Guest: Robert (Bob) Zimmerman. Topics: NASA FY13 budget & space policy. White Nose Syndrome bat update. You are invited to comment, ask questions, and discuss the Space Show program/guest(s) on the Space Show blog, http://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments, questions, and any discussion must be relevant and applicable to Space Show programming. Transcripts of Space Show programs are not permitted without prior written consent from The Space Show (even if for personal use) & are a violation of the Space Show copyright. We welcomed Bob Zimmerman back to the program for his preliminary analysis of the NASA portion of the FY13 budget just released by the White House. You can obtain more information about Mr. Zimmerman and the issues he writes about at his blog, http://behindtheblack.com. Bob also provided an analysis of the NASA budget at http://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/essays-and-commentaries/a-tr…. Bob started out by saying the NASA part of the budget was flat. That said, he also said the Mars and planetary programs faced serious cuts. He pointed out that missions in progress were still being funded, new missions such as the EuroMars missions were being scrapped though in the case of Mars, a new program was being created, the Mars Next Decade Program. Bob went on to say the astronomy budget was being squeezed to finish the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) which has its own line item in the budget. The JWST was decimating the astronomy budget. He pointed out that the Kepler Space Telescope (KST) was being zeroed out in another year or so after it has completed its primary mission. Turning to manned space, Bob described it as contradictory. Commercial Crew would receive $830 million but of course congress may change that. Also, SLS and Orion continue getting around $3 billion. Bob talked about the flight plan for SLS & Orion and like many others, predicted the program would ultimately be cancelled. Bob received lots of listener questions by email & phone addressing topics including a nuclear rocket, Mars Direct, DOD space funding issues, and the PR value for NASA for the HSF program. Bob then suggested that history has shown that if the HSF program suffers, all of NASA suffers and pointed out that is happening now. Later, Marshall called to suggest that ESA might not be able to fund their part of the Mars programs due to European economic problems. Bob speculated that our cutting participation may actually have been in anticipation of this to avoid problems down the road because of the European economic woes. At the end of this segment, we talked about the successful European Vega rocket launch. In segment two, Bob talked about new information regarding sun spots and climate per a recently reviewed paper. Check out the story at http://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/essays-and-commentaries/the-…. We also talked about the 2012 plan proposed by the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in its search for Higgs boson. Listeners brought up the nuclear rocket, the Cassini mission in the budget, and more on JWST. Bob also reported some new developments with LightSquared, the FCC, and GPS issues. Tim called in with questions about the sun and an electro magnetic pulse (EMP). As the program ended, I asked Bob for another update on the White Nose Syndrome which has killed lots of bats in the northeast. Bob closed by saying the upcoming Falcon 9 & Dragon launch plus the Orbital Antares launch may prove to be the most important events of the year. He said they were risky ventures, especially the Antares launch and program. Please post your comments/questions on The Space Show blog. You can email Bob through me or from his website, Behind The Black.
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