Broadcast 991 (Special Edition)

Guest: Professor Joanne Gabrynowicz from the University of Mississippi School of Law returned for this program. We started our discussion with updates regarding remote sensing and the disaster reporting component of the global remote sensing network. This information is available on the Res Communis Blog located at http://rescommunis.wordpress.com. In fact, this blog should be required reading for everyone on a daily basis for its factual content impacting the space world, civil, government, military, foreign, and NewSpace. We also continued our discussion on the subject of informed consent for the space tourism industry. Tracey Knutson, attorney and previous Space Show guest, has a new article on the blog at the URL above. Other topics we discussed included the commercial viability of remote sensing, the recently announced Iranian space law (you can read about this on the Res Communis blog at http://rescommunis.wordpress.com/?s=tarikhi). Power politics over space policy as to the president or Congress was also discussed and as a result of a listener question, the issue of what a space advocate/enthusiast should know to facilitate better and more successful advocacy was also discussed. Other topics discussed included weapons in space, the Outer Space Treaty, and the difference with a space weapon designed to be used back here on Earth and designed to be used in space or on a space settlement. I presented Professor Gabrynowicz with the idea of her doing a workshop for those of us who are not attorneys and who might want a legal perspective/reality orientation to many of the issues we discussed on the show today plus many more. Professor Gabrynowicz was open to the idea so if you have an interest in attending such a workshop, let me know. As we just celebrated the 50th birthday for the NASA Space Act from 1958, we discussed this important piece of legislation and its continued modification over the years. Remote imaging issues for the Google Lunar X-Prize were also discussed, along with certain issues pertaining to the N-Prize given the potential need for a NOAA license. I believe this to be a very important program with lots of necessary and factual discussion points that you will want to know about. If you have any questions, please contact Professor Gabrynowicz at jgabryno@olemiss.edu or me at drspace@thespaceshow.com.