Guest: Dr. William Farrand. Topics: Mars orbiters and rovers, multispectral & hyperspectral remote sensing data. Please direct all comments and questions regarding Space Show programs/guest(s) to the Space Show blog, http://thespaceshow.wordpress.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. We welcomed Dr. William (Bill) Farrand to the program to discuss Martian multispectral & hyperspectral remote sensing data, the same for the Earth and throughout our solar system. To find out more about Dr. Farrand and his work, please visit his website at http://farrviewconsulting.com. In the first segment of our 90 minute discussion, we talked about the Mars solar conjunction, what the rover Opportunity is doing during the conjunction, Opportunity's longevity, and why Spirit quit working. We also talked about Curiosity, then I asked our guest about both multispectral and hyperspectral remote sensing data for Mars. Dr. Farrand explained the imaging and the instruments in addition what we learn about Mars and other solar system objects through the remote sensing instruments providing us with this data. In fact, in response to a listener email, our guest talked about remote sensing data from the Messenger, Cassini, Dawn, and other missions. I asked our guest about minerals on Mars and throughout the solar system and how they might differ from the same mineral here on Earth. Doug sent in a question about trades with the science missions as compared to doing a human spaceflight mission. Our guest expanded the discussion to include very expensive science missions as opposed to more missions but lower in cost. Dr. Farrand talked about the proposed commercial space missions to the Moon, Mars, and for resource utilization. He also talked about the prize system as being a good way to further commercial exploration and development. A listener asked about getting timely data released to the public. Our guest directed us to the Planetary Data System which houses all the mission data, usually about six months after it was first obtained. In our second segment, Doug asked that if Curiosity comes up empty, might that seriously put life on Mars into doubt? Don't miss the response, it might surprise you. We then discussed Curiosity and what it was up to at this time plus more on Opportunity. As for future Mars missions, we talked about Maven and then our guest was asked if the current Mars science and robotic missions were designed to pave the way for an eventual human spaceflight mission to Mars. He said they were not so tightly linked but it’s a discussion you will want to hear. Our questions then changed to NASA economics and sequestration as our guest was asked for his thoughts on cutbacks, sequestration, moral, etc. I asked about Earth remote sensing and we talked about Landsat satellites and Landsat 8. Also the commercial World View 2 and the coming World View 3. We talked about buying commercial data as opposed to using government sourced data, plus AI, real time data acquisition and more. Near the end, Karen asked about the role the scientist plays in designing & developing the satellites & tools on board it. Please post your comments and questions on The Space Show blog above. You can email our guest through his website or me using drspace@thespaceshow.com.
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