Kurt Klaus joined The Space Show guest family with this program. We began our discussing by capitalizing on Kurt's training and experience as an oil and gas geologist. I asked him about the path from oil and gas geology here on earth to being a planetary geologist and to having specialized interests in Mars. His answer was most interesting. I also asked Mr. Klaus a few questions about how oil and gas is extracted from inside the earth given questions that are always asked of me. For those of you who wonder about this or think we are leaving big empty caverns in the earth, make sure to listen to Kurt's answers. We then turned our attention toward Mars and its attractiveness to the Vision for Space Exploration (VSE). Kurt Klaus offered some excellent observations as to why Mars is important not just for the VSE, but for our humanity. As Mr. Klaus had been involved with the Mars Society Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) project as a Boeing employee, there were lots of questions to ask and information to seek out about the program, the experiences, the findings, the outcomes, and how the data will be used. For example, we heard Kurt talk about some of the dangers and risks with pressurized vehicles and the ATV's. We also got first hand information on the discomfort of wearing a space suit for working, pleasure, or just living on Mars or probably anyplace. Kurt pointed out for us how difficult it was to use even basic tools used by a geologist when wearing a space suit. We also talked about the differences between men and women in the habitat studies and the implications for this for living and working on Mars. You will not want to miss this discussion! One very interesting point that Mr. Klaus drove home during this show was to explain just how far away Earth would be from Mars in terms of the effect it might have on those living and working on Mars. You will certainly want to hear this discussion. We spoke about the possibilities of finding life on Mars and what this might mean for NASA, the general population, and aerospace companies such as Boeing. A question from a listener seemed to indicate that people might not be happy with the discovery of life of some sort on another planet with such a announcement starting a "notorious" American consumer boycott of the company or companies in question. You will want to hear Kurt's response to this question. Mr. Klaus also discussed how people can apply to the Mars Society to be part of a team going to the Desert Research Station in Utah and he also talked about the summer program at the International Space University (ISU). This is a focused and most interesting program on Mars, showing that there is great interest in the subject, the research, the robots and the data, not only from NASA but also the large aerospace industry as can be seen by Boeing having Kurt be part of one of the teams. In addition to all of this content, Mr. Klaus explained to us why Boeing has an interest in this subject, what it does with the information, and more. I also asked him about the business development process within Boeing and its openness to subjects such as Mars. You will find his answer interesting and exciting. Please send all questions and comments for Kurt Klaus to me at drspace@thespaceshow.com and I will be sure to forward them to Mr. Klaus.
Guest
The Space Show
