Guest: Dr. John S. Lewis. Topics: China's space program, He3, fusion, the Moon, and more. Please note that 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. In our fist segment, Dr. Lewis began discussing the Chinese space program which was discussed in depth during the entire interview. One of the questions asked him was about China's possible membership in the ISS partnership. Don't miss his response but also note what he said about the Khrushchev Principle. In response to other listener questions, Dr. Lewis described the difference between urban and rural China as to space awareness and education. There were also listener questions pertaining to "Mining The Sky: Untold Riches from the Asteroids, Comets, and Planets," the famous book written by our guest. By the way, this book is available on the OGLF Amazon partners page. If you buy it using www.amazon.com/dp/0201328194?tag=onegialeafou-20, Amazon will make a contribution to OGLF/The Space Show. Listener Chris called in from Argentina and asked Dr. Lewis about faith and religion and how it had impacted his science and work. Our second segment started with a discussion on space resources and finding a market. For example, Dr. Lewis said we would not be returning hydrocarbons to Earth. Later, he talked about the Chinese program being a great source of national pride as was the Apollo program to the United States. Our discussion move to He3 on the Moon but as you will hear, we talked about it quite a bit during the balance of the interview. Dr. Lewis talked about He3 on the Moon, the outer planets, and fielded a question about it on Mars. During this discussion, he did say without fusion energy, He3 did not have that much value. That said, Dr. Lewis reported on the status of developing fusion energy using the ITER as an example and said progress was being made. Another thing Dr. Lewis pointed out was that to extract one ton of He3 on the Moon, you need to process 100 million tons of lunar regolith. As you will hear him say, we need to develop a very small test program to see if we can even process He3 from the regolith. Note what he said about the harsh conditions and environment that one will have to work in for both men and equipment to process He3. Toward the end of the second segment, a listener asked him for a comparison of the Indian lunar program with the Chinese program. Our third segment started with a question about He3 on Mars. You will hear Dr. Lewis explain why this is a non-starter. Charles called in to discuss the D-T model for fusion. Mark inquired some more about NEOs and co-orbitals and asked Dr. Lewis for his favorites for development. The Japanese program was discussed with Dr. Lewis saying it was a very serious program. The 2011 Chinese lunar schedule was mentioned with the approaching launch of Shenzhou VIII. Toward the end of our program, Dr. Lewis told us about his upcoming science fiction books, a few of which will be released this year. Check out www.johnslewis.com for more information about the topics we discussed today and the works and blog of Dr. Lewis. If you have comments or questions for Dr. John Lewis, please post them on The Space Show blog. You can also post comments and questions for Dr. Lewis on his website.
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The Space Show
