radiation

Guest: Irene Schneider returned to The Space Show for this program to discuss the Phoenix Lander on Mars, radiation, and Martian astrobiology including the search for present and/or past microbial life on Mars. Our discussion with Irene covered many topics as we took a close look at the ongoing search for microbial life on Mars, how it is being carried out, and what the chances are for finding such life on Mars. We talked about the harsh environment and noted that even here on Earth life can exist in extremes, even in high radiation, so why not on Mars?

Guests: Dr. Tom Jones and Dr. Ellen Stofan were the guests for this program to discuss their new book, "Planetology: Unlocking The Secrets Of The Solar System." We started our discussion with Drs. Jones and Stofan telling us how they got together and collaborated on this book which contains 250 unique color photographs plus an equal amount of exciting and informative text.

Guest: Norman J. Gerstein was the guest for this special Space Show program. Mr. Gerstein was deeply involved in Rover/NERVA and we discussed these programs in detail. He was part of the KIWI-TNT team and involved in the cleanup by picking up the debris with a wheelbarrow and tongs. Norm described these programs in detail along with the nuclear rocket which we compared to chemical rockets. Norm made it very clear that one needs a mission to do these programs. Another way of saying it, is to make sure there is a need. Since there was no need (no mission), the programs were cancelled.

Guest: Dr. Melcho Antunano, Director of Civil Aerospace Medical Institute at the FAA, was the guest for this Space Show program. Our primary topic for discussion was the role of the FAA in setting policy, guidelines, or requirements for medical qualifications for flight crews and spaceflight participants for both suborbital and orbital space tourism. Dr. Antunano pointed out several times that the FAA does not set the policy or requirements. Instead, they produce guidelines only and it is then up to the spaceflight companies to issue their own standards and guidelines.

Guest: Jim Greenhaw, team leader of the Tech Ranch team in the recent Lunar Regolith Challenge, was our guest for today's show. Jim's team was the first place winner in this year's Lunar Regolith Challenge held a few weeks ago at Cal Poly University. We talked extensively about his robot and you can see it and follow our discussion by going to http://www.techranch.com/tornado/photos/. We explored the robotic construction, what other teams did, how he came up with design and much more.

Guests: Dr. Pat Patterson, Jim Marshall, Dr. John Jurist, Dr. Billie Reed, Chris McCormick, Christian Lenz. This program consists of three sets of interviews from the August 2008 SmallSat Conference located on the campus of Utah State University in Logan, Utah. Our first discussion includes Dr. Pat Patterson of Utah State University and Jim Marshall, the Director of Business Development for the Space Dynamics Lab (SDL), plus others from the SDL who explain their projects as well as talk about being a student, intern, or PI in the program.

Guest: Dr. Jim Logan was the guest for this Space Show program. Dr. Logan kicked off the discussion with a reality check of the body of evidence that we have accumulated during the 47 years of human space flight. He talked about two major potential showstoppers, micro/hypo gravity and radiation. As we discussed during the show, we know quite a bit about these two areas, but we do not yet have a solution for the problems they create for long-term human spaceflight or settlement. Dr.

Guest : Andrew Thorpe, author of "The Commercial Space Station: Methods and Markets" was the guest for this Space Show program. To learn more about Andrew's books and work, please visit his website: www.maxastro.com. We began our discussion with Andrew explaining why the current ISS is not the commercial space station he talks about in his book. You will want to hear this distinction. We then discussed a series of potential markets in space including microgravity, protein crystal growth, space tourism, and more.

Guest: Dr. Vadim Rygalov, Assistant Professor of Space Studies at the University of North Dakota, returned for this program to discuss stress and emotional, physiological, psychological and radiological issues for long duration space missions. Dr. Rygalov began the discussion by summarizing the key issues facing those experiencing long duration space missions and he explained why most of the research focuses on short mission, which is defined as less than 3-5 months long. Do not miss this discussion. One listener asked Dr.

Guest: Dr. Donald Rapp was the guest for this Friday Space Show program. Dr. Rapp authored two new books, both of which were discussed on this program. During the first three-quarters of the show, we discussed his book, "Human Missions To Mars," and what it will take for humans to go to Mars. For the remaining part of the program, we discussed his book, "Assessing Climate Change," and here we facilitated an important discussion about the science behind climate change and global warming. Some listeners may find this to be a controversial show regarding both topics, so please be advised.