Dr. Pat Patterson and Dr. Charles Swenson joined The Space Show to discuss the upcoming SmallSat Conference in Logan, Utah. We began the interview Dr. Patterson giving us the history of the SmallSat conference. We then began talking about education in the U.S., engineers, funding for science and space related programs in schools and universities and much more. Listeners can learn more about the SmallSat conference by visiting www.smallsat.org. Registration for the conference is still available.

Jane Reifert, President of Incredible Adventures, Inc, was the guest for this Space Show program which first aired on Monday, July 17, then again on Sunday, July 23. We began the interview with Jane giving us a brief history of Incredible Adventures and some of its offerings in air and space. From here, we went into further detail about the MIG flights to the edge of space and the space training and support adventures offered by this company. Ms. Reifert spoke at some length regarding space tourism and especially suborbital tourism from a business and marketing point of view.

Dr. Jordin Kare returned to The Space Show to update us on laser launch. Laser launch, as we learned from Dr. Kare, is making progress and the price for components is coming down. In this program, we learned the basics and the theory behind laser launch, we discussed many of its applications from LEO uses, to launching nuclear waste to deep space, to space solar power, and to playing a significant role in the VSE in conjunction with on orbit construction. We discussed the economics of laser launch and how it supports the space elevator.

John Spencer returned to The Space Show to update us on matters concerning space tourism. We began the interview with John summarizing space tourism developments since he was last on the show in August 2005. We spoke about suborbital tourism, the companies involved in the suborbital vehicle programs, and his yacht plans which John is well known for and which he as written about in his book, "Space Tourism - Do You Want To Go?" The book, published in 2004 by Apogee, is still available and is a must read for those of you interested in space tourism.

Dr. Molly Macauley was the guest for this special Space Show program. As Dr. Macauley is an economist, we started the interview with her economic analysis based on her recent research project regarding space solar power (SSP). The first hour of the program was an in-depth economic examination of SSP. You will not want to miss it. We then discussed prizes by NASA and others, plus tax incentives. Dr. Macauley provided us with her economic point of view on what types of prizes and economic incentives work best to build a robust private space program.

Dr. Alan Hale returned to The Space Show for this program. We began the interview discussing near Earth asteroids and the orbits of several of the asteroids coming close to Earth. Dr. Hale told us about the one scheduled to be closer to Earth than a GEO satellite on Friday, April 13, 2009, Apophis. Dr. Hale spoke to us about comets, the Deep Impact mission and related topics. We also discussed how finding asteroids and comets had changed due to the more professional survey systems now in place making it much more difficult for an armature to make a discovery. Dr.

Tom Hill and Marilyn Glass were the guests for this program discussing their new book for children, "I Want To Go To Mars." This book is designed for primary school children to excite them about space and in particular Mars. You can learn more about the book and order it online at www.lulu.com/content/231914. We also discussed space education for kids and the school system in general, space and science teachers, and how to motivate kids for space and science.

Dr. Sean Casey was the guest for this Space Show program. Dr. Casey began by explaining to us the SOFA program which is the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy. This led to an in-depth discussion of SOFIA, other telescopes and infrared telescopes, the process for doing a science based telescope projects and more. We talked about the SOFIA 747SP, how it was being modified, the type of flight paths it would make and what it could observe. We also discussed educational outreach for SOFIA and teacher experience opportunities.

Tim Bendel, President of Frontier Astronautics, was the guest for this Space Show program. We began the interview talking with Tim about the rocket engine and guidance system his company is making. Tim took us through the engine development from the most basic level to an advanced level. The same with the guidance system. We also spoke about the rocket equation, how to build low cost space access vehicles within the parameters dictated by the rocket equation and this provided us with a good low cost space access reality check and discussion.

Sir Charles W. Shults III returned for this Space Show program. Sir Charles began the interview talking about new fossil discoveries on Mars, how he identifies the fossils, the source NASA photography, and what it means for finding fossils on Mars. He even addressed why this information is not discussed by NASA or JPL at this time. As part of this discussion, we talked about various salts and water on Mars, the atmosphere, and color photography showing us what we think are realistic colored photographs of the Red Planet.