Guest: Dr. Ajay Kothari; Topics: Returning to the Moon re his concept "Next Giant Leap For America To The Moon." Please direct all comments and questions regarding specific Space Show programs & guest(s) to the Space Show blog which is part of archived program on our website, www.thespaceshow.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.
We welcomed back Dr. Ajay Kothari to the show to discuss his plan for returning to the Moon. His plan, "Next Giant Leap for America To The Moon," has been uploaded to our blog so follow along with it as Dr. Kothari talks with us about returning to the Moon. Ajay goes through is presentation, slide by slide, so it is a must to reference his PDF during our discussion. Our guest started out by explaining why it was important to return to the Moon, especially the Moon first before Mars, then he went into the economic and technical aspects of the project using existing technology and hardware or soon to be developed technology and hardware. Most of the first segment dealt with the technology of the plan, rockets, reusability, lunar equipment and habs, new technologies like on orbit refueling and of course economics. Our guest took us through all of this slide by slide so it made lots of sense.
Listeners asked him several questions during the discussion. Ajay would pause his discussion of his plan, respond to the question and go back to discussing his plan while always making the very strong point of why it was needed and what the overall benefits would be by doing this or a similar plan for lunar development. With his discussion and the listener questions, I strongly suggest you carefully listen to the first segment of our program while following along with the slides he mentioned from his PDF which is on the blog.
In the second segment, we started where we left off in dealing with slide 15 and the Falcon Heavy potential to this program. Slide 16 was about using the tanks for the initial has. Remember, Ajay's goal with this program is to have 1,000 people living and working on the Moon over a reasonable time line which he mentioned during his discussion. At this point, BJohn asked why not go first to the Martian moons as they would probably be easier to get to and maybe less costly. Ajay talked again about the 3 day travel time to the Moon versus 6 months or more travel time to Mars. He kept making the point and explaining it as to why first the Mon, then to Mars, the Martian moons and beyond.
About halfway through the second half, Ajay focused more on the economics of his project. Make sure you hear what he had to say because he showed how to get to the moon with lower costs and how the choice of rockets and technologies influenced his economic choices. Doug sent in a note asking about Bigelow tanks instead of the ones suggested by Ajay. Freemont John and BJohn sent in a few more questions and then I asked Ajay what he was doing to implement his program. Don't miss the dead air and what he then had to say about any implementation plans he had. I suggested he start speaking at some conferences and strongly urged him to see if he could still get in on the Starship Congress because his topic was made to order for that even. The last questions was from Sherry who wanted to know if his project would be international in scope or American only. Don't miss what Ajay said about this as it might surprise you.
Please post your comments/questions on TSS blog for this program. You can reach Ajay through the address on his PDF or through me.
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