Guest: Tom Olson; Topics: NewSpace Business Plan Competition at ISDC 2017, high altitude communication platforms, lightening round Q&A. 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 Tom Olson for this 92 minute special Thursday evening Space Show program. During the first segment, Tom talked about the revision of the NewSpace Business Plan Competition with the upcoming regional semifinal presentations at this year's ISDC meeting in St. Louis. Tom explained how the business plan competition project had been restructured under the wing of the Center for Space Commerce & Finance and the use of regional competitions leading to the grand final competition which will be held each year in the fall at the New Worlds Conference in Austin, TX. Tom spent a good amount of time talking about the business plan competition, past winners that went on to great success and more.
Tom also talked about the UK company Avealto, Ltd. (Tom is their Director of Business Development) which is building a High Altitude Platform for internet and mobile services for under served areas around the world. They are partnering with JP Aerospace on the project. Tom described the technology and design for the platforms, we talked about customers, markets, competition, the technology, timelines and end user pricing. Before the segment ended, B John sent in the same question he has asked before, that is what actually makes up the gross space industry revenue often cited in reports and articles. If any of you work in the industry and can break down the revenue number for us as to sources, we would greatly appreciate it. Please post your comments on the blog if you can help us out.
In the second segment, we tested a program idea Tom was interested in doing with TSS later in the year, a lightening round Q&A on air. The listener would either email or call in a very short comment or term like SLS/Orion. Tom would then give us his opinion on the item right away and quickly, then we would move to the next listener email or call. We tested this during the second segment with so-so success but remember, Tom only suggested the idea to me during the break. Were we to do a show like this, we would promote it in advance . Let us know what you think of the idea for a lightening round program with Tom or anyone else. Please post your comments about this on our blog.
Some of the questions Tom fielded dealt with SLS and Orion, the National Space Council, risk averseness for NASA and the private companies, sex in space and having kids on a space settlement, and one listener asking Tom to give us his choice of either doing lunar tourism or going on a one way trip to Mars. For the SLS question, I threw into the mix the public reasons for SLS as eloquently detailed by our recent guest Dr. Mary Lynne Dittmar. Tom would have none of it. Don't miss this discussion and our first attempt at a lightening round type of Q&A on TSS. Before the program ended, Tom was asked about retiring on the Moon or Mars. Another plug for Dr. Doug's and Madhu' s retirement center on celestial body.
Please post your comments/questions on TSS blog. You can reach Tom Olson through me or the email address he gave out at the end of the show through his new organization, Center for Space Commerce & Finance. For more info, check out their website, http://www.cscf.space.
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