Guest: Paul Breed; Topics: Developing a small launcher for smallsat orbital deployment, an overview of the space industry, Paul's big picture vision for space. 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 to the show Paul Breed of Unreasonable Rockets. Note that our program was carried out without a break so there is only one segment. Paul started talking about his plans to build a small sat launcher. As we were talking about Paul's plans, we discussed the work of the late Charles Pooley plus Paul's presentation at the recent Space Access Society Meeting in Phoenix. Note that Paul has posted on TSS blog some slide from his Space Access talk and the URL to his blog where you can follow his work. Paul had much to say about making a small, dedicated launcher for small sats and cubesats. He talked about simulation, GPS issues. At times his discussion was technical but again, follow along with his blog posts at
http://unreasonablerocket.blogspot.com. Paul was asked about others making small, dedicated small sat launchers. He talked about a few of the companies in this field plus competition in general.
Several times during the discussion he spoke favorably about the work being done by Masten Space Systems (http://masten.aero). Paul referenced the work being done by Masten several times during the program. Check them out at their website.
John emailed in a set of questions about the FAR and RRS history. From that discussion, Paul was asked about other Mojave companies including Interorbital Systems and XCOR. Paul spent some time discussing XCOR and the latest development with layoffs and the suspension of work on the Lynx. He also talked about questions he would ask XCOR folks at Space Access meetings that he says were never answered. In addition, there was a discussion about the Lynx and it being suspended at this time. His questions dealt with pumps and when did they think Lynx would fly. Regarding pumps, Paul had much to say on the subject. Paul also spoke to Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic.
The next subject Paul addressed was suggested by another listener regarding first stage reusability. Paul had much to say on this subject but for low cost access to space, he preferred to focus on building a reusable rocket factory to lower the costs for rockets. This is a different approach from working to lower launch costs by using reusable stages. What do you think about Paul's idea? Let us know on the blog. Paul then spoke about the OTRAG rocket concept for lowering launch costs. If you are unfamiliar with the OTRAG concept, you can get basic information here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OTRAG_(rocket).
As the program was about to end, Doug asked Paul for his big picture regarding space. Paul focused on resource utilization but don't miss all of what he had to say in response to Doug. John from Redding called in about resources and the practical vs. the attainable.
Please post your comments in the comments section for this archived program on TSS website.
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