Guest: Dr. Jeff Bell. Topics: Dr. Bell offered us a critique of many aspects of both the NewSpace & traditional space industry. 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. After a long absence, we welcomed Dr. Jeff Bell back to the show for a nearly 2.5 hour critique of NewSpace as well as traditional aerospace. In the first segment of our very long program, Dr. Bell started off talking about the SpaceShip2 accident and the NTSB report, then he went into a lengthy discussion about hybrid rocket motors. Later in the segment, he turned his attention to first stage recovery efforts regarding the Falcon 9, testing procedures, ground testing, and more. Jeff had much to say about these & other topics which covered the first hour of the program. In the second longer segment, Jeff from Tucson was the first caller. He started off by talking about a book Dr. Bell had recommended on a previous Space Show program "Ignition." Per our discussion, it is a free download book at http://web.gccaz.edu/~wkehowsk/ignition.pdf. Other topics in this segment included the Ranger Program, lots on cubesats as Dr. Bell questioned the usefulness of very small satellites. Later on, Dr. Bell recommended another book, this one by George Sutton, "History of Liquid Propellant Rocket Engines." Another topic Jeff seemed to go after was what he referred to as, "NewSpace Patent Wars. He particularly zeroed in on the Blue Origin-Space X patent dispute over landing first stage rockets on a barge to achieve reusable first stages. Jeff then told how patent wars had been used over the years and he cited many different examples, including going back to Robert Goddard. Later in the segment, he suggested many of these influences were a result of the influence Silicon Valley has had on the space industry, particularly NewSpace. He then talked about booster recovery in general. Doug sent in a note asking Jeff which he preferred, the SpaceX's propulsive recovery or ULA's airborne recovery of just the engines. Before the segment ended, Jeff addressed Antares and the use of Russian rocket motors. More was said about cubesats, then Jeff took off on government subsidized programs. His last topic or target one might say was suborbital tourism. Don't miss what he had to say about this part of the industry. Please post your comments/questions on TSS blog above.
Guest
The Space Show
