Guest: Dennis Wingo; Topics: Concepts for lunar industrialization and economic development, plus much more. Please direct all comments and questions regarding specific Space Show programs & guest(s) to the Space Show blog which is part of archived program on our website, www.thespaceshow.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. In addition, please remember that your Amazon purchases can help support The Space Show/OGLF. See www.onegiantleapfoundation.org/amazon.htm.
We welcomed back Dennis Wing to discuss his peer reviewed paper published by the New Space Journal, "Site Selection for Lunar Industrialization, Economic Development, and Settlement." I suggest you download this paper and follow along with the definitions, figures, and tables as Dennis takes us through most of this paper in discussion lunar economic development and industrialization. You can download the paper at http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/pdf/10.1089/space.2015.0023. During the first segment of our 1 hour 43 minute discussion, Dennis started off by telling us about an August 2014 small meeting in Silicon Valley that put forth the questions which was could five very wealthy people, putting up a billion dollars each, get us back to the Moon in a sustainable and economic way by 2023. The paper that Dennis wrote accepted this challenge and put forth scenarios for how this might happen. Thus, much of the first segment was devoted to going through is paper, making sure we were all on board with common definitions, plus he talked about getting more useful power (energy) on the Moon to accomplish more things. You will hear why Dennis supported going to the poles, why there is more power available at the poles and why the north pole was preferable to the south pole.
There were several listener email questions asking Dennis about lunar landers, alternative power sources and methods, and more. One of the things Dennis said was this was a radical departure from NASA architecture. In fact, as this was a private project, he also said there would be a need to "jettison" NASA science since NASA was not paying the bills. That said, you will hear him make use of the excellent data that NASA has collected over the years through their lunar missions and research. Also, Dennis went into specifics for the two polar locations and referenced the important use of the NASA LMMP portal.
In the second segment, Roger got the first email question asking Dennis what he thought the regulatory and policy environment would be for the plan he was discussing. Dennis said it was unknown as it was way too early to even talk to policy makers and regulatory types. He said his paper assumes such issues will be worked through.
Dennis also addressed 3D printing, saying it was a revolution and can lower some manufacturing costs by 75%. Dennis then said that the north pole was better as the south pole consisted of very rugged terrain. He said the north pole was for industry, the south pole for science.
The use of thorium on the Moon was talked about as a resource for power along with other ISRU development. Then Dennis talked about building spacecraft on the Moon which would allow for larger craft, shielding, and more due to the low lunar gravity. Don't miss this discussion. Doug asked about financing the project with a public private partnership. Again, don't miss what Dennis had to say about this.
Randy sent in an email suggesting that there have been lots of good ideas that get proposed but nothing seems to come of them. He wanted to know why this concept being promoted by Dennis would be different. Dennis talked about his approach, doing things step by step and in ways that are doable. Next, Dennis was asked what was in it for the billionaires to finance this lunar development project.
Dennis spent some time discussing the answer to the what's in it question mentioned above. He talked about lots of non-financial benefits important to our future, humanity, the billionaires and their families. It’s a very interesting view presented by Dennis and it may surprise some of you. Don't miss what Dennis had to say on this subject.
Near the end of the show, Dennis mentioned the recently held Space2.0 conference event in Silicon Valley saying it showed that this was a great time to be investing in space. A listener asked Dennis if he was concerned about the change in administrations when the new president takes over. Dennis said that what the government does was not that relevant to his work or plans. In the remaining minutes, he talked about crowd funding programs, & the availability of money for good space development projects. By the way, a few minutes earlier he was asked about going to Mars instead of the Moon. You will want to hear what he had to say in response to this listener regarding this always asked question.
Please post your comments/questions in the comments section for this archived show on The Space Show website. Visit the Dennis Wingo blog, www.denniswingo.wordpress.com. The paper he said he would be publishing right away will be posted there though it was not yet available when I archived this program.
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