Robert Zimmerman returned to this special Space Show program to update listeners on the recently held ISDC Conference in Washington, DC and more. Robert began the update talking about the opening remarks by Burt Rutan and his NASA comments. Following Burt were NASA speakers that had to address the issues cited by Mr. Rutan. Mr. Zimmerman discussed some of what he has been told regarding the three different types of divisions within NASA at this time pertaining to the implementation of the new vision and NASA culture reforms. Mr. Zimmerman also talked about the legal and policy section of the ISDC which he chaired and noted how the attendance for this track was lower than many of the other tracks. He mentioned papers addressing property rights and even something similar to the Mayflower Compact. This led to an interesting discussion referencing the Pilgrims with space settlement and development. Listeners asked Mr. Zimmerman several questions. One listener wanted to know about the developing commercial space industry and if Mr. Zimmerman thought there might eventually be a bloodbath among the entrepreneurial space companies. Issues pertaining to developing space infrastructure were discussed and time was devoted to discussing Virgin Galactic and what they told the audience at ISDC about their pending space tourist flights. During the last half hour of the show, Mr. Zimmerman let us know that UPI had cancelled his weekly space article, primarily because they made a decision that they could not earn sufficient revenues by covering space subjects. Instead , UPI will be covering consumer health and broadband issues. For Space Show listeners familiar with Mr. Zimmerman's excellent weekly article, you might want to drop a polite note to the UPI Science Editor saying why you think its a bad idea to drop the Zimmerman article and to stop space coverage. The email address for the UPI science editor is science_desk@upi.com. Robert Zimmerman's website can be found at http://members.bellatlantic.net/~vze3cxxp/zimbib.htm. Mr. Zimmerman can be contacted at zimmerman@nasw.org.
Guest
The Space Show
