Guests: Open Lines with Dr. David Livingston. Topics: This is a wide ranging discussion with several callers on a variety of space topics. See below. You are invited to comment, ask questions, & discuss the Space Show program/guest(s) on the Space Show blog, http://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments, questions, & any discussion must be relevant & 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. I opened the program with a list of discussion topics including a request for help if you know something about the Droid smartphone podcasting issue a listener brought to our attention. Next, I mentioned several items of interest in the opening monolog. Below are some of the URLs associated with this part of the discussion. 1) Popular Mechanics article on SAA to the FAR www.popularmechanics.com/science/space/nasa/is-this-nasa-document-savin…; 2) Darren Rhyne's Afghanistan article www.dau.mil/pubscats/ATL%20Docs/nov_dec11/Rhyne.pdf; 3) Rand Simberg's article on space development & settlement http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/it%e2%80%99s-the-space-development-and-set…; 4) Tom Murphy's article Why Not Space http://physics.ucsd.edu/do-the-math/2011/10/why-not-space; 5) The NY Times article by Kenneth Change on Nasa & propellant depots www.nytimes.com/2011/10/23/science/space/23nasa.html?_r=2. Our THREE hour discussion was comprehensive on a variety of topics. Mark Bray who participated throughout the entire show, discussed the space situation in Huntsville, contractors with Marshall Spaceflight Center, his attendance at the recent Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee (COMSTAC) meeting, congressional funding, heavy lift, SLS & more. Don't miss what Mark shared with us. Mark's call was followed by a break, then we started the 2nd segment with Dan Adamo on the recent NY Times article on propellant depots. He had much to say about propellant depots & their placement, LEO, & beyond. I mentioned several Space Show expert programs on the subject representing all views on the depot. I urge you to listen to the programs mentioned. Dan also talked about his coming Space News Op-Ed "Evolving a Responsible Human Space Flight Architecture." He also talked about Launch on Need (LON) for crew safety, about the size & capability of the planned SLS heavy lift as well as heavy lift in general. In our third segment, Mark Bray called again to comment from the inside on the designing of the SLS, the role of congress, & the overall impact of negative journalism on the issue, plus the risks to the space program of negative journalism & op-eds. He also talked about efforts to do outreach to the emerging commercial & New Space companies, offering NASA expertise for free to help them & how those outreach efforts have been received so far. The subject then switched to crew safety with some listeners saying NASA was not interested in safety. Mark explained the process, including funding, & how compromises get made up the project management ladder when funding is reduce but the project must go forward. We addressed the idea of stepping stones & incremental space development, especially for HSF. Commercial products along such a path make it worth while , especially if the commercial projects facilitate reaching the project's goal. Near the end of the program, Charles called in to say the only thing to do was to bypass NASA & the system, instead opting for small, incremental programs. The last call was from Andrew of the Tea Party In Space as he talked about space advocacy. Post your comments & questions on the blog URL above. Despite this being a very long program, its a program you want to hear start to finish.
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The Space Show
