Dr. Burton Lee returned for this Space Show program to update us on the recent Space Venture Finance Symposium which was held in Dallas on May 24, 2007. This was a comprehensive review of this important event. Burton not only went into detail about many of the talks and the symposium programming, but he fielded many listener questions and entertained two listener toll free calls. In response to several listener questions, he outlined the plans for future space investing programs including a discussion of location, dates, participants and desired audience. Another listener asked if the time was now right for entrepreneurial and space start-up investing and were we finally though the phase of flakey business plans and unqualified management teams. Don't miss his response to this question. Several listener questions came in about spaceports and their development. Near the end of the program, we also discussed support businesses development for spaceports and should such support businesses be brought in to the space community as they are needed to help create the necessary infrastructure for spaceports to be successful and to attract people. Reno, NV and the Reno Air Races were an example and I talked about how remote Spaceport America is today and the type of infrastructure improvement that would be necessary to support people attending rocket racing for example over the long haul. I talked about seeing if I could get some motel/hotel executives to come on The Space Show to ask them about their interest in space and willingness to invest in a remote area near a spaceport. If listeners can help with guests from any such motel/hotel companies, please let me know. As part of this discussion, Dr. Lee did emphasize the work being done at the state and development office level for Spaceport America to attract these needed support businesses. The Space Venture Finance Symposium was outstanding and provided yet another quality forum demonstrating the qualities of the commercial space market for investment potential. Dr. Lee did mention that the press could have shown improvement. This part of the discussion is early in the program and I think its important for us all to understand because we need realistic and smart media reporting. To this end, venue and timing of an event may have as much to do with quality media coverage as anything else. For your follow up questions and comments, please email Dr. Burton Lee at burton.lee@gmail.com.
Guest
The Space Show
