Guest: Henry Vanderbilt. Topics: Space Access Conference 2013 & Planetary Defense issues. 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 back Henry Vanderbilt for our annual program in support of the upcoming Space Access Conference to be held in Phoenix, Arizona from April 11-13, 2013. For detailed conference information, hotel & conference registration, and for speaker and program information, please visit www.space-access.org. During the first hour of our 90 minute program, Henry described the conference, talked about many of the speakers, and the issues facing the general space industry as well as commercial space for 2013. He also talked about other national space programs and how they were moving forward with their space budgets and plans, even in the commercial space world. Near the end of the first segment, we covered the conference logistics in some detail, including registration and hotel information. All of this is available on their website. In the second segment, Henry spoke about planetary defense issues in their latest newsletter issue. You can read this issue at www.space-access.org/updates/sau130.html. Henry went over the planetary defense issues based on the observations of Comet 2012-A1 which may be headed for Mars. He asked the question what if this comet were headed for Earth and we knew about it at least two years before reaching Earth. Could we do anything about it? He concluded that we might be able to deflect it and put forth his deflection scenarios in the newsletter and our on air discussion. For the most part, his concept makes use of hydrogen bombs exploding near the comet before it reaches Earth. The explosions heat up one side of the comet causing a sort of exhaust from the volatiles slightly changing the course of the comet. Not only will you find this to be an interesting discussion but I urge you to read his paper on the subject as he goes into detail about the energy needed, how to do it, the launch issue, etc. He said that the political and leadership issues were probably more challenging than the technical challenges. Please post your comments/questions on The Space Show blog per above. You can email Henry about the conference or with other questions using space.access@mindspring.com. If you want to subscribe to the conference newsletters and the Space Access mailings such as the newsletter, send your request to this email address and Henry will add you to the list.
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