Guest: Leonard David; Topics: Leonard's new book, "Moon Rush: The New Space Race" and our return to the Moon plus other topics.
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We welcomed Leonard David back to this one segment 93 minute program focusing on Leonard's new book, "Moon Rush: The New Space Race" plus many additional issues and topics. I started the discussion by asking Leonard who was racing who to the Moon. Don't miss his response to this question which eventually zeroed in on China and most likely the U.S. private sector, possibly with NASA. Leonard made sure to state that space today and today's return to the Moon, should it happen, would not look anything like the old space program with Apollo. Make sure you hear all of what our guest had to say on this topic. Remember, we want to hear from you so do post your comments and opinions on our blog for this program.
A repeated theme throughout our discussion was the need to start doing something and to stay positive. He spoke about the problem of having lots of naysayers, plus people attacking and finding fault with V.P. Pence and others. He said it did not matter what we thought about Mr. Pence, or the Trump Administration because we needed to get behind the policy of getting back to the Moon. Leonard spoke addressed all the policy programs started and stopped by previous presidents re the Moon or even Mars. He said we now were in the throws of yet another administration's policy plan to go back to the Moon and onward from there. He wondered would this one end like the others or would we be able this time around to implement the new program. He said it was a big unknown but he was hoping this time would be different. In addition, Leonard said we had much to learn, we needed robotic exploratory missions to close what he called the Strategic Knowledge Gap, and that we had to prepare ourselves for accidents, possible loss of life and unexpected challenges. He cited the recent Dragon capsule accident as an example indicating we had much to learn before getting back to the Moon. He said we needed to get it right and we had lots of work to do in preparation of sending humans back to the Moon.
Other topics included a frank discussion about military space and having a Space Force. He referenced cislunar intelligence gathering and spoke to his experiences in this area which you will find most interesting. As for lunar resources, he was not certain as to their value or market use and said robotic exploration was needed to ascertain if lunar resources such as water ice could be used, how much was actually available, how would it be extracted and at what cost. Frequently during our discussion he said all of this was unknown despite the talk being tossed around regarding lunar resource utilization.
Leonard was asked several questions about his book, his research for the book and surprises along the way as well as favorite chapters. Don't miss this part of our discussion. Leonard addressed Lessons Learned and talked about the lunar dust problem and 3D printing. In addition, he said artists were the ones making money right so be sure to listen to this part of the discussion. The Lunar Gateway was talked about as was the recent testimony by Gene Kranz before the Senate Commerce and Transportation Committee. https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.spaceref.com/docs/2019/gene-kranz-testimony.pdf. I suggest reading what Mr. Kranz said as he addressed the leadership crisis we often talk about on TSS. Do you think anyone on that Committee was listening? Please let us know what you think by posting on our blog.
Toward the end of the program, an email came in asking Leonard if he was following the Tic Tac Navy F18 UFO incidents. Leonard has had a long time interest in UFOs and has been very public about it. We then had about a 20 minute talk on Tic Tac which Leonard said he was following. Don't miss what he had to say about it and why he thought it was a story worth following. John Hunt called in to share in the discussion.
Leonard writes for Space.Com and other publications but his website where you can read many of his posts and stories is www.leonarddavid.com. Be sure to check it out. You can also reach Leonard through that site or me.
Please post your comments/questions on the blog for this show.
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